Many thanks to @netgalley, @blackstonepublishing, and the author for allowing me to read this eARC. The opinions presented in this review are my own.
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⭐ 4 / 5

Mirthful, dark, and amusing!

The past year I have been hooked on the adrenaline high roller coaster that is epic fantasy - the call to action, the stumbles along the journey, the burgeoning relationships, the betrayals, the defeats, the darkest of days, the hero’s triumphant comeback, love conquerors all, etc. etc. Cut, paste, repeat.

Lately, I have needed a break from the nail-biting tension and realm-ending stakes. The Witchstone certainly was a different order. Sure, I didn’t stray far - demons, magic, a curse, and the journey to break it - and sure, it certainly has elements of the monstrous. The stakes seem undoubtedly high. Yet, the infusion of humor, irreverence, and straight-up silliness lessens the tension to a manageable level. It was the palate cleanser I needed.

The introduction to Lazlo hooked me immediately. Lazlo is a mid-level, pencil-pushing, slacker of a demon who is the “Keeper” of a four-century-old curse on the Drakeford Family. He is witty and charming when he wants to be but also entitled and indolent. I loved his sarcasm and the idea of Hell as a bureaucratic corporation and I have to be honest, I was kind of hoping for the demon version of The Office, but when Lazlo gets a new overseer who promptly “crucibles” a few of his co-workers, I had my moment of “WTF am I reading?” It was gruesome, yet somehow funny??

Then the story pans to Maggie Drakeford, a nineteen-year-old showing early signs of her family’s curse. The curse upon the family is unique, grotesque, and devastating. Their experience living as outcasts outside a small country community in the Catskills is harrowing. However, soon after Lazlo shows up on her family’s doorstep, Maggie’s character seems to flatten. If it weren’t for the back-and-forth bickering with Lazlo and her brother Lump’s child exuberance, I’m not sure she would hold her own weight. Certainly, she is dealing with some gnarly sh*t, but her personality is plain white toast comparatively.

The trio’s escapades around Europe are amusing, and even if the story drags a little at times, it definitely holds interest. I really enjoyed the ending, not just the action-packed finale, but the epilogue. It was perfectly fitting. I would totally read what comes next if the story were to continue.

The Witchwood is a humor-infused urban fantasy with a lighthearted take on some dark themes. It is a fun read and if you need a break from the heaviness of standard epic fantasy or the heart-wrenching drama of romantasy, you should give it a try. It may be the reprieve you are looking for.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
This is the most fun I’ve had with a book in a long time. This tale of a family curse and a race against time is dark, witty, and incredibly funny. Main protagonist Lazlo, a slacking demon forced to pick up said slack on a centuries old curse or face his own demise, ends up on a race against time alongside the current generation of curse bearers. Lazlo’s snarky attitude reminded me a lot of Chris McClain from the Total Drama Island cartoon (if that makes sense). If you like American Gods and Supernatural, I’d highly recommend this book.

I love the cover of this book, and it has a very fun premise. It has a humorous voice, which makes it feel almost cozy. I can imagine lots of readers enjoying this. Unfortunately, humor is very subjective, and I'm not sure a Deadpool-like voice translates well to European sensibilities. I just didn't vibe with the humor enough to continue past the opening chapters.

5 star read! The Witchstone was the funniest book I’ve read in years. It is witty, intelligent, and takes you on the most exciting adventure with a Curse Keeper, Laszlo, and his clients, the cursed.

I immediately fell in love with all the characters and their personalities. This book starts off strong and it remains captivating until the very last page. There are books that you can just see being made into a movie and I can clearly see this one on the big screen. To me it was a blend between Good Omens and the Paramount+ series Evil.

Do yourself a favor and read this book!!

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion! WHAT A FUN AND CRAZY READ!!!! All the reviews I've seen for this book are phenomenal, and it is SO deserved!!! This book is so "Good Omens" coded, if you enjoyed that novel you will go crazy for this one too. I will definitely be reading more books by this author, every aspect of this novel is just amazing and I hope the book is a roaring success when it releases!

I absolutely ate this book up, loved the plot and the humor. The sass and jokes were done so thoughtfully where they didn’t subtract from the storyline or story.(sometimes authors are good at writing humor but it takes away from the plot) I would recommend this to LITERALLY anyone

The Witchstone had my attention from the moment I started it to the moment I finished. The switching of perspectives to build a double layering of dramatic irony of what is kept from the characters and what is kept from the reader was intriguing. It allowed us to see the characters caught by surprise while still remaining in suspense for the end result. While nothing happened in the story that I found truly unpredictable, it was still exciting to see how everything panned out.

I will say, I found the several tone shifts from the classic "YA teen girl and her younger brother against the world" to intense body horror and right back to be quite jarring. While I loved having Lump, and I think he added some sorely needed joy to the trio, the age gap between him and Maggie tended to draw the age of the story telling down, making the more intense elements of the story seem out of place. I'm not certain who the exact target audience is, as I feel that many readers would be somewhat alienated by one tone or the other.

Despite this, Witchstone is an enjoyable read with a satisfying ending. Thank you to NetGalley and Henry H. Neff for a copy of The Witchstone in exchange for my thoughts on it.

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the chance to read this thoroughly delightful ARC!

What a fun, funny and surprisingly thoughtful romp this book was. It had all the cheeky charm of Good Omens but with a sharper, more acerbic edge. The action was compelling and moved along at a breathless pace, and the wit was sparkling throughout, but what really held this marvelous book together was the depth that the author has invested in his characters. So often with deliberately funny books the characters seem almost superfluous to the humor, but what made this really sing for me was that even at its funniest, you feel for all the characters involved. The three leads have real depth and pathos, but even the more peripheral characters were fully drawn and felt real and you cared about them and were interested in what was going to happen to them.

Honestly it’s a treasure that I will probably come back to reread again. Bravo!

Well that I simply adored.

A quest. Administrative hell. Demons. Faith. Betrayal, double crosses, triple crosses, pop culture references and Lazlo may look like Paul Newman but I'd bet anything he could play piano with a British accent in LA. All the characters were fantastic. What a fun ride.

<strong>Big Fat DNF/Early Release Provided Ny NetGalley</strong>

This book was an immense struggle in and from the beginning. In early releases, I tend not to look at reviews, from my desire to read it completely unimpeded by the opinions of others.

At not quite 20% into it, I couldn’t resist though, and I was unable to fight the urge to see if I was the only person feeling this way.
I was completely stumped at the number of 5 star reviews this has received.

I have an intense struggle with not finishing books, especially when I’ve willingly taken on the responsibility to do a pre-review of an unreleased body of work. But this one, whew!

Where do I even begin??
The childish, immature style of writing was beyond horrible.
The "jokes" fell flat, and were definitely on the insensitive scale at times.
There’s not one single character I felt any connection, draw, or even empathy for.
Maggie, the MC heroine, is presumptive, ignorantly rude to her parents, and at times comes across as pompous.
Lazlo, the villainous character of the book, is weak, in more ways than one, he’s appalling, obnoxious, disgusting, and harsh. From the beginning he’s over the top, in an unbelievably exaggeratedly unamusing way.

I just could not complete this, let alone even rate it 1 star. I would have absolutely no audience I would even consider recommending this for. I strongly advise a pass to anyone contemplating picking this up.

Note: I received early access from NetGalley, for this manuscript, and have at my own discretion and opinion, chosen to post a review.

Do you like stories with high stakes and a lot of humor? If so, this is for you. The Witchstone is a standalone urban fantasy where a demon is tasked with increasing his mortal despair ratings in order to save his own skin. In order to achieve this, he has to convince the Drakefords that the curse that turns them into monsters can be broken.

Across Earth and Hell, Neff does a great job of creating characters with a lot of depth and individuality. The pacing is great and you’re in for a fun ride from the first chapter. Even with how humorous it was, there was one scene with some pretty intense body horror that definitely made me squirm, which I haven’t experienced often or recently. Not a knock on the writing at all, just a heads up and example of how visceral the story was.

Even considering some of the heavy themes and squirm-inducing scenes, I think this is a perfect book for some lighthearted fun while still having a complete, interesting story. I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a good urban fantasy, need a break from long-running series, or just a palate cleanser.

Wow, what a ride! I absolutely loved diving into this book! Laszlo's existential crisis in the depths of demon bureaucracy had me nodding along like an office drone... in hell, of course. And Maggie's determination to break her family's ancient curse added such depth to the story. The blend of lore and magic kept me hooked, and the character development was surprisingly profound. The pacing was spot on, with just the right balance of world-building and action. Plus, the relationships felt genuine and relatable, avoiding common fantasy pitfalls. While I wished for a bit more exploration in certain areas, it didn't detract from the overall experience. Here's hoping this isn't the last we see of Laszlo and company!

I just finished this book, and it was both more and less than I expected. Both of those are good, so don’t get me wrong. As I don’t like spoilers, I’ll try to keep this a little bit vague. Laszlo is a very intriguing character as well as Maggie and Lump. They all are different in their own ways, I quite enjoyed their journeys to who they really are, a couple more surprising than the other. While this dragged a bit in the middle of their adventure to find objects, the beginning and the end just flew by in a very good way. Ending the way this did left me wanting more, and I wasn’t sure I was going to feel that way. A well-written, engaging, fun fantasy story, I really want more. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

I'm not entirely sure where to start with this one. I didn't hate but I didn't love it. I read it and generally feel....ambivalent to it?

Once again I was taken in by a good looking cover. So I feel like I should say if you're going in expecting a goat head demon with a margarita, you're going to be left with a goat head demon-sized hole in your wants. I think Lazlo is just blue skinned or something like that. I don't entirely remember despite finishing the book this morning.

Since I've opened with Lazlo not being the goat man on the cover, let's stick with Lazlo. Now, Lazlo is your run of the mill, youngest son being a bit of a disappointment with a high-up father, who learned to be quippy. And some of his quips were quite funny. But some of his character was so middle school bully that I could've strained my eyes rolling them. For example, the dialogue "Is Nerd Power going to save the day?", "When did I become a nerd magnet?" and "You speak English and Nerd. That's plenty." Combined with a scene where Lazlo says "I've lived all over the world and can tell you where to avoid." You're telling me, an 800-year old demon that has lived all over the world doesn't see the value in having wider knowledge and only sees the value in speaking English? There is a scene where he remembers the Black Death which was largely in Europe but also in Asia and parts of Africa, places that notoriously wouldn't speak modern day English.

So you want me to believe this demon doesn't have any other linguistic skills outside of English (ignoring the ordering in Italian), doesn't see the value in having those around with more in depth knowledge (despite using them for clues on this curse quest) and is preoccupied by the idea of 'nerds' despite having experienced major historical events and living all over the world? I'm not convinced. Actually talking of history, I don't entirely see why they named dropped Lucrezia Borgia either, that was weird but more of a blip. Also goes back to his whole issue with 'nerds' cause there was no way some blue-skinned foolish entity of any kind was getting a Borgia. But what do I know.

Lazlo's relationship with Maggie is largely fine. They move from begrudging allies to some semblance of friends as the story goes. But Maggie was just...flat? She's 19, lived her life in the Catskills next to the graves of her ancestors who succumbed to this curse and has nothing to really show for her time on earth. This is reminded to us in one form or another quite a few times. And we know she's a 'country bumpkin', I don't think we needed it reiterated as much as it was. I don't know, there was something about her being a tough cookie with the odds stacked against her and motivated by love for her family and wanting more for herself. And I don't say that is an especially endearing way. She's one of those characters I don't feel like was fully conceptualised and could've done more with.

Lump and Clarence on the other hand were fun characters and played their supporting roles well. They were actually the most fun of the cast. And the scene where they're interacting together was especially fun. I also have to nod to Signora Bellascura. I would read about her 5000 years happily. She was by far the most interesting.

The plot itself was kind of fine if not a bit all over the place. I think we all knew what was going to happen as the story goes on. Especially as it's marketed as having similarities to The Good Place. That said, the introduction of The Society as a bureaucratic hellscape, and the overseerer dressing Lazlo down reminded me of Bob Parr in The Incredibles. I think that also introduced the background and details of the curse in a good way. It worked a lot better than if the author had decided to just put the details in as a description. It also allowed for Clarence to be the fun and neurotic character he was. And I fully believe some key names in social media sites would be meeting with the management of a hellscape bureaucracy, so I appreciated that little scene.

Overall, it was fun in places, had some amusing remarks and dialogue, there were characters and scenes that were genuinely interesting and well written. I do think there were a few places where things could have been improved and, honestly, there are some serious trigger/content warnings needed for parts of this book.

This book was devilish, fun, and hard to put down. It very much reminded me of the old Christopher Moore books with a witty demon with a clever plan. It's rare you find something that feels "new" in terms of content these days, but I really did feel like I was reading something I hadn't before. Lazlo is an excellent morally grey character who you really can't decide which side is on through almost the whole book. The side characters are almost more lovable than the main ones, I would kill for a book about the Signora, Clarence, Dmitri, or any of the other demons.

This book was SO 👏🏻 MUCH 👏🏻 FUN 👏🏻

The quest to break the curse was dark and exciting; all the excitement of an epic fantasy video game. It was so mild and humorous at times that the grotesque and emotional scenes caught me off guard and were super effective. The airplane scene 🤢 Good lord.

I loved the corporate Hell atmosphere. There’s something so funny and accurate about Hell being a corporate office job 🤣 Laszlo was great - so nonchalant, funny and clever, while simultaneously being lazy and kind of an asshole. I’m obsessed with him. Maggie and Lump were great characters, too. A great brother-sister dynamic. Tough as nails. The demons though. THE DEMONS. So cool. Signora Bellascura. Like, gimmie a whole book about this B.

I genuinely hope this is the start of a super fun series. But, if it’s not, that’s okay because this book was brilliant on its own.

Once The Witchstone started, it did not let me go. This book includes the following: A 400 year old family curse, a slacker of a demon supposed to be the Keeper of said curse, a set of siblings determined to break the curse and save their family, a madcap road trip from NY to Europe and back, a wild cast of characters out of folklore and hell, Hell as a Corporation (which makes sense), and a deep dark secret no one saw coming.
The Witchstone was a super fun ride of a book that I will be suggesting to people for years to come. It's equal parts heartwarming and hilarious with just enough danger and unexpected body horror (that curse is gross) to have me staying up late trying to finish just one more chapter. Every character in this novel felt fleshed out and individual, which made me love it all the more.
I did enjoy the wrap up at the end, but I really hope Mr. Neff has a follow up to Witchstone because the world he built feels like there are more stories to tell.

This was such a fun palate-cleanser from some heavier fantasies I've been reading recently. The Witchstone made me laugh out loud on multiple occasions (pretty much every time Laszlo said anything). I loved the idea of demons working in a corporate environment, and how Neff poked fun at corporate culture/bureaucracy. Maggie was a great main character as well; her family's curse was so interesting and I loved the relationship between Maggie and every member of her family, but especially her little brother. For a book that has so much humor, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

The Witchstone is an exciting urban fantasy that follows well-fleshed-out, deeply imperfect characters in an easy-to-read and page-turning manner. I adored all of the characters and found them unique and interesting, and set in a super intriguing worldly backdrop. Neff finds the perfect balance between dialogue and exploring the surrounding scene and offers witty dialogue and descriptions that make this book humorous and a fun read.

Favorite Quote: “Nothing is impossible for those with the vision and will to bring it into being.”

Story Synopsis: Lazslo is your average workaday demon. His job as a curse-keeper is cushy. He galavants around New York City, hustling the hustlers, drinking, and carousing with humans. But like all corporate jobs, he can only fly under the radar for so long.

Laszlo gets a new Overseer and is threatened with a demonic death for poor performance. The consummate hustler, Laszlo negotiates his way into getting a week’s reprieve to boost his numbers, and to do so, Laszlo selects an old, lingering curse on the Drakeford family. This generation of Drakefords, however, are spunky and ready to break the curse that’s kept their family from living full lives. After run-ins with kobolds and a jaunt to Europe, Laszlo must decide to help the Drakefords break the curse or become a model employee.

Why does this book beguile? The Witchstone was such a fun book! Laszlo is a very relatable demon, and his connection with Maggie Drakeford is fun and endearing. I enjoyed the three main characters in their own right and appreciate how Neff gave the demons human qualities. If you’re looking for a fun, energetic, urban-fantasy, you’ll enjoy The Witchstone!