The Hollow Witch is a high fantasy sapphic story that shares the prices that come with using magic. The following is a spoiler-free review with a final rating of 3.75.

The world in which Sylvie, a sentry raised to defend the people from the forces of evil, is plagued by a cost to using magic. The dead arise, bringing chaos and disaster with them. After almost losing her life, Sylvie is left with a permanent disability and the loss of her magic. Azura, the daughter of Arteria’s alchemist, has grown up in the palace, friends with the little queen herself, and used the daily use of magic.

Sylvie is sent to the palace to assist Azura’s father in his work, which means a new life for the soldier, a new world and a lot of new adjustments; her cane for one. Whilst there, she strikes up a friendship with Azura, the queen Lena and her bodyguard Myles. The story cumulates with an unprecedented attack that only Sylvie and Azura can save, yet they begin to question; should they?
This story was solid. It wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t bad. The writing itself was well done, things were explained easily and nothing got too complicated, even when it seemed it should be. The descriptions were beautiful also and easily visualised.

Sylvie and Azura weren’t truly loveable characters, yet I believe that to have been kind of the point. They’re flaws. Sylvie is too stubborn and ruthless and is unable to let go of the past. Azura, on the other hand, is used to the life of luxury, she defies her father and doesn’t truly understand the hardships of life outside the palace. Throughout they do learn, and they grow, and I liked seeing that. I wasn’t in love with their relationship as it did seem to go from acquaintances to romantic quite quickly like they had one nice chat on the roof and suddenly they were kissing and dating. I would have liked more time to see them develop their friendship and understand each other a little more before starting a romantic relationship. Their scenes, however, were very sweet.

It was interesting, with the take on having to pay a price for magic and the fact high uppers will ignore the threat just to make life easier and the nation a little bit more powerful. The sentries and soldiers were also a way to get rid of the changelings and foundlings, aka the dregs of society. This side was an interesting commentary on the world we live in.

I enjoyed the ending, the climax felt like it came all too quickly though, with much of the story feeling slow with no endgame. For me, it got more interesting around 70%. It did leave a lot of open questions, such as Azura’s father and that last line, yet perhaps it's opening up for a sequel or novella.

Overall, it was a good book. Interesting story and characters with brilliant world-building.

The strengths of this novel are the diversity and immersive world-building. With not only queer women, but a chronically ill and hard of hearing character is amazing representation and I'm very glad that more people will be able to see themselves represented in this book. The magic system was compelling and fascinating, with the question of sacrificing something for magic being asked throughout. I found Silvie really likable as a character and I was thoroughly invested in her story and how it progressed. Unfortunately, I couldn't find myself as invested in the other characters and they fell a bit flat for me. Overall though, this book had a very unique premise and the world-building was fantastic.

If you want a book that honestly had me thinking where is this going to oh wow that happened, this is definitely a hidden gem for you this year.

Firstly let me thank NetGalley / publishers/ Mary Borsellino for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

The hollow witch, follows Silvie a sentrie who after one unfortunate event rips her from her magical able self into a person forever physically changed to her reclaimed un-magical life. Maybe death would have better but she is sent to Arteria to be a doctor’s apprentice. There we meet three more central characters, Azura the doctor’s daughter who will not follow her father’s path, Lana the child windowed queen and Myles her protector / servant.

This is high fantasy with some fantastic world building, that is as beautiful as it is chilling. The magic is built within individuals but also channelling through the area which brings a twist of death via countless members of the undead. This is a great twist on zombie plot. You intertwine with each character with a threat in the background but is not walking dead style more contained unless somebody does generally dies - there is a creepy glass coffin moment that would be a jump scare scene!

I will say the story does feel slow but this does help cement the story with the world building along with the characters development. This followed with a twist that honestly happens around the 90% mark, yes I would have liked this sooner. But the twist is so masterful I can forgive this, horrific really when you read this in blissfully ignorance looking back. You realise quite quickly you are lead via a level of naivety at the same time Azura comes to realise.

The rage, anger and pain is felt all in the last 10% with a real sense of the loss of innocence and reality of Silvia being the one realise what needs to happen next. There is a soft budding romance between Silvie and Azura that literally starts and then this happens. A gentleness that is ripped from the page quite literally.

The story ends quite abruptly, I am hoping for a book 2 as there is so much more left unanswered and genuinely intrigued at how this is going to play out next for them! Would highly recommend, this would be a 4.5 only knocked down for pace.

Great read would highly recommend.

First of all: Thank you to Mary Borsellino and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I usually have a hard time with slow-paced books, and *The Hollow Witch* definitely tested my patience in the beginning. The world-building was detailed, and the magic system had some interesting concepts, but it took a long time for the story to really get going. Once it picked up (which unfortunately wasn’t the case until like 85% in) I found myself more engaged, especially with the character dynamics and the way themes of power and disability were explored.

Silvie and Azura had an intriguing relationship, and while I appreciated how the book took its time developing their interactions, there were stretches where the plot felt bogged down by dialogue and setup, making it difficult to stay fully invested. The zombie element was a unique twist I didn’t see coming, though I wish it had been more central earlier in the story..

Overall, this was a solid read with some great ideas, but the pacing and execution didn’t fully work for me. Fans of slower, character-driven fantasy will likely enjoy it more, but I’m on the fence about continuing the series.

Review Release: 2/2/25
Review Platform: Goodreads/Amazon
Review: As slow paced as it was, it was actually a pretty good book. I love how everything unfolded and the development of the characters throughout the story. I am keen to see what Borsellino brings with the continuation of the story.

Thank you to Mary Borsellino and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Story started off slow but then picked up and I found I couldn’t put it down! Interesting magic system, good world building and a surprise villain.

Deeply enjoyable, this rich romantic fantasy paints a stunningly vibrant world full of fascinating characters, particularly its two protagonists. Seeing their relationship develop over the course of the story was deeply enjoyable, and really did a great job keeping me engaged! Overall, a solid novel, and one that makes me excited to see what this author has in store next! Thank you to NetGalley and Clan Destine Press for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. It was at about the 50% mark that I became bored and not until about 90% in did things pick back up for me. I liked the characters and the plot but the way some of the mechanics of the world were explained either did not make logical sense or needed more explanation. There were a couple things that did not seem necessary, almost like they were added because the author thought it would be cool and had no other reason for it. I have no real gripes with this book, I absolutely see many people reading and loving this. I unfortunately will not be continuing in this series.

Thank you to Mary Borsellino and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely sapphic fantasy story with a zombie twist. It had an interesting magic system with good world building. A slow start but a very solid book overall.

"The Hollow Witch'' was an enjoyable book to read.
I really liked the way the characters were portrayed, they have their own backgrounds which are quite individual. I also liked reading how they acted together, even though they were so unlike each other!
It was nice to read Azura's and Silvie's POV's, two girls who see the world in such different ways.
I also found it interesting to read how Silvie dealt with her sudden loss of hearing and magic.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an E-Arc of this interesting book.

I like to go into e-arc’s semi blind to give myself the best experience and for this book I think it was the best thing I could do.

A sapphic witch story with Zombies? That was an interesting but nice surprise.

Story started off slow but then picked up and I found I couldn’t put it down! Dealt with some hard topics which I would suggest reading trigger warnings for.

Overall a good sapphic fantasy that was shorter than I anticipated but had a good time reading and will look at what else this author has wrote.

Zombie high fantasy
Silvie is a poor foundling who served as a magical sentry - travelling in a wolf‘s mind to fight against the cadaveri - until she total burns out when her wolf dies. No magic, deaf on one ear and with serious vertigo she is called to serve the royal alchemist in the main capital Arteria. There she meets well-to-do, contrary Azura, the magically gifted daughter of the alchemist, and the child-queen Lena. We get to know the intricate setting and the capital. Arteria very much resembles Venice, the lagoon, the canals, the palazzo and certainly the opulent flaunting of wealth.
Borsellino slowly introduces us into the world: where Silvie, Azura, Lena and her guard are on very different sides when it comes to their station in life. I started to wait for the other shoe to drop when we slowly get an idea that all the wealth covers a rot which goes to the core of this world. At last it all erupts …
The world-building is excellent. I esp. liked the idea of the cadaveri / zombies balancing the exploitation of magic. Borsellino outdid herself when describing the effects of Silvie‘s disability and weaving them continuously into the story. There is a very slow burn f/f romance mixed into the story. Although interesting it takes some time for the underlying tension to come forth, but I very much enjoyed the nuanced writing and the great descriptions.

I received an ARC via netgalley. The review is left voluntarily.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.
I was originally skeptical about this book. The start scene to be one of a typical fantasy. BUT OH BOY WAS I WRONG. This book is one of the biggest hidden gems of 2024.

Writing:
Chefs kiss no notes. The starting felt a little sloppy but it picked up after about 25%. I genuinely felt like I was in the book

Plot:
The first 80% the book is about the charecters and establishing their roll in the narrative. There a re alot of coversations and conflicting opinions. The book had a more literary fiction feeling to it.The metaphor of magic and zombies is very relatable in this current this century.

Chrecters:
Each one of the charecters have a different upbringing and motivations making the conversations between them really interesting.

Overall this book is a goldmine of good quotes and relevant topics making this one a must read!

The Hollow Witch follows Silvie, a sentry that uses magic to transport her mind into a wolf to fight off the undead that rise as a cost of magic use in the country. During a response, her wolf is killed while she was inhabiting its' mind almost resulting in her death, but it left her with some disabilities and the inability to use magic. Without her magic she found herself being enlisted as an apprentice in the countries capital for the records keeper where she meets her new bosses daughter, Azura.

I'll admit this book wasn't for me. The characters were fine. I like Silvie, she was well created and intriguing. Azura is trapped in her life, wanting out but not knowing where to go, was a bit too childish for me. I struggled a bit with the progression of their relationship. The world seems fascinating but I wanted more. There were some inconsistencies that kept nagging me as I read and since most of the world building was done through off handed comments and side conversations, it was up to the reader to piece it together. Which is not generally what I enjoy since if you miss something or come to the wrong conclusion, it takes me out of the story and hurts my enjoyment of the story.

All in all, the book wasn't bad but it wasn't for me. Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

My pledge to myself for 2025 was to expand my reviewing beyond just theatre, more regularly adding book reviews seeing as I have spent so many years studying books anyway. With that in mind, I have also had to consider increasing the amount of books that I read – typically it takes far longer to read a book than watch a play! So, we’re ten days into the year and I have already read two books, not bad going if I say so myself. My second book of the year was The Hollow Witch by Mary Borsellino, a high fantasy YA novel which takes us on a journey to a place where the cost of magic is a particularly high one.

All magic comes at a price, any good fairytale or OUAT meme will tell you that, but what that price is varies from fantasy novel to fantasy novel. In the fictional kingdom of Arteria, where magic is collected and siphoned off securely, this price is the resurrection of the dead, or zombie-esque creatures known as cadaveri. In this world there are magical foundling armies which protect the people, and the towns and city people who live in fear. One of our protagonists is the former. Silvie is a fiercely independent soldier, suffering from a crippling injury which results in the loss of both physical and magical capabilities. By contrast, Azura is a privileged girl living in the heart of the kingdom, friend of royalty and daughter to the court alchemist. Worlds collide when Silvie becomes the alchemist’s apprentice and the two must learn about different ways of life in order to find a common thread. It is a story which touches upon a range of themes including prejudice, child abuse, and homophobia, seeking to tackle big issues through a fantasy lens, albeit if a little clumsily at times.

The heavy handed discussion of themes follows through into the exposition, with a little too much reliance on telling over showing and a reliance on tropes to indicate the growing romance. Certainly, there were some good moments of description and the world itself was an interesting one, but the fleshing out of the characters fell somewhat short. This felt like a story which could have really captured the imagination, but unfortunately has not quite reached its full potential. If Borsellino had spent a few more words breathing life into these characters and filling in the gaps between the sometimes erratic time jumps, this would have been a compelling story about how mistreatment can make you want to burn the whole world down. There was a poignant story to be told here and a fascinating idea of what magic truly costs and I would have liked to feel more invested in the personal journeys the characters were going on. An interesting story with potential.

It's not your job to be what he, or anyone else, wants you to be. You just have to be. Even if it makes your father disappointed, or uncomfortable, or angry, or sad. No matter how much you love him, you can't betray who you are for his sake, because who you are isn't up to him.' wow

SAPPHIC FANTASY IS MY FAVORITE. i was surprised by how short this one is.

i loved the idea of zombies in a more fantasy setting. i really love the characters! it was written in a descriptive but not TOO descriptive way.

The Hollow Witch by Mary Borsellino is a masterpiece! Pure art in book form. I completely loved the storyline, the characters, the plot... so so good!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an arc of this book

Sylvie was a child soldier who is forced to start her life over when she is taken on as an apprentice to an alchemist. Her new world is so different from what she knew before and she is drawn to the alchemists daughter. The two strike up an unlikely bond and that was what I enjoyed most about the book.

There’s magic and threat and ghouls and some romance thrown into the mix as well. An overall enjoyable read

Silvie is a sentry, who uses her psychic magic to protect her town, until a tragedy cost hrr powers. Azura, daughter of the court alchemist, is less than happy tobhear her father has a new apprentice.
However, Silvie quickly befriends her and Lena, her friend, while court politics swirl around them. As Silvie realizes she might love Azusa, things come to a sudden boil.
Good, if somewhat dark read. Interesting magic system, good world building and a surprise villain.

this kind of book is the hardest to review because it is not bad but it's not good, it's just fine. the only thing that's sticks out to me as a flawed is the plot. could have forgiven it for being so scattered if it was balanced out by stronger character arcs but they too are just fine.