Witch’s Sacrifice (Witch’s Trilogy Book 2) by Crissy Moss

315 Pages
Publisher: City Owl Press
Release Date: April 30, 2015

Fiction, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Magic, Romance

Marizza unleashes magic and scares the townspeople after she is attacked by a bully. If they believe she is a witch, they. Will sacrifice her to the kraken. A small woman comes into town looking for the bakery. She is Salvia, a mother witch. She offers to take Marizza and train her the proper way to use magic. Mother takes her to an isolated island to train. She meets Artiro, a merperson, and they fall in love. Now they must do everything in their power to fight the accolades and the kraken.

The story has a steady pace, the characters are somewhat developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. This is a magical fantasy tale that should appeal to many.

Her forbidden secret will make her powerful… and hunted.
In Marizza's world, magic is evil. Since her youth, her mother told her witches were wicked creatures who deserved imprisonment. The tyrannical acolytes sacrificed all users of magic to the almighty kraken. It was the life she knew, until one fateful day changed everything.

Fantasy, witches, good writing. This book had everything I love. The story was nice, the world building even better.
What I wasn't a fan of is the romance, because it felt very much like insta-love (one of my least favorite things). There was no buildup in the relationship, no angst, no slowburn, which was disappointing. But if you do not mind insta-love, I'd say go for it, because overall the book was good.

Thanks to Netgalley and City Owl Press for giving me this book to review.

Witch’s Sacrifice is an enjoyable fantasy book, with good world building. However, it did not grab my interest as the plot seemed a bit meandering at times and I could not relate to or connect with any of the characters.

Marizza is a determined person who is caring of those she is close to. Salvia is a character who is a bit odd, because I could not really picture as at some points she seemed to act her age but at other times she acted much younger. It is similar with Artiro as he is 100 years old but he acted like a cocky and self-assured teenager.

While Witch’s Sacrifice did not hold my attention, I would recommend to those who enjoy fantasy books set around the sea.

This book is an intense fantasy with witches being hunted by non magic users and theres mermen and the kraken which i never read a book that has one featured. I liked our main character, Marizza, who is new witch who gets saved from her village by an old wise withc that goes by the name of Little Mother. I loved the romance that happens between Marizza and the merman Artiro. It was so  believable and real and you could really tell they fell in love and cared for each other and were willing to sacrifice anything. We followed the perspectives of all three of our main characters which i loved as we got to see all their points of views and feelings of events that were happening.

I gave this book 4 stars as it was enjoyable and action packed and hasset itself up for its sequel nicely.

This is a good start to a series with some good characters, world building and a nice story.

I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review:

I had trouble with this one, many parts are very good, but some things just didn't work for me.

Things I liked: The sea aspects, those were nice with many details.

Things I didn't like: Instalove, it just doesn't work for me, when it's written this way. I think most of my issues with this one were that I just didn't connect with the author's voice.

It's an okay to good book, and I think if you love the author's voice it would be fantastic. Worth giving it a shot.

There is so much I want to say about this book, but I’ll start with it is an awesome fantasy tale of a witch and a merman and the child they produce. It also has some strong themes of love and evil. It is suspense filled and has lots of unique creatures.
A man who sees his wife and daughter killed as sacrifices to a kraken, is cursed for fighting to free them. He is turned into a were-hawk, which works at the bidding of the acolytes. Separately in place and time, a girl is shunned by her community for developing signs of witch talent. This is an archipelago like Earthsea and an older witch comes to the island to take the girl to a safer place for training. Sadly, the scattered people have been forced to work for magic-using acolytes to the hungry kraken rather than all of them using their efforts to kill the kraken. Obviously, a romance develops between the apprentice witch and a merman, leading to substantial character growth for both. We see some well-realised storms and perils.
I really did enjoy this book a lot. The world building is amazing, almost as amazing as its lore: there are the acolytes, which kind of control people by fear and by the fact that there is a kraken which is held at bay by human sacrifices. Witches sacrifices, to be exact. Magical creatures are hunted down and feed to the monster in exchange for safety. But sometimes "normal" people get to be sacrificed, too when their hair and eyes make them a match of sorts. The characters are truly fleshed out. I have some favourites, as Brother Raven, but all of them are amazingly crafted.
Highly recommend for anyone looking for a new water themed fantasy novel with a killer romance to boot.

I loved this book so much I can't wait to read the rest of the series. Magic, adventure, and tough choices - the perfect recipe for the perfect storm, and the perfect story!

Marizza grew up being told that witches were evil and deserved to be locked away. Acolytes have taken that further by sacrificing all who are known to have magic. When Marizza finds out, after defending herself, that she has magic and acolytes are coming to find a witch to sacrifice, she chooses to leave.

I loved this story. It's a wonderful start to a series and has characters that are wonderfully written. I thought the world building was very well done. I also enjoyed the plot a lot. I definitely didn't think I'd like this book as much as I did.

I'll give this a medium rating to be fair to the author and the fact that others may have a different opinion than my own however for myself this was a 1/5. It started off ok and I really hoped that it would pick up speed however it just fell flat in the end.

I enjoyed this book and look forward to eventually finishing the story. Saddened to see the short course for the protagonist as I felt there was so much that could be told there but looking forward to seeing how the story plays out. Very well written.

I chose to give Witch’s Sacrifice a try because of its water-y theme. I don’t think I ever read a book with mermen and a kraken in it, but you gotta start somewhere, right? Well, this was definitely a good place to start…

I loved this fantasy world I got invited to. There is nothing pretty or rosy about it, because witches are hunted and sacrificed to the Kraken, yet there is magic and magical creatures that make it exciting.

Frankly, I was surprised how dark this book was at times. I expected something lighter, but I was satisfied with what I got. There is a lot of tragedy in there, pain and loss, but love and hope too, that somehow gets the edge off the sad parts.

The protagonist, Marizza, is a likable character; she is a young witch who gets saved from the Kraken by Little Mother, an old and wise woman, also a witch. The old lady later offers her an apprenticeship and the girl accepts, because she is eager to learn… Up until the point when Artiro, the young merman appears on the island where the two witches live.

The young love in this book is as naïve – and so as realistic – as it comes. They are ready to give up everything for each other, they are careless and reckless. Eventually they pay the price for their foolishness, but something comes out of their love, that can mark the end of the evil acolytes’ rule over the Sea of Tears.

Marizza and Artiro don’t steal the story completely though. We follow Little Mother a lot, we see how she helps young witches all over the islands and we meet Brother Hawk too, who happens to be my favourite character in the story. He is a man with a curse: half hawk, half man, who has to follow the will of the acolytes, the will of the Kraken. He is a bitter and tortured soul, but there is hope for him yet… I was glad he got involved with Little Mother’s business.

The story is neatly framed with two fighting scenes; the end is both an end and a new beginning, it sets the purpose of the sequel pretty well.

I got charmed by Witch’s Sacrifice, I won’t lie. It was a joy to go back to this book whenever I had time to read, as it made me forget everything else completely. I am ready for more.

This is probably more like 2.5 stars, but I felt like I should round down rather than up because I skimmed pretty much the last third of it so it obviously didn't hold my attention very well.

It was a very interesting premise but I felt like the story spent way too much focusing on the instalove, uh ....i mean romance, instead of the actual plot. I mean they were 'in love' like 6 hours after meeting and then a couple months later they're pregnant and I'm just sitting here rolling my eyes like oh please. I guess it might have been better if we actually saw their romance develop but there are so many week/month long time skips in this that you never really get a sense of any development, you're just told about it at a later time.

The writing isn't bad, just a little bit flat, so if you really like witches and mermen and high fantasy and don't mind a huge dose of instalove you might actually enjoy this book. Unfortunately instalove [and strong romantic overtones in general] are just such a turn off for me that I completely lost interest in the whole thing. And since the parents died and the child has a curse that is supposed to kill her when she falls in love, I feel like the rest of the series is also going to be heavy on the romance so I think I'll just stop here.

I loved this book very much. It was a very different type of fantasy novel very unique I could smell the brine of the sea in parts. I loved the character of the Mother, a witch a couple centuries old whose work is saving the people accused of witchcraft from the acolytes of a sea monster that demands sacrifice from the people. Young love and magic make for an interesting tale of what it means to have true love.

A tale of sacrifice that you just didn't want to put down. I would recommend this to readers who love fantasy/paranormal and young adult readers.

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In this waterlogged world, magic performed by witches is dangerous and has to be eradicated by sacrifice to the kraken. Anyone a little bit different is often labeled a witch and taken by acolytes to be sacrificed. Marizza thought she was an ordinary girl until anger at being harassed revealed magical power she didn't know she had. The Little Mother rescued her and taught her how to use her gift while keeping her safe, but she falls in love with a merman despite the dangers.

The worldbuilding in Witch's Sacrifice is lovely. There's a complex society for the characters to live in, a real sense of danger when magic is revealed, and tension involving the Little Mother's rescues. The studies that Marizza does are glossed over, at some points and vividly described at others. The relationship does develop over time, but the passage of time isn't well delineated. As a result, it feels very rushed and superficial. The fact that each person has separate needs and can still love each other is a great sentiment to add to a YA novel. That it also results in disaster because of lack of communication is almost a given because of the genre. Overall, it feels very short and formulaic. As the first book in a trilogy, the plot threads left hanging at the end will likely be addressed then.

The cover on this book got my attention right away it reminded me of Ursula in The Little Mermaid. The colors are so bright and vibrant! Marizza finds out she has witch magic. Her mother has always told her witches were wicked creatures. This book is exciting and kept me reading and wanting more. I am excited to see what happens in the next books. The characters are unique and the story is compelling. * I received this book from Netgalley---this is my honest review*

This was an amazing start to a series and I was completely absorbed in the world while I was reading. It is definitely one of the most unique stories that I have read in a long time and my first introduction to mermen and I definitely support them!
Marizza begins the story as a meek girl who has her world turned upside down when she has a magical outburst where magic is forbidden and her growth throughout the story is amazing. She is definitely not one of your stereotypical YA young female leads. She makes smart decisions and doesn’t think only of herself.
The whole essence of the book was interesting and engaging, incorporating witchery, love, mermen and politics without being too much. The acolytes and the kraken were perfect villains in the book bringing a dark atmosphere and political intrigue into the story.
The relationships between the 3 main characters were realistic and the romance was at the perfect level, sweet loving and not the main focus of the book. My favourite quote of the book however would be ‘she managed to work herself into his heart like some sort of barnacle he could not dislodge.’ I just find it so funny yet cute.
I loved this introduction to the series and will definitely read the next book in the series!