Allison Saft

Allison Saft's A Far Wilder Magic is a romantic YA fantasy perfect for fans of Erin A. Craig and Margaret Rogerson, about two people who find themselves competing for glory--and each other's hearts--in a magical fox hunt...

A Far Wilder Magic

Months after reading this book, I'm still thinking about that final line. So perfect.

Caroline Clutterbuck Kapulkin

With her eyes fixed on the horizon, she lets the ashes go.

I love the first and last sentences of this book. Perhaps the first isn't so unique, but it grabs me!

🌙

love is not the sharp-edged thing she's always believed it to be. it’s not like the sea, liable to slip through her fingers if she holds on too tight. it’s not a currency, something to be earned or denied or bartered for. love can be steadfast. it can be certain and safe, or as wild as an open flame. it’s a slice of buttered bread at a dinner table. it’s a grudge born of worry. it’s broken skin pulled over swelling knuckles.

horu

“No, not at all. It suits you. I like it when you let me do this.”

[with my best logan roy impression] fuck off! (not negative)

“You’ve chipped away at me, but when I saw you out there tonight, it was like everything I’ve ever tried to keep myself from feeling came back with a vengeance.” Wes hesitates. “I’ve messed up so many times. I’ve thrown away almost every chance I had to be genuine with you. I’ve hurt you. But you still trust me. You still let me in. You still push me to be better.”

Margaret feels strangely light-headed, like she has lost her grasp of language entirely.

He smiles at her, rueful and hopeful all at once. “I’ve been a fool, haven’t I?”

Luna 🌙

Megan

I had to sneak one more read in before the month’s end! Unfortunately, I wasn’t super blown away by this book. It was too much “will they, won’t they” and not enough magic. The hunt was too short and the end was a little dissatisfying. However, I loved Margaret and her growth throughout the story.

liana

This book felt like a hug. This is one of the most beautiful pieces of literature I’ve ever read, the writing was perfect, it’s been too long since I’ve read something so well written, it felt like a breath of fresh air. This is my first Alison Saft book but it won’t be the last, from now on I intend to read everything she’s written and whatever she will write in the future. The way she portrayed the characters’ feelings and emotions was something else. Their love was so pure (and I love slow burns so that was even better) and so understanding, their doubts and their raw feelings for each other was on point. 
I’m not giving this 5 stars because I would’ve loved if it had an epilogue. It ends kind of like to interpret it however you please and at the same time not (?) I won’t be explaining it but once you read it you’ll understand what I’m saying.
Conclusion: every person on this planet should read this masterpiece. Thank me later, and Allison Saft will enchant you completely with her precious words.

britt

Getting to know Wes and Maggie was so fun. Their struggles and strengths felt honest and reflective of the way we stutter-step toward love and hide from heartbreak in the slow burn romances of our teen years.

But outside of their story, I wanted so much more from the world-building. What is this alchemy? Why are some people alchemists and not others? What motivates the Hala? I want more side-quests and drama in the hunt AND more clarity on the technology, geography and currency of this world.

I felt especially underwhelmed by the heavy religious allegory. A good fantasy novel can reflect our contemporary injustices and prejudices back to us so clearly, but this one felt like a weak reflection of anti-semitism and catholic idolatry just taped over a vaguely historical world-like-ours. Why rename the religion if they’re still going to say the rosary and recite the Catholic meal prayer? Why not integrate Jewish practices more subtly or more obviously?

And Evelyn? I couldn’t decide if she was only there, because Maggie needed a mother to prove this was YA.

Amelia Hruby

Getting to know Wes and Maggie was so fun. Their struggles and strengths felt honest and reflective of the way we stutter-step toward love and hide from heartbreak in the slow burn romances of our teen years.

But outside of their story, I wanted so much more from the world-building. What is this alchemy? Why are some people alchemists and not others? What motivates the Hala? I want more side-quests and drama in the hunt AND more clarity on the technology, geography and currency of this world.

I felt especially underwhelmed by the heavy religious allegory. A good fantasy novel can reflect our contemporary injustices and prejudices back to us so clearly, but this one felt like a weak reflection of anti-semitism and catholic idolatry just taped over a vaguely historical world-like-ours. Why rename the religion if they’re still going to say the rosary and recite the Catholic meal prayer? Why not integrate Jewish practices more subtly or more obviously?

And Evelyn? I couldn’t decide if she was only there, because Maggie needed a mother to prove this was YA.

Mel 

3 to 3.25 Stars

This book suffers from poor execution. There is a good idea here but it comes up short due to weak and over-complicated world building. The hunt does not take center stage as much as you would think going into this nor is the mechanics of the hunt ever properly explained. The lore is confusing and I’m still confused about how alchemy overall functions in this world. 
Maggie and Wes were just okay as individuals and a couple. I liked seeing a FMC that was introverted and more of a lone-ranger/quiet. I think the author introduced or mentioned things that we were never going to explore properly in a standalone.
Despite my criticisms, this book had some good moments/scenes that took it from a 2 star to a 3 star read.

nina 

envie,

he is incorrigible, and she is so in love.

this is one of the first y - fiction books i've read in a while, romance focused especially and i adored it. maggie and wes were beautiful together and apart, i absolutely fell in love with them. saft's writing was nothing short of beautiful, and i think she perfectly captured both the fear and hope of longing and dreaming. i cannot wait to read her other works.

Vivi

★★★★☆ (4.5)

“When she looks like this, flushed and hazy and haloed by the moon, he truly can believe God exists, and her name is Margaret Welty.”

¿el glowup de como habla Wes de Margaret? un 10/10

nuélle

it almost felt as if weston winters was specifically written for me

valentine

thank you for my life, fullmetal alchemist fanfiction.

I don’t even know how to describe how much I loved this book. Definitely going to buy and add to my physical library.

Edit: reread it with a friend, and it’s still so good. I could focus on other things I missed on my first read this time around. Loved it just as much. 

Floofyflower

I don’t even know how to describe how much I loved this book. Definitely going to buy and add to my physical library.

Edit: reread it with a friend, and it’s still so good. I could focus on other things I missed on my first read this time around. Loved it just as much. 

Ivy X

A lot of potential, interesting premise. 
However, characters and world-building fell flat. I found the main characters annoying. Wes is the standard "I'm a good guy but I'm troubled and somehow you (a girl) disrupted everything I know" and Margaret is the "omg I'm a trapped and lonely girl who just needs some love and acceptance." It just felt too formula-driven and nothing sold the one-dimensional relationship to me. (Also Wes spending chapters going "hmm this girl is not my type" did not help.) 

The book is also slow in the middle. There was a huge section of the book where I felt like I was running in circles and waiting for the race to start (and when the race did start it wasn't that exciting). I also wish the author added more depth to Margaret and Evelyn's mother-daughter relationship --but Evelyn felt so one-dimensional and the author kept telling me as opposed to showing me that this was a woman struggling with grief and trauma and losing a sense of what it means to truly live. There were so many chapters where the author seems to drill in the idea that Evelyn is a horrible mother and everyone can't believe she would just leave her daughter behind & the only resolution is for Margaret to find love elsewhere because she will never see eye-to-eye with her mean mother. Personally, this felt like a missed opportunity to explore the complexities in their relationship. 

Quotes
- He does love her; he just hides it well, the proud, dramatic thing. But Margaret loves him plainly and far more than anything else in the world. [about Trouble, the hound] 

-Better to quickly cut the throat of this fragile hope instead of letting it languish like a wolf in a snare. 

-Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, and here they are. Miles between them and an ocean of resentment to fill them.

-What would it be like if people would come home when she asked them to? If love always outweighed ambition? 

-"Take care, Miss Welty." 
He says it so earnestly, as if he wants to press those words into her hands like a gift. 

- How many times will she watch someone leave this place and never look back, while she is left here like a ghost to haunt it? 

-Everything she wants and all the tenuous happiness she claimed is slipping through her fingers. She can't believe she made herself vulnerable to this pain again. 

-The sheets smell like him. Cloying aftershave a touch of sulfur. It almost hurts to breathe it in. 
I don't mind being alone, she told him. 
How has she managed to convince herself of that lie for so long? 

-Remember her on her good days, her father would say. That's who she really is.
Eventually, she was the only one left remembering, and now there are no Evelyns at all. 

-He has shown her both sides of himself: loving and spiteful, ambitious and selfless, untethered and hopelessly devoted. They are both him. They will both always be him. She cannot make the same mistake again; she cannot make a whole of only one half of him.

paun

The most magical and autumnal book I have ever read. It is so cozy and relaxing to read it and to meet the people in the book. I love Wes and Margaret they are my heart and my children 🥺

(Bre)anne✨

Christine Bruce

Full 5 stars. I loved this books so much.

Set in a very similar world to our own, but with magic and different names for religions. Margaret needs to win the historic Hunt to get her mother's love, Wes needs to win to achieve his dreams. They both figure out there's so much more to the world than they'd previously thought. 

I loved everything about this book. I loved the emotional journey of Margaret, realizing she didn't deserve the life she'd accepted for herself. The growth of Wes who realizes life is better when he's not bluffing his way through it. I loved their character growth and their slow falling in love. The actions they each took, even when frustrating, were believable and understandable. Their journey individually is such an important message for people in either set of shoes. 

This book is prime "antagonists to lovers" I wouldn't say enemies, because it's not that bad. Their relationship is just built on a shaky ground, but that's okay. Cities have survived on less. As they grow to know each other, their respect and admiration also grows, Until they've fallen in love and you can't pinpoint exactly when it happened. It was a believable romance and progression.

Then there's the world building. I'm not sure the purpose of giving the religions different names when every aspect of them is solidly real world. From the prayers, to canards, to even a dog saint. They were real world religions, and giving them different names when nothing else changed seemed a little pointless. There's even strong reference to 'the war' as in WWI, and the pogroms and potato famine that brought immigrants to America. Almost every aspect was pure real world history, so changing the names of it seemed a moot point. 

Naming aside, the religious interactions and the truth of the xenophobia and ethnocentric views present at the time was such a great touch of world building. Also seeing it explored as a subplot was something, as a historian focused on religion, I really found fascinating. Seeing the different ways Wes and Margaret responded to the hatred of the people around them, especially given their upbringings and surroundings, was such a great touch of character development. It made the world building so solid and believable, and it lent greater understanding to the characters as well. 

Then the entire aspect of the hala. How it left specific plots and acres untouched, how it reacted to Wes and Margaret versus other people in town. I could wax for days about what it all could mean. But it's never fully explained, and I like that. It was no doubt some kind of godly creature, no matter which creation myth is believed. Was it really playing favorites based on which religion the people were? Was it really aware of what its fate was? Was it really a gift to be used? So many questions. And not answering them only further fuels the ideas I have, and further fuels how much I loved this book.

✨ lovely characters — Wes was so sweet & Maggie was fierce & relatable, and the writing had so many moments!!

— that plot was so slow and mostly ehhh. Like, it's so sad when you finish a book and go "whew, glad I got that over with”

— world building...sigh. Picture this: an Irish Catholic boy and a Jewish girl in early 1920s America team up to chase their dreams. Now do a simple “find and replace” on every proper noun I just used and that is the extent of the world building. It's extra frustrating bc the writer has CLEARLY done a lot of research — like, there was even some discussion on deep

concepts found in Rabbinical literature. But by replacing Judaism (and Catholicism) with made up names it ended up feeling cheapened and more than a little appropriative. Just call Judaism by its name. And call anti-Semitism by its name too. That feels really important.

Sharanya Sharma

✨ lovely characters — Wes was so sweet & Maggie was fierce & relatable, and the writing had so many moments!!

— that plot was so slow and mostly ehhh. Like, it's so sad when you finish a book and go "whew, glad I got that over with”

— world building...sigh. Picture this: an Irish Catholic boy and a Jewish girl in early 1920s America team up to chase their dreams. Now do a simple “find and replace” on every proper noun I just used and that is the extent of the world building. It's extra frustrating bc the writer has CLEARLY done a lot of research — like, there was even some discussion on deep

concepts found in Rabbinical literature. But by replacing Judaism (and Catholicism) with made up names it ended up feeling cheapened and more than a little appropriative. Just call Judaism by its name. And call anti-Semitism by its name too. That feels really important.



Margaret McFarlane

I never actually read the blurb for this book and just looked at the cover and assumed it was lesbians so that was disappointing when it turned out to be straight. Other than that though I really enjoyed it

Nicole Dykeman

I LOVE THIS BOOK. It was off to a slow start - the first 75 pages took me a bit longer than they normally would - but I might say this is my favorite book of 2022 so far. 

I love the setting. I love the line Saft straddles between modernity and timelessness, between city and town and country. 

I love the plot. The hunt and the hala and the alchemy and the mythology of it all is explained just enough that it fully explains everything but doesn’t bog down the story. I love the balance between the focus on the central romance and the focus on the overarching narrative. 

I love the characters. Wes and his ambition and his big heart. Margaret and her quiet strength. I love the way that they love each other. I love the way that they make each other better. I love Trouble and I’m not even a dog person. I love Wes’s sisters and his mother. I love all of these people finding love and comfort among one another in the face of a world that stands against them. 

I’m gonna be internally screaming about this for days and making everyone I know read this book.

Lillian

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Prett for providing me with an e-Arc of this book!

cws/tws: coded antisemitism, xenophobia, PTSD, parental abuse, mention of parental death, animal death, gore

If I had to describe A Far Wilder Magic in one word, it would be cozy. It feels like snuggling up on a rainy day to read. Don’t let this description fool you, though. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. A Far Wilder Magic also deals with a lot of serious themes, but the way they’re dealt with, and how the book ends, leaves you feeling satisfied and ultimately hopeful. The book feels like a big hug after a long, long day that almost makes it all worth it.

The way that the fantasy weaved in real life issues was so intelligent - you could see how they mirrored things that happen in our world but it didn’t feel out of place at all in the fantasy world either. The discrimination that the mcs face starkly hark back to nationalism and xenophobia in the Western world. A Far Wilder Magic explores what it really means to find success, and to find your own way in the world with marginalized identities.

Then, of course, the centerpiece is the characters of Wes and Maggie. These two characters captured my heart from the very beginning. While Wes and Maggie start off clashing because of their external differences, we soon discover that inside, they’re not so different at all - which is further shown through the genius of Saft’s writing. They begin to sympathize with each other over their collective desires to be loved - and later, to be loved by each other. Allison Saft developed their voices incredibly - overall, the writing in this book was so beautiful and flowery in the best way. That definitely added to the cozy atmosphere, I would wager. 

Now, I know using Taylor Swift songs is probably not the best way to give a review, but 1) it helps give context with no spoilers and 2) I’m fairly sure that if you’re a Swiftie, you’ll enjoy this book, so I would say that the relationship between Wes and Maggie can best be described as this is me trying gf and New Year’s Day bf, or vice versa. In other words, they struggle with letting each other in and being vulnerable, but the other person is always there to help them, even when things get ugly.

I will say, the plot outside of Wes and Maggie’s developing relationship was not particularly interesting to me, so if that’s something you look for in a book this may not be for you, but if you don’t mind forsaking that for an extremely fleshed out character-based story, then you’ll love A Far Wilder Magic!

4.25/5!

Livia

i have no other explanation for the 5 stars except for wes and margaret. and their character development. and a magical story with beautiful writing. it overpowers my objective view of the book, that's how good it is

the characterization was great and both the leads felt real and relatable.

the ending left me wanting a little more (specifically about the hala itself and its bond with margaret). i think some ends were tied up too hastily as well, especially given all of the build up that it took to get there. but it’s rather obvious that this is a very character-centric book, which i don’t mind since the characters are written well. 

the characterization was great and both the leads felt real and relatable.

the ending left me wanting a little more (specifically about the hala itself and its bond with margaret). i think some ends were tied up too hastily as well, especially given all of the build up that it took to get there. but it’s rather obvious that this is a very character-centric book, which i don’t mind since the characters are written well. 

it was okay! i liked the prose and wes is now undoubtedly one of my favourite characters, but it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi? started slow, but i think the pacing isn’t a big issue because it paid off somewhere in the middle nearing the end. regarding the end itself, however, it felt like there was something missing when the actual hunt happened; some questions, notably the bond between the hala and margaret, still felt unanswered too (or at least, it felt that way to me). but it was by no means a bad book and i enjoyed reading it well enough.

one thing i will say: maggie and wes were very much the heart of the story. they felt very real, and that’s something i don’t usually get out of reading YA books.

it was okay! i liked the prose and wes is now undoubtedly one of my favourite characters, but it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi? started slow, but i think the pacing isn’t a big issue because it paid off somewhere in the middle nearing the end. regarding the end itself, however, it felt like there was something missing when the actual hunt happened; some questions, notably the bond between the hala and margaret, still felt unanswered too (or at least, it felt that way to me). but it was by no means a bad book and i enjoyed reading it well enough.

one thing i will say: maggie and wes were very much the heart of the story. they felt very real, and that’s something i don’t usually get out of reading YA books.

Samantha Chavez 

So romantic and cozy, like slipping into a nice bath in a cottage in the woods.

Zoe Smolen

Probably around a 3.5 for me. 

This is a nice blend of fantasy and our real world, which is what I tend to gravitate towards in fantasy stories. This book is not our world, but there's enough of our world that bleeds through to make it feel like a familiar setting. Using this setting made for an interesting conversation about heterogenous groups and outsiders, though I feel like Saft could have been more explicit about it and not made the characters both white presenting - at least on the cover. 

Wes kind drove me crazy - and honestly I hated the narrators voice for him - he was a little too trusting and he was pretty selfish in the beginning, even if he felt he was doing it for valiant reasons. Margaret was also a little annoying at first, but it's understandable for the situations she's in. 

Thanks to the publishers for an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

A Far Wilder Magic

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