Bittershore

LoveReading Says

Bittershore by V.V. James is the kind of book that grabs you by the heart, the throat, the soul and doesn’t let go. By Goddess it had me in a stranglehold after I eased into the first few chapters.

We begin on the run, with Sarah and Harper Fenn, fleeing from a past filled with unthinkable trauma. Bullying, violence, death threats, they had experienced it all. Having fled from Sanctuary after their house was burned down by her schoolmates, they are seeking healing in the battered safety of a beat-up RV. 

But Harper, beautiful, wild, fierce Harper, carries her own secrets. Her body is inked with illegal, ancient magical signs. She failed her Rite of Determination and is believed to be giftless. But in truth, her magic is dangerous, powerful, and deeply repressed. Hidden from her own mother even. Old signs that secular law bans. Her hidden abilities, and the acts she has committed, paint a picture of a young witch caught between self-discovery and survival in a world that fears what she is.

And fear is everywhere. Bittershore is set in an America on the edge. An America where hate is rife. Where hate crimes against witches are rising, where congressional hearings talk of  “the witchcraft problem,” and where the magical community is marginalised, regulated, surveilled, and demonised. Forbidden to work together by the law. Collective magic a heinous crime deserving a decade in jail. Is America in the grip of an epidemic of magical lawlessness? The parallels to our own world are deliberate and deeply affecting.

The story returns us to Sanctuary, the town still scarred by tragic magical events from the past. I adored the cast of characters: Detective Maggie Knight the out of town investigator, the Fenns, the Garcias, the Martineaus, and Naomi Yamakawa the new witch in town. A mix of mundanes, of magicals. And we can't forget Sandra Ortiz, the Pennsylvania Congresswoman who's building her campaign on bigger penalties for witchcraft. Witchcraft is messy. It's getting politicised. It's getting toxic.

When a crime that appears to be a ritual occurs close to Sanctuary, the hunt is on. V.V. James doesn’t shy away from the darkness of this world: murdered witch kids, political opportunism, prejudice disguised as policy. But there is hope too: in friendship, in love, in rebellion, in greenwitches who restore poisoned land.

Despite being a sequel, Bittershore stands powerfully on its own. I hadn’t read Sanctuary first, although I do wish I had, and I’m delighted that there’s a Prime Video adaptation with two whole seasons ready to dive into.

This book made me think, rage, cry, and long for more pages. A thrilling magical drama that dares to say something real. About power, about fear, and about fighting for your place in the world. Hurrah for witches. I want more.

Deborah Maclaren

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