"You shine, Starred One, to anyone with the power to see" - Witchmark by C. L. Polk

[spindizzy]

In an original world reminiscent of Edwardian England in the shadow of a World War, cabals of noble families use their unique magical gifts to control the fates of nations, while one young man seeks only to live a life of his own.

Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be enslaved to his family's interest or to be committed to a witches' asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn’t leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family, but even after faking his own death and reinventing himself as a doctor at a cash-strapped veterans' hospital, Miles can’t hide what he truly is.

When a fatally poisoned patient exposes Miles’ healing gift and his witchmark, he must put his anonymity and freedom at risk to investigate his patient’s murder. To find the truth he’ll need to rely on the family he despises, and on the kindness of the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen.

C. L. Polk's Witchmark follows Miles Singer, a psychiatrist working with soldiers returned from the war front, right until a dying man reveals him as a witch – a dangerous thing to be in a world where witches either end up in asylums or enslaved as living batteries – and charges Miles with solving his murder.

I loved it, because of course I did. The worldbuilding is really cool – Kingston felt to me like post-World War I Edwardian London (although C. L. Polk has said that it's actually a mash-up of several different cities) and Aeland, the country that it's in, is in the process of wrapping up a war being waged for the sole purpose of snatching the resources of a neighbouring country. The ruling class of the country are all witches themselves, specifically stormsingers – witches that control the weather – and any high-class witch who isn't a stormsinger gets bound to one that is as a living battery! They're even referred to as Secondaries because they aren't important except as a power source and breeding stock! I was in such a towering fury at that aspect of the world building, because it was well-written! It was very clear from the text that this was a monstrous system perpetuated by the powerful to remain that way, that it was supposed to infuriate me, but oh wow I was angry. On the plus side, the world-building we get of the nearby countries, even though we see very little of them – the Laneeri, who are being invaded by Aeland, and the fae country next door – feels like it's a quick sketch that somehow has enough detail to carry exactly what we need to know!

The mysteries are really satisfying. There's a fair few – starting with the murder and just getting more tangled from there – including some that I hadn't even realised were supposed to be mysteries until the answer was handed to us. They have action! They have drama! They have bicycle chases!

And the relationships were great. I've mentioned before that I love complicated sibling relationships, and Witchmark has that in spades between Miles and his sister, Grace. They love each other, but they're at cross-purposes for most of the book, and I came away loving Grace very much as a character, and being utterly frustrated by her as a person. Grace wants to bind Miles to her, effectively enslaving him, to inspire other Secondaries to rebel against their own slavery, and she is absolutely convinced at every single turn that she knows what's best for him and everyone else! Miles' desire to believe that his father isn't a monster even though he knows better felt very realistic! And Miles' relationship with Tristan – the man who brought in the poisoning victim, who happens to be both very charming and investigating a mystery of his own – feels like it's building slowly, with the characters teaching each other things and slowly growing to trust each other, even though I think by the end of the story they've known each other for less than a month. Plus: the respect and fondness he and Robin show for each other! The feelings are layered up so well – whether it's Grace and Miles' love and frustration with each other or Miles and Tristan slowly trusting and falling in love with each other, it builds so nicely!

(You know how I'm always like "It's not enough of a slowburn story if they so much as touch hands in the first half of the book"? Yeah, it was one of those, where it burned slow enough that even I was happy. And it's one of those delicious stories where gestures have so much meaning, even the handing of a cigarette, which is great.)

On the flip side, the tone of Witchmark is bleak – there were several points where I desperately wanted to keep reading it, because it's good and I needed to know what was going to happen, but there was so much structural misery baked into it that I almost couldn't do it. It's very much a story where the characters are railing against the horrific injustices being perpetrated, but you still have to get through the injustices first? And some of the plot details felt inevitable, not necessarily in a foreshadowing way but more in a "Oh, you're lovely, so you must be doomed" kind of way, but it still worked! It's very much a story where the things that bothered me were because the story was well written and describing a world built on structural inequality, rather than because it was handled poorly.

In conclusion: I love it, I'm delighted, I'm very excited for the sequel that's focusing on Grace, and I'm hoping that soon we'll get a book about Robin to go with it.

[Caution warnings: enslavement, false imprisonment, mentions of forced marriages and off-screen rape, murder, abuse, mentions of torture]

Comments

[cesy]

Looks like your post-by-email/markdown didn't quite work.

[spindizzy]

Thank you for letting me know! I'll see if I can fix it.

[spindizzy]

Thank you so much, I've fixed it now!

[bethynyc]

I loved this book. Agree with everything here about the darkness and injustice. I still loved it and Miles ever so much.

[spindizzy]

Thank you! I adored Miles, I just really wanted the world to be a better place for him!

[owlmoose]

Yes, good. I also adored this book and am eagerly awaiting the next, which is in the same world but focusing on different characters.

[spindizzy]

Saaaaaaame, I am looking forward to Grace's story so much!

[oracne]

I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to the sequel.

[readingtheend.com]

I am SO excited for Grace's book. I have no idea how Polk is going to grapple with her choices about Myles in Witchmark, but I'm really looking forward to finding out.

I know I'm the outlier among all the squee...

[glitteryv]

I really wanted to like this book but two things kept me from being as enthusiastic about it as most folks seem to be.

First, The worldbuilding was, imo, incomplete. In that, I felt certain things were super detailed (how most people use bicycles, frex, over cars because it's cheaper) and yet I was v. ???? abt whether there was any other kind of mass transportation available (aside from carriages which, per my understanding, were a tad pricey for medium class folks). Also, after there was a strong point about how many people were returning from the war, what would disabled people use to travel around.

Also, how exactly does Aenland function while being ruled by 2 separate goverments (the parliament general one and the magical cabal)? Why haven't other Secondaries rebelled against the system prior to Miles? Where are other Secondaries who might've been former friends/acquaintances of Miles prior to him going to the war?

And then, there was Grace. #MyEyerollIsEpic

My frustration with her wanting to enslave her own brother because the ends justified the means really pissed me off. It took way too long for her to get ~redeemed, imo.

I found her to be so repulsive as a character that I cannot even begin to consider reading a book in which she's the protagonist AND we're suppposed to root for her. #GoFigure

Having said all that, I did like the slow burn between Miles and Tristan as well as both of those characters (including the reveal of how special/powerful both of them are individually and together.)

The mystery was cool too and the reveal of the aether was beyond shocking. But, yeah, unfortch, this a series I won't continue. :(