Cover Image: A Far Wilder Magic

A Far Wilder Magic

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Amazing. Wonderful. Fantastic! Saft is a weaver of words and worlds. I loved it and would highly recommend!

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I was very excited to receive an early copy of A Far Wilder Magic since I LOVED the author’s debut novel. This one is fairly different - it’s told from the perspective of both the heroine and the hero - but it features the same beautiful and descriptive settings, slow burn romance, and strong female protagonist that I loved so much in Down Comes the Night.

I really admire the main character Margaret. She’s incredibly self-sufficient and independent as a result of her mother abandoning her in favor of her work. Her closest companions are her dog Trouble and her horse. She’s great with a gun (for hunting and pointing at boys she’s wary will break their promises) and she loves romance novels. When she meets Wes, she doesn’t understand his optimism because she believes she’s destined to forever be alone in a big house and that her life will be loveless. They begin to work together in preparation for the hala hunt for different reasons: Wes because he needs the prize money and Margaret because she thinks it will bring her mother back. As they spend time together, they understand each other more and start crushing on one another. Wes can’t believe he thought Margaret was all work no play, and Margaret pretends to hate Wes’s constant chattering.

I love the way the romantic relationship between Margaret and Wes developed. Wes doesn’t have much to offer her. He’s like one of six kids or something in a low-income family, but he has big dreams of becoming a politician to make things better for families like his. He shows Margaret that it’s okay to want a better life and dream of a brighter future. But Margaret needs a lot of convincing since it’s in her DNA essentially to believe she doesn’t deserve good things. I’m so glad that by the end of the book, they’re on their way to happiness.

There was a scene between a secondary character, a young woman that Wes was briefly interested in, that I think was just fantastic. Wes and Margaret are discriminated against throughout the novel for the religions that their families practice. In one scene, this girl says she doesn’t think they deserve the hate but that she can’t do anything about it. Wes calls her out, basically saying she’s an active participant in the hate and discrimination because she doesn’t do anything about it. Really great messaging about being brutally honest with your racist friends tbh.

Finally, the way things ended between Margaret and her mother was really validating for young people (like me) who have had to cut out toxic and abusive family members.

Overall, such a special book - I will continue to read and love Allison Saft’s work.

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This was written in a way that has still stuck with me. A very good and interesting read! A magical setting.

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I definitely liked this book more than the author’s debut, Down Comes the Night (but I did enjoy that one as well). There was something I liked about these characters more than the other book’s characters. This story is atmospheric and I loved the writing but I found the romance to be a bit lacking. I loved the grumpy / sunshine element but the grumpy character came around on the sunshine one almost too easily? And the transition of those feeling was really fast. One chapter she basically thinks he’s useless and the next, they’re in love and she’s not grumpy anymore. But, I liked the magic, the lore, and the story in this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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3.5-4*

A Far Wilder Magic really gripped me from the blurb, but I found that it was a slower burning book than I anticipated. I have always loved the idea of alchemy and I think that Saft played very well with the magical world she built. She also builds strong characters that are diverse and relatable in Maggie and Wes.

Perhaps the reason I struggled so much with the book was that it couldn't quite commit to a time/place and this left it unmoored. With a bit more conscious effort to ground the novel into an identifiable era would have made it a far more enjoyable read.

I would still recommend this to anyone looking for a twist on the fantasy genre.

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Really cool world building and the magic system was also really neat. But it was also soooooo boring to me. I like a slow paced book as much as the next person, but it at least has to be interesting. This was meh at best, which is tragic because, conceptually, a lot of the content was really good. Execution, though, just didn't cut it for me.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

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Excellent world building and atmospheric tones. The author does a great job building the different layers of the story, with the historical, social, and fantastical elements coming into play. I really enjoyed both of our main characters and their growth throughout the book.

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I had some high hopes for this book but I'm so sad to say i was so disappointed by it. I don't think there was anything I truly enjoyed about my experience reading this book. The prose is very pretty and flowery but most times it was over flowery and I couldn't understand what the author wanted to convey. I felt the characters were very much one dimensional and I didn't care about their goals or motivations and I didn't care for the romance either. It felt very insta-lovey but also they hate each other for no reason. I was most excited to read about this mythical hunt that goes on to kill this legendary creature, and while most of the book is the discussions and preparations for this event, the hunt itself takes place over 3 chapters and was severely underwhelming. I thought this was going to be more fantasy book with a hint of romance but it's much more romance with a bit of fantasy, which is not my cup of tea. The setting also felt a bit jarring. It's supposed to take place around the 1920's because there are cars and phones and other early technology however it felt so much older? Maybe it was just specifically the town they live in but I forgot on multiple occasions that this was not supposed to be the 1800's. And the use of 'modern' curse words in some instances just really made the setting incredibly convoluted to me.

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I must say this is a total cover read for me. It was so pretty, I just had to know what was inside and boy did Allison Saft not disappoint. She created such a beautiful story filled with magic, suspense, and a slow-burn romance. I loved all the mystical creatures, legends, and alchemy. I wish that the hunt was a longer portion of the book. I highly recommend this book!

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“Any alchemist worth their salt considers themselves a scientist, but there’s something inexplicable about alchemy, too. Something magical. At the core of each of us, one of his first teachers said, there is a spark of divine fire.”
Including this lush cover, A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft had me intrigued as soon as I read the blurb. All of my favorite elements of storytelling have been included: fantasy, YA, romance, historical as it’s set in the era of the 1920’s, and it’s even categorized as a “Dark Fantasy”—basically I could not beg for this book hard enough.

I wanted to be immediately pulled into the story itself, but there is so much world building and character backgrounds that needed to be laid out first. All that was told needed to be there, but it did make the beginning overly heavy. Fortunately, it was broken up by the interactions between Margaret and Weston. Like oil and water, or fire and ice, these two characters share similar aspirations—wanting to be better or do better for their families, but unfortunately have fallen short time and time again. Their personalities clash. Margaret is stalwart and steady. She’s stoic, and a bit surly according to the town, and has a routine that she adheres to in her mother’s absence. Weston is a dreamer. There’s always hope on the horizon and even in his failures he perseveres. Where Weston is clumsy and clunky, Margaret is keen and cunning.

“Girls like her don’t get to dream. Girls like her get to survive. Most days, that’s enough. Today, she doesn’t think so.”
While they have different personalities, both characters are outsiders in their own way. Weston is the son of immigrants, which are looked down upon by many of the residents in the area. As an aspiring alchemist, he arrives on Margaret Welty’s doorstep seeking an apprenticeship with her renowned mother, Evelyn Welty. While her mother travels seeking a way to further her own alchemy-based aspirations, Margaret is left in a pinch, but hope shows up in the form of the mystical hala—a demiurge in the form of a fox said to be the last bit of naturally occurring alchemical magic gifted by the gods. With its presence made known, the Halfmoon Hunt begins and teams of hunters and alchemists join together to be the team to take down the magical fox.

It is during the qualification of the teams and then preparing for the Hunt itself where Weston and Margaret begin to put their own prejudices aside and realize that they are truly more similar than they realize. Both Margaret and Weston realize that they are harboring some unresolved hurt and trauma from the hardships that they had experienced in their earlier childhoods. While Margaret is reluctant to share that she has heritage of the Yu’adir, Weston uses his charm in order to offset the reaction many people have when they learn he is of Banvish descent. Both Margaret and Weston make some questionable decisions on their path to trusting each other, but all those things can be chalked up to youthful naïveté as well as relying on skills that have helped them in the past, and not necessarily using their heads or hearts.

“For so long, she has survived. Now, she wants to live.”
A Far Wilder Magic brings religious prejudices as well as anti-immigrant sentiments to the forefront of Weston and Margaret’s story in a truly meaningful way. While both are at an age to start questioning their places in the world, it makes the acknowledgement of casting aside questionable familial traditions, and even generational traumas in the wake of more modern and progressive ways a form of rebirth. Allison Saft wrote Margaret and Weston’s character storylines beautifully, and the ending was truly so satisfying.

I highly recommend reading A Far Wilder Magic. There is something truly special here in this story, and I can guarantee by the end you will have learned something about yourself while you root for Margaret and Weston during the Halfmoon Hunt. A Far Wilder Magic is available now, so don’t wait to get your very own copy!

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I discovered Allison Saft a few years ago with her debut novel Down Comes the Night. Since I loved the book and Ms. Saft's writing style, I jumped for joy when I was granted the e-ARC of her sophomore novel A Far Wilder Magic; this story and its characters felt so comfortable that I read it slowly like a delicious warm cup of coffee that you sip a little bit at the time because you don't want it to finish. I loved protagonists Margaret and Wes and their quest to hopefully kill the hala, a mysterious and dangerous magical fox. I also loved the "Temptation" and the "Evil" characters (not mentioning any names so I don't spoil it). It was a smart book for a YA, full of love and kindness. Simply delectable!

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This story was a mix of a love story , mythology (Hala mythical creature), adventure (a lonely outcast superb sharpshooter joins a mythical hunt), and then a mix of religion and woe is me insecurities from the outcasts.

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A Far Wilder Magic was a cute love story in a very beautifully crafted fantasy world. While YA isn't my genre as much anymore, it was still an enjoyable read and I can definitely see others liking this a lot more than I did!

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This took way too long to get started. I had to really fight to keep my attention on the story.

There was really no action or any forward movement of the story for such a long time.

That seems very strange to me for a fantasy book, where there isn’t a lot of world building.

I couldn’t connect to this one

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I found the pacing of this book to be pleasantly slow when compared to a lot of YA fantasy. This gave me time to fall deeply in love with the characters and world. Highly recommended.

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Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

This story is one that will absolutely grab you and not let you go! The characters are ones that I have connected to far faster than any I've read about in a while, The PTSD/anxiety and dyslexia representation were both amazing, and they added such a depth to the story and the romance! I loved how strong Margaret was and how sweet and pure Weston is. They are such loveable characters and made me want more and more of their lives.

My biggest complaint was that it did feel a bit slow. I thought that the hunt was going to be the center of the novel, but it came toward the end and that made it feel slower to me. But otherwise I loved the pacing of the romance and the way that this is a story of acceptance, both of the self and of others. It was so refreshing to watch such a story of healing and the beauty of love.

I also wanted to mention that for a YA book, I thought there was a bit too much description of the sexual scenes before the fade to black occurred. It caught me a bit off guard how much description there was and left me a bit uncomfortable.

I loved the world that they were in and how alchemy played into the story. It added such a layer to the atmosphere of the hunt and the way that it touches on such deep topics. The book pulls you into the hunt and won't let you go!

If you're looking for a wild ride that will leave you wanting more from the book and from your life, this is the story for you!

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Atmospheric perfection! I can’t remember the last time a novel swept me away like this one did!

The world building is fantastic, just unique enough to take you into a fantasy but not overly complicated.

Wes & Maggie were fantastic characters and I didn’t want to say goodbye at the end. The way they start off on the wrong foot led perfectly into their journey to… well more! The progression was natural and chemistry was fab!

I want more but in the best way!

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A very charming and romantic YA fantasy. The comps to Erin Craig and Margaret Rogerson feel fairly accurate; I think Saft is my preferred author of the three based on what I’ve read so far though! (I also loved her debut, Down Comes the Night.)
Netgalley provided an ebook arc for review purposes.

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I gave A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft a three out of five stars. I enjoyed reading it and finding out what was going to happen but I didn't love it. I did like the two main characters and I guessed in who/what the Hallow is. When reading about the Hallow it made me think of The Originals TV show. There were quite a few characters that I didn't like as well.

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