the witch doesn’t burn in this one

I could barely wait to read the witch doesn’t burn this one by Amanda Lovelace after finishing the first of the series, the princess saves herself in this one.

And I was not disappointed.

I enjoyed the first book in the series a lot, but it fell just short of a full-on five-out-of-five star rating. I was overjoyed to find that the second book in the women are some kind of magic series went that little extra distance.

Witch is less about following Lovelace’s personal journey, like princess, and more of a message to other women from a feminist who is still finding her feet but is becoming very sure of where is standing. I loved the way the poems are addressed to the reader from a place of leadership, showing growth from the less confident and strong voice seen in princess.

“women endure

because we aren’t

given any other

choice.”

Where princess deals with a multitude of subjects, witch sticks to a much smaller set. Sometimes it meanders into one topic or another, but all are clearly connected and always return back to the central ideas of feminism, fighting sexism, and the female experience which is, unfortunately, so entwined with overcoming hardship.

The string that ties all this together is the reiteration of the ideas of witches, and magic, as is clear from the title. But I was glad to see that the references to pieces of literature which I loved so much in the first book, remained as well. However, witch makes these allusions a bit more overt and obvious, often citing specific works at the end of certain poems.

I didn’t know how to feel about this at first since it could be seen as a doubt that the reader would not understand the insinuation. But with further thought, I realized that it is a way of throwing off the classic poetry element of weaving in convoluted ideas, or themes that need research and deep thought to decipher. Instead, it makes the reading experience easier, and so, opens up the art to a wider audience, welcoming us all in with open arms. 

“You know

you can’t

hold back

a wildfire   

don’t you?”

If it wasn’t already clear from the beginning, I rated the witch doesn’t burn in this one 5 out of 5 stars. You can bet I’ll be getting the mermaid’s voice returns in this one soon enough and look forward to utterly devouring it just as I have the other two in the series.