Witchwood, by Kalyn Josephson

 

Witchwood, by Kalyn Josephson (October 2024, Delacorte Press), is the third in the Ravenfall series, middle grade fantasy about a magical hotel on the boarder of our world and the realm of magic.  I very much enjoyed the first two books, Ravenfall and Hollowthorn, so it was a great treat for me to return to this world (and I am wondering what took me so long....).

Anna is the youngest child of the family who tend to Ravenfall, a magical, sentient being in its own right. And soon she will be the only one--her older sisters are headed off to college.  But at least Colin, whose story of magic and murder and growing powers as a Raven (one who keeps magical creatures that are dangerous to ordinary people in check) was integral to the first too books, has come back to visit.  And she's thrilled when the two of them get to set off on a Raven mission of their own  

But it turns out not to be the straightforward, relatively safe mission her parents agreed on. And when there's a strange attack on them, that they can't explain, they are forced to seek out Anna's aunt in the town of Witchwood, a magical community they've never visited before.  There they find the same attacks have been happening in this town where almost everyone is a witch; people have been disappearing, and no one knows just how or why.

Finding out that she herself is a witch, getting to know her aunt and the Jewish heritage of this side of the family, and wondering why her cousin is so hostile is a lot, but Anna and Colin are also determined to solve the mystery of the disappearances.  And in doing so, they are faced with ethical questions that make figuring out what to do even harder.  Should ordinary people be protected against magic, or should magical creatures and practitioners be protected against ordinary people?   

And will they be able to survive the incredibly powerful woman who will stop at nothing to make sure she is so powerful that no one can stand against her, who wants to harness Anna's own powers for her cause?  

There are lots of the lovely magical details that I enjoyed so much in the earlier books, and a climactic adventure of epic proportions in a legendary realm, linked to Jewish mythology, of incredible danger.  The questions of identity and ethical responsibility add depth, making the book thought provoking as well as exciting fun.  (My one personal quibble is that I love the Ravenfall house so much I wanted to spend more time there, even though the village of Witchwood was interesting too....)

I love how each book is its own complete story, but that doesn't stop me from looking forward to the next book lots!