Brief Synopsis
“The Last Windwitch” is the debut novel of Jennifer Adam, and is a middle-grade fantasy novel which begins in the village of Oak Hollow. Brida, a young orphan girl who has been training to be a hedgewitch, accidentally catches the attention of the evil Queen, and begins to realize that there is a lot more to her magic than she realized…
Content Warnings: References to Death, Intense Action (PG-13)
What Do I Think?
I’m going to start with this: “The Last Windwitch” is a delightful read. The protagonist Brida is clever and engaging, the world is fascinating (particularly its soft magic system), and the story takes on an epic scale by the end that feels deserving of a movie or television adaptation.
So why am I so confused by it?
I think, mostly, it’s because this book is listed in most places as being middle-grade. The gorgeous cover is illustrated in a way that suggests so. The overall tone and writing style certainly fits a middle-grade story. And yet, despite that, I feel like this book straddles the line between middle-grade and young adult – the size of the book (over 400 pages!) is more fitting for a YA novel, and the last third of the novel definitely fits with more of a YA-style tale. That isn’t to say that “Last Windwitch” is bad by any means – in fact, I would say the exact opposite! – but it was jarring, considering I went into this book blind.
Truthfully, this book reminds me of the children’s novels I grew up with – stories like Bartimaeus, Redwall, and Percy Jackson – that at the time were classified as simply “children’s” stories (because back then stories were either ‘children’ or ‘adult’), but nowadays would toe the line between the middle-grade and young adult classifications that exist now. And I think that’s a good thing! The first half of the novel read much younger as Brida is still living in her home village and just beginning to understand the world around her; once she does get a clearer picture of the world and her role in it, she’s forced to mature, and the story matures with her.
All in all, I think that “Last Windwitch” is a fantastic read for anyone who is a fan of MG or YA fantasy. It might seem a bit confusing at first, but it is well worth it to the end!
Jacob Ryckman 