the witch doesn’t burn in this one – book review

Title: the witch doesn’t burn in this one
Author: amanda lovelace
Paperback: 185 pages
Published: March 6th 2018 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
My Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary (from Goodreads): The witch: supernaturally powerful, inscrutably independent, and now—indestructible. These moving, relatable poems encourage resilience and embolden women to take control of their own stories. Enemies try to judge, oppress, and marginalize her, but the witch doesn’t burn in this one.

My Thoughts

If you read my review on the princess saves herself in this one, you’ll know how much I loved it. Poetry, especially metaphorical fantastical poetry, is one of my favourite things to read (and write, as it turns out).

What I loved about princess was that it told a story. Whilst the overarching chapters of witch also tell a story, I found that a lot of the poems became repetitive; they all had the same message, just bundled up in different words and formats.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% on board with the feminist message – I think I just missed the variety that I got from the first book, which had specific poems dealing with death, love, asexuality, and lots of other things plus the self-actualizing women message. It could be that I read it too quickly – perhaps a reread will give me more to find and more to love.

It’s not even that I didn’t love it because I did. I love how clever and bright and honest the words are. I love how the poems don’t all follow the same structure. I love how there are poems in homage to various pieces of literature (including Hamilton!!!) and how on rereading those ones I gained another dimension of understanding.

Something I really need to comment on is how beautiful the book is physically. The red on white is stunning, and the layouts are just A+. I could honestly spend all day just stroking the cover and each individual page.

This is a brilliant anthology to read if you’re looking for support and empowerment – for me personally, it lacks the magic that I got from the first book.

Let me know what you thought of it!!

Holly xx