The Witch Laws: Sally Altass *Review*

Genres: Young Adult, YA Fantasy | Release Date: 1 July 2022 | Series: The Moon Magic Chronicles | Series Book: #1 | Pages: 278 | Indie Author | Review

Overview

The Witch Laws held me captive from the moment that Luna, Seren’s younger sister, fell from the apple tree! In this extraordinary debut, Sally Altass gives us a tale of magic, the strength of familial bonds, and an evil that is going to spread across the world if no one can stop it in time.

When Seren turns eighteen, her life changes dramatically, because it turns out she has Power. She is a Higher, someone with magic in her veins. Because of her newfound abilities, Seren is escorted to the capital and the Leader, Ardenna. Her family is broken up, which is not an easy thing when all of the siblings are much younger than her. And a growing, disturbing evil is stirring once more; it may be only Seren’s power that can save everyone. But who can teach her how to master it? And can she outrun the nefarious plans others have for her? Seren has been let down by so many people, can she trust those around her?

The Witch Laws builds to a crescendo, so that by the time I was near the end, I almost didn’t blink for fear of losing precious time in finding out what happened next. It’s a *stunning* debut in fantasy, and I’m so grateful I was given an e-ARC of this beautiful book!

Happiness Boost:

Where do I even start? There’s honestly so much I could fangirl about!

Okay, first up: I have never known someone to be so good at ending chapters. It might sound like a weird happiness boost, but Sally’s sprinkled some phenomenally good snippets this way; they just whet the appetite for intrigue and everything that unfolds within The Witch Laws! I couldn’t end on certain chapters, because I desperately needed to know what happened next.

The world building! The world is slowly unfurled before us as we get ever deeper into the story, building up to some *very* big plot points. I love that I didn’t have everything dropped into my lap at the beginning; in fact some of the bombshells Sally drops in this tale I did not see coming at all! I was just on the edge of my seat, saying in a disbelieving voice, “No!” The deftness of Sally’s writing made these little gems of goodness shine so brightly; I take my hat off to the brilliant author for creating such magic!

We don’t often get a family with varying ages as the central characters of a fantasy. I really, really enjoyed that in The Witch Laws we have the sweetness and innocence of young Luna and the twins, alongside Flynt’s stoic bravery and Seren’s sparkling courage. Because of the age gap, it’s not just a story of a group who’ll have similar kinds of thinking – accommodations have to be made for the young children, and it was such a great way to contrast everything that was happening.

Downside:

I cannot think of a single downside to this book. I really can’t!

Final Thoughts:

The Witch Laws by Sally Altass was an amazing, thrilling fantasy read. It has a cast of characters whom readers will immediately love, against a backdrop of danger that is truly creepy and chilling. I could fangirl over this book for days (if not longer), but I really, really want you to stop reading my review and go preorder this book straight away. Sally has burst onto the indie author scene with a powerful, epic YA fantasy and I cannot praise her highly enough for this debut novel. It was everything I could wish for. I am so, so excited to see what happens next for Seren – in fact I’ve clicked ‘follow’ to Sally’s profile on Amazon, so I’ll never miss a thing!

You can preorder via my link: The Witch Laws