Ciannon Smart

Trust no witch . . . Iraya Adair has spent her life in a cell. Heir of an overthrown and magically-gifted dynasty, she was exiled from her home on the island nation of Aiyca when she was just a child. But every day brings her closer to freedom - and vengeance. Jazmyne Cariot grew up dressed in gold, with stolen magic at her fingertips. Daughter of the self-crowned doyenne, her existence is a threat to her mother's rule. But unlike her sister, Jazmyne has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother's power. Sworn enemies, the two witches enter a deadly alliance to take down the woman who threatens both their worlds. But revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain - except the lengths Iraya and Jazmyne will go to win this game. Two witches. One motive. And a very untrustworthy alliance.

Witches Steeped in Gold

"Two enemy witches must enter into a deadly alliance to take down a tyrant who threatens both their worlds-with unpredictable results"--

Gillian Rose

I enjoyed this book! While it was slow to get going, once the two girls teamed up (albeit not on the best terms), it really became interesting. There were so many twists and the politics and magic system were cool. It's not a book for everyone, but I liked it a lot.

this book had a really interesting plot idea my only problem was I felt like there was a few slow spots and that it could have been sped up a little bit. 

Hannah Williams

Sheena

Firstly, let’s talk about the cover. It’s absolutely stunning and perfectly presents what the novel is about—two witches Iraya and Jazmyne, despite being divided by their castes, enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat.
 
The Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut novel was one of my most anticipated books of 2021. The author’s writing style brought this story to life with its incredible details, magical and strong female characters and most importantly brilliant worldbuilding.
 
In spite of this, I was not able to connect and immerse myself in this read. I found it overly detailed (ugh, info dumps are the worst!), confusing and hard to keep track of who was who. There were a large number of characters who had strong connections to Ira and Jazmyne, and background stories of their own. Also, if you’re a reader looking for something fast paced, this is not the one for you. It was terribly slow moving and oftentimes, I did skim a little to find more engaging scenes that peak my interest but overall, it didn’t help improve my reading experience.
 
‘Witches Steeped in Gold’ can be categorized as a hit or miss for readers due to it’s info dumps, large quantity of characters, very very slow pacing along with rich world-building.

Patricia Santos

It started promising but a couple chapters in got convoluted and hard to follow. The chapters seemed to repeat and the plot didn't seem to advance until the last chapters. The imagery of the scenery is amazing but a lot of the other description, for example the friendships background seemed to be neglected.

Katie Mansion

It was a beautifully written book, with inventive characters and a setting/world that is incomparable to anything else I've read. It is a dark book, so that was why it wasn't really my favourite - I was in the mood for something more uplifting, and that is not this book!
Ciannon Smart beautifully wrote the downward spiral of an idealistic wannabe-revolutionary hero to the next villainous leader. The flipside of the character (book is dual POV) sees a lost heir gradually and begrudgingly accept that she must help her people and start to lead. 
It is a bloody book full of mercurial, scheming people, but there are two nice love interests in development, and it is a fascinating read. I just wish there was a little more light to offset the dark. Wishful thinking, but I would have loved if the two main characters could have been friends. The idea was clearly toyed with, but dropped at the end. 

Giulia Pianta

I want to start off saying that the cover is beautiful. The Fairyloot version I got is beautiful, and so are the artworks of the main characters. Which are all black, no one excluded. It’s the first book I’ve read where every single person is black, and it’s also strongly inspired by Jamaican culture, which is absolutely amazing and I am happy for people who will feel represented.

But very sadly, everything else was a mess and I didn’t like this book at all.

First off, let me start with the Jamaican influence. I don’t know anything about the country or the culture, as I don’t live there, nor in the Americas. I am from Italy and we are really far away, so I believe Jamaican people know nothing of my culture and I know nothing of theirs, and this could have been a great way to find out more. But I could understand so little of this book.
And the thing is I wish I could, I love finding out about different cultures, especially such rich and fascinating ones, but here there was no explanation. Maybe in the US there is a wider knowledge, but this book is sold in the UK and Europe too and I can guarantee I am not the only one here that would be confused. Thing is, this issue could be solved so easily. For example, there are so many foreign words that I assume are used in Jamaica (I guess?) but when I Google them nothing comes up, so I have to guess the meaning but really it took me a long time to understand what pickney means, I am still confused about likkle or stakki???? Why not put a glossary at the end? Or even just use the literal next sentence after the word to clarify the meaning. For example, “He pointed at the pickney coming towards us. This kid was small.” It would be so simple to do this all the time, just say the non-English word, then in the next sentence you use the English translation in such a way so I find out what the word means without having to go look online or be confused.

Also the whole magic and folklore system requires previous knowledge I don’t have and can’t find online, so maybe explain it a little better? Because if I read a book with strong influences from a different culture, it means I want to learn about that culture as well, but here I am left too confused and learnt nothing.

Another issue I had is that I had the feeling that much of the book was filler or useless. I don’t get why we had to see the Yielding being called off and then after a few pages called on again. I get that the reason was the Jade Guild attack, but why not just keep the Yielding from the start and have the attack anyway? It was just a waste of space and made it all so confusing. Also, the meeting with the Pirate Queen? The meetings between Iraya and Jazmyne/Kieran?? They were repetitive and felt like they brought the story nowhere.
And especially, the Yielding sounds so important and interesting, and we never see it, at all. The Jade guild attacks happen off page, the insurrection at the camp is done when Iraya reappears. All the most important plot points happen in the background and we just get to hear about them, while we have to sit through some pointless discussions, descriptions of places we are passing by and are unimportant, stilted dialogues and a whole lot of boring stuff that could be left out and just mentioned with a line to give space to the actual interesting bits.

I am also sad that I struggled so much with worldbuilding. I could understand so little. While part of it is due to me not knowing much about the culture, most is because things were not explained properly. You need to get halfway through the book to understand that the winner of the Yielding is sacrificed, but also the others die. Since like the 4th chapter talks about calling off this rite, why not mention this there, maybe describing also how the process goes and the fact that there are tests? Instead, we learn this only 200 pages later, while the Yielding has already started. And it all is like that, all explanations are super vague and sprinkled here and there, so it takes you so long to get a full picture of a certain thing that you have been reading for pages and pages without an inkling of how it works.

Another issue is the past of the characters. We know Iraya’s past, but we get absolutely nothing on Jazmyne. We know her relationship with her mother is terrible but I wish we got to know how she grew up and how her friendship with Anya and Kirdan started.
The worst however is Madisyn. We are told nothing. We know she died in a Yielding. That’s all, nothing about her personality, no memories with her sister, no idea how she actually died, was she the sacrificed one or did she die during the trials?

This is particularly annoying when we get to see the Pirate Queen. We know Jazmyne is trying to contact someone, we get there with Anya, and when we meet the Queen Anya is so shocked but we get nothing. We are just introduced to a random character. Then we realise she was Madysin’s girlfriend. But why was she introduced in such an anticlimactic way?? I would rather know all of Jazmyne’s past, know she dumped Anya for another woman, and then realising that the other woman was the Pirate Queen would be shocking, or at least surprising.
Maybe I am being very picky, but this scene also felt so useless and I hope the pirate Queen will reappear later otherwise I see no point in this small scene.

Another very weak point is the lack of a map. We are on an island surrounded by many other islands that are referenced as if we know where they are, but we can’t know that if we don’t get to see it. Ayica is also divided in parishes and Jazmyne travels through many of them, but again it is so confusing and having a visual aid would make it so much better.

The pacing was such an issue as well. Nothing happens for so, so, so long. The first chapters see Iraya being rebellious and doing things, but then she goes to the training camp and there is a whole lot of nothing for chapters and chapters. Jazmyne is also doing stuff but nothing is really interesting or has such an importance to the story that it was worth keeping. Also, Iraya and Jazmyne start working together only at about 60% of the book, which is annoying as it is the literal premise of the book.

But at least we get to see some action with the (view spoiler)[planning and killing of the ministers of the doyenne (hide spoiler)], even though it was solved a bit too easily. After that, we get very short scenes of like a thousand things happening all at the same time but no time is dedicated to them properly so they feel very rushed and chopped. The ending was ok, it was quite predictable that (view spoiler)[everyone was betraying everyone (hide spoiler)] so I wasn’t very surprised by that. Nonetheless, the last 5 chapters were definitely the best of the book, but I can’t say I liked them very much, and they really don’t make up for the rest.

I also struggled with the dialogues as it felt like I was hearing people through a microphone while I am in a different room, and they talk about something in their room I don’t know and can’t see. There was always something lacking, especially during dialogues with Iraya, when they throw lines back and forth but it feels like they are not talking to each other. An example is when (view spoiler)[Iraya and Jazmyne make the pact to collaborate, and Iraya is all about how she is manipulating Jazmyne but she isn’t??? And she mentioned she deceived Jazmyne in some way or anyway strongly hints that she tricked her and we are meant to see how, but we don’t. Like maybe the author knew it in her head but it isn’t on the page and we just have Iraya going “wink wink did you see how I tricked her?” but we remain clueless. The same happened all the time that Iraya eluded the Vows and glyphs, we are treated as if it’s so clear what happened, but even after reading the dialogues over and over there is no trace of an explanation or a clue for us to understand (hide spoiler)].

I have to say I am very sad that I really didn’t enjoy this. I had such high expectations and I was so excited to read a high fantasy with such strong influences from a culture I know nothing about but find very fascinating. Instead, I am left very disappointed, I am giving it 2 starts as I didn’t hate it, but I won’t be reading the sequel.

Alli King

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC!

Witches Steeped in Gold is an incredible example of world building. The magic is unlike anything I’ve read! 
Jazmyne is the daughter of the Doyenne of Aiyca (inspired by Jamaica). She works as an emissary for her mother, but they have far from a loving relationship. In fact, she’s been actively working against her rule ever since her daughter was sacrificed to maintain the doyenne’s power. Iraya is the long lost heir to the Aiycan throne, and has been hidden in prison for the past 10 years. Now, though, she’s found a way to escape and begin to enact her plan for vengeance. While they don’t trust each other (and at times are actively working against each other), the two form an alliance to accomplish a common goal. 

I give this book four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author Ciannon Smart does an incredible job with the description of the island and the magic system in place. That’s what kept me going through the first 2/3 of the book. It was just really hard for me to get invested in the characters for the longest time. There was so much scheming, it was hard to get a good read on personalities until both Jazmyne and Iraya started working together. By the end, though, I was thoroughly into the book, and am excited for the sequel.

Megan Lapides

I would've liked this so much more if it was shorter. I thought the overall plot line was super interesting, but there were many parts of the book where nothing was happening and it was dragging on.

Sydniee

I have no words. I am in love with this book. If I can come up with words that explain what I feel and how much love I can say, I will write another review.

Heather Harrington

Iraya has spent years behind bars with only dreams of freedom and vengeance keeping her company. Jazmyne is the daughter of the Queen who refuses to lay down her life to strengthen her mother's power. Iraya and Jazmyne may be sworn enemies, but to take down a dangerous threat, they must put their differences aside and work together. With each having their motives for revenge and the lure of power becoming increasingly more intoxicating, can Iraya and Jazmyne destroy their common adversary before turning on each other?

This is a hard one for me because there were aspects of the story that I liked but also a lot I didn't like. The main things I enjoyed were the setting and the magic system. I liked how this had a lot of Jamaican influences and Smart did a nice job of crafting the world around that. The magic was also lush and imaginative. My biggest issue with this was the characters. There wasn't a lot of defining characteristics between Jazmyne and Iraya so there were times where I couldn't differentiate between the two. Maybe if I had read this physically it would've been easier, but the audiobook narrators sounded very much alike which made it even more difficult to tell who was who. Aside from that, I also found this to be quite long and drawn out and think the pacing would've benefitted had this been 50-100 pages shorter. If you like stories with witches who are morally gray or twisty vengeance-fueled plot lines, it might be worth it to pick this up.

Wiktoria Balcerak

*2.5
I am so, so, so disappointed and it makes me very sad. I don't really understand how a book with such a slow plot can be so dense and confusing at the same time. I also don't understand the decision of not including a glossary in a book with so many nicknames and specific words. the magic system made no sense, there were way too many characters, the two MCs had no distinctive voices and I felt like reading a book in a language I don't speak at all 😬 I won't be continuing with the series

Hannah

Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[rape mentioned, murder, blood depiction, death of a parent, death of a sibling, emesis, mind control & loss of autonomy, torture (hide spoiler)]

I wanted to love this book so much more than I did, but alas. Long story short - this just wasn't a standout for me regarding plot (perhaps I have just read too much political YA fantasy). 

The highlight of the book is, without a doubt, the setting and culture. This book is dripping in gorgeous Jamaican inspiration. It is so incredibly rich and truly sets the book apart. This in itself makes me incredibly interested in checking out the author again, Smart's voice is incredibly poignant in this respect. 

Sadly, this series isn't something for me, but I have no doubt it could be a favorite for many other readers. 


  Note: Review copy (audio) received via Libro.FM. This does not impact opinions within this review.


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Happy reading! ❤

Cristina Cicivelli 

Witches Steeped In Gold by Ciannon Smart is a solid book with a brilliant world-building rooted in Jamaican culture, completed by a fascinating magical system and a well-crafted cast of original characters. 
Even though I wasn’t blown away by it like I would have loved to, it’s definitely one of the most interesting and peculiar debuts I’ve ever read, with new takes on common tropes and structures, and many plot twists that left me speechless.

Focused on the characters’ evolutions as equally as on the plot, this introspective novel shows that overthrowing a queen is not an easy mission, and guides the reader through the tangled mixture of political intrigues and secret operations needed to ensure it. 
But it also takes the time to emphasize the importance of its people for a leader, and how a queen can’t thrive if no one is fighting for her (and with her).

Initially there are a couple of different subplots that make the book feel a little bit disjointed and slow in picking the right pace, and it’s only when they start to gradually blend together that everything becomes way more interesting. 
It also took me a bit to warm up to the characters, but now that I finished it I feel like I would be ready to jump off a cliff for them, in particularly for a certain black haired warrior that totally stole my heart.

Morally grey characters are not easy to craft in the right way, and still I strongly believe that in Witches they were executed perfectly: it was so easy to simultaneously realize how much suffering they were causing on a land and a population that had already been through enough, and empathize with their fight for the greater good, as there was always a clear and understandable reason behind their actions that leaves you questioning if the results are worth the cost. 

Iraya and Jazmyne, the two main characters, are deeply similar, both forced to embrace a role they didn’t quite wanted in the first place, and it was delightful to see that even if they seems to be allies, to share a common goal, they never truly trust each other: at the core they are enemies, and it was just realistic to see that while they work together on one side, on the other they have their own separate and independent plan. For once, the transition between enemies and allies was not was easy and straightforward as it often happens in fantasy books.

While this is clearly not a fantasy romance, I deeply loved some glimpses of romantic interactions (and banter!!!) between two particular characters that definitely added some *spice* to the whole story, and I will keep my fingers crossed that this will be explored a little bit more in book 2 (even though I’m already sure it will break my heart).

In conclusion, while Witches Steeped In Gold may not be a perfect book and it’s definitely a story that needs to be read at the *right* moment to be fully appreciated, I can say without doubt that it’s a book not to miss if you love creative and innovative writing.

 [ an ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review ]

Witches Steeped in Gold

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