Astania Reviews

Kae | The Five Cursed Witches: Volume 1 - Zoe, the witch of innocence

General Thoughts I Had While Reading

Chapter One:

There is some great world building happening here, especially with the magical cooling technology!

The science-lover within me is very interested in what sort of tests she had to do to confirm her magic.

That she even wants to be touched by spiders and rats really lends to that feeling of desire. Good motivation!

There are also some really nice character moments here, both when she prepares food "just to have something to do with her hands" and the plant ritual at the end. Good stuff!

Excellent chapter ending, especially for your first chapter.

Chapter Two:

"One time I believed the smiles were genuine" - love it!

Zoe seems to wear a lot of black, too. I find it kind of curious that she comments on the fact that the Priestess only wears black when she does the same thing.

Heh, so the Priestess is a hypocrite and comes quite often. These details are nicely woven into the narration without it having to mention them explicitly.

I wonder, does the Priestess have something to do with the attacks? She certainly seems capable of it.

Chapter Three:

I like the father-daughter relationship.

How corrupt is this coven?

How old exactly is Zoe?

I wonder why she doesn't take out the Priestess and her underlings, then run to somewhere secluded. Unless somehow that isn't possible. Right now though, Zoe's power seems to be quite strong.

Chapter Four:

I like that she's coming there for so long that she's a regular, but also she isn't. There's a nice division there between her being a witch who knows more than mortals, while the mortals do not recognize her as someone who is both way older than them and knows more than they do.

It's nice that the owners know her. It also shows just how much she's allowed to say about being a witch—since the guy doesn't know what she's doing is magic—that her presence is somewhat accepted but is still passed down as a sort of trade secret from owner to owner. It's interesting as a dynamic, and it's a good way to subtly introduce a world-building concept.

Chapter Five:

There's an intrigue at the end here with her having to ask the "right" question—I wonder if that is implying she's asking the wrong question somehow, and that's why she keeps getting the answer that doesn't quite make sense. This is actually one of my favourite world building concepts: you create a world 'rule,' and then you spend a significant amount of time explaining how and why that rule is often wrong and can be broken. I do like a story that explores the idea that even in-universe, hard-and-fast rules don't necessarily always exist, and are not without exceptions.

Chapter Six:

Where is Hartford in relation to where Zoe lives?

Ooh, I do love the reveal here of her mate. It's a great character moment: we know already that Zoe wants so deeply to touch something, anything, and now she's faced with the person she is mates with, so we wonder both: can she touch her mate? How will that affect her desire for human contact, and thus her previous statement that she's already accepted that being able to touch will never happen for her?

Other thoughts for your consideration

These are suggestions for grammar/phrasing/other tidbits that I picked up on, not related to the story itself.