The Witches of New York

Late 1880s New York City? Witchcraft? Overzealous religious people? Magic? All good things in my book, definitely all good when all combined. And that’s what we get in Ami McKay’s The Witches of New York.

The Witches of New York: A Novel by [McKay, Ami]
We’ve got quite a cast of characters: three protagonists, several villains, and a lot of supporting roles. Adelaide Thom is, in simplest terms, a young woman with a knack for seeing things, both past and future. She grew up in the city, and spent much of her childhood and youth in whore houses. Eleanor St. Clair grew up in the remote woods of New York state and spent her whole life learning magic from her mother. They find each other in the city and partner up to open a little shop, Tea & Sympathy, which sells a variety of teas and health compounds and maybe a little fortune-telling.

Neither of the women is perfectly happy in their lives. Shortly before they opened their shop, Adelaide was attacked by a woman who threw acid in her face, resulting in the loss of her left eye and significant scarring. Eleanor was mourning the death of her mother and the loss of her lesbian lover, who has married a businessman. And, although it’s been some time since the Salem witch trials, being a witch is not exactly something openly discussed.

Then Beatrice Dunn shows up in answer to a job posting for their shop. A girl just 17 years old, she is fascinated by all things odd and strange, and leaves her small town to pursue knowledge and opportunity in the big city. Adelaide and Eleanor are quickly drawn to Beatrice’s friendly and open personality; once it becomes quite clear that Beatrice has some innate witch skills, they begin to teach and encourage her to develop her gifts. She has quite a knack for communicating with the dead, as it turns out.

But, as I mentioned, there are villains, and they seem to lurk around every corner. The three witches must band together to face the challenges and move forward. That’s really the book in a very small nutshell. I am going to try to not give any spoilers, so we’ll leave it there.

I liked the witches; they were believable, endearing, and I wanted only good things for them. I also liked the villains; they were realistic for the time period, very much wolves in sheep’s clothing, and I enjoyed getting to see some of the story from their twisted perspectives. The historical aspects, I thought, were spot on – from clothes to city attributes to social expectations. So, the premise was awesome, and the story builds and builds and builds . . .

And collapses in a ball of sputtering ash. No flames of glory. No phoenix rising. Not even a brilliant battle or shocking twist or last-minute firework. I was disappointed. There is so much detail laid in the groundwork, and such wonderful world-building and you just KNOW there will be an awesome battle and someone is going to get their ass kicked. But then it ends, rapidly, with the impact of a little pellet gun (I was hoping for a cannon). Granted, the book does leave a big thread hanging, so it would be easy to do a sequel, and I hope the author does – otherwise, this feels half-finished.

This book originally was published for Kindle in late 2016, but released yesterday in print. I read an ARC** of the print version, and it was remarkably clear of errors – probably because they’ve had months to eliminate errors in the digital version. So you can go out and read this today if you think it’s something you’d enjoy.

Overall: 6/10 – the ending was just too much of a letdown for me.

** I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Discussion

  1. Jan
  2. Kay
  3. lol
  4. w88
  5. Son
  6. Abe
  7. Joy
  8. Deb
  9. sex
  10. Ara

Leave a Reply