The Near Witch Book Review

The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab

From Goodreads: The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children. 

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company. 

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life. 

But when an actual stranger-a boy who seems to fade like smoke-appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know-about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

I bought a copy of The Near Witch when V.E. Schwab came to Nottingham. She was celebrating the re-release of the novel, which is her debut. I had heard about the book before, and thought it sounded interesting, so I figured I’d grab a copy while I was there and get it signed.

I’m pretty familiar with a lot of Schwab’s work by now. In fact, she’s one of my favourite authors. A Darker Shade of Magic is still my firm favourite, but I also really enjoyed the Monsters of Verity series, and I loved Vicious and Vengeful. Schwab has a great way with words. One of the novels I’m more on the fence about it The Archived, which I read a few years back. I liked it, but it seemed a bit raw and unpolished. So I was curious to see if The Near Witch had a similar tone to that one, or if I just happened to not really get The Archived that much.

The Near Witch has a very fairy-tale like feel to it. There’s some of Schwab’s gorgeous writing style, which you can glimpse from the very first page. I loved how she writes the legend of the Near Witch, and how she describes the creepy atmosphere around her, like the songs and the movement of grass and all the little things which unsettled me as I turned the pages. It feels like some kind of story my grandma might have told me, almost, and I thought that worked really well for the style of the book.

Character-wise, you can kind of see where the book is heading, even if it never quite gets there. I liked Lexi well enough, and her sister came across as very cute, but Cole didn’t grow on me at all and I didn’t buy the chemistry between him and Lexi. It felt a little rushed and unpolished, more an idea of romance than an actual pair to ship.

The plot also meandered a little more than I am used to with Schwab’s books. I don’t mind too much, because although this is her most recent publication I’m also aware that this is also her debut novel and she did mention that she deliberately didn’t redraft it for the reissue. So it was always going to be a little rough around the edges. Nothing much happens in the book, although there is a steady stream of tension that builds towards the conclusion that did give me some chills down my spine every now and then. I liked seeing the complex relationship between Lexi and her uncle, and the plot elements that came from that, but overall the novel generally just felt a little bit forgetful to me. I did enjoy reading it, but even now, a few weeks after reading it, I’m struggling to remember much of what happens, which I doubt is a good sign.

Overall, I’m giving The Near Witch a 7/10 stars. I did like it, and I don’t regret reading it. I thought the descriptions were beautiful, and there’s definitely an unsettling vibe that creeps in whenever anyone mentions the Near Witch [and more than a vibe when someone sings that super-creepy song]. However, I am aware that it hasn’t been edited since Schwab published it, and she’s grown a lot as an author since then, so it is pretty hard to judge. For me, the characters aren’t quite there yet, and it feels like they and the plot are missing an essential spark that appears in her later novels.

Has anyone else read this book already or plans to? What do you all think of it? Let me know in the comment section down below ❤