Review Detail

Star-crossed lovers, close quarters games of cat and mouse, celebrating in defiance of the end of the world. Rebel Witch closes the duology with all the witchy magic and repressed feelings we came to love, plus an extra helping of political maneuvering, that culminates in a rebellious last stand straight out of a war arc.

When the story begins, some time has passed since the first book, and I enjoyed how the mini time-skip set a whole new stage for Rune and Gideon to go toe-to-toe with different agendas under Cresseida’s rule. The distance has also allowed the once-maybe-lovers’ to separate their emotions from their need to survive, and so also re-opening the door for that juicy tension from when they first met. I mean, they aren’t really enemies, and if either one of them had just fessed up to themselves and stopped the “I guess I like you but we and this love are doomed uwu” act a lot of their problems could’ve been solved, saving lives and more time for the war arc (which was my favorite - it’s something about unlikely allies facing unbeatable odds, y’know). 

This book takes on a lot of new things, maybe in part because the story has grown beyond the initial Scarlet Pimpernel parallels. I don’t know if there’s enough room for all the pining and these additional political dimensions, for example, and some pretty pivotal plot points came and went very quickly. I would’ve loved to sit more in those moments, particularly whenever Rune discovers new strengths within herself or is at odds with Cresseida. Pacing aside, I enjoyed the new narrative directions and the last quarter of the story deserves a whole book in itself.