I’ve read only the first two books of this series, so I’ll be reviewing those now, and as I read more books, I’ll update this review

Book 1: The Man and the CrowBlurb

Some witches curse, others are cursed. And sometimes, the cursed want revenge.

This short story was previously published in Spellbinding: An Anthology of Magic (2019).

My Review

This was a short and sweet book. It starts with Jessica coming home to find her housemate, Claire, dead and a scarred man with a crow standing over the body. The man is polite, pays her for cleaning, and tells her to call the authorities before leaving with a notebook from Claire’s things.

The man, Enlil, is a witch and his partner, Aris, has been cursed by a coven to be a crow. They can communicate telepathically, and they have been searching for the coven witches for five hundred years.

More than the curse, the coven witches have also tried to burn them alive, one of the members had raped Aris’ sister, and he was killed in turn by the law after Enlil had turned in evidence. In short, the coven is not a set of good people.

They find the final member of the coven, who breaks the curse, but Aris kills her anyway, because she didn’t deserve to live anyway.

I enjoyed the voice, the humour, the banter between Enlil and Aris. Though the book has a happy ending, there are more books in the series, so Enlil and Aris’ adventure hasn’t ended yet.

You can get The Man and the Crow here

Book 2: A Spellbook for the Once CursedBlurb

The curse is broken and Aris is once again human, but settling into a normal routine proves difficult. Especially when Enlil rescues a stray crow who won’t stop watching him.

My Review

This one continues the story of Enlil and Aris from The Man and the Crow. Aris may be free of the curse, but trauma is real, and he has a hard time dealing with it. He spent centuries as a crow, having no control over his body, and he fears getting cursed again. He even doubts Enlil’s love for him.

But when their quest for finding a shapeshifting spell leads to the death of someone they know, Enlil and Aris have to figure out how to deal with Enlil’s twin.

This was also an extremely short read, but again, just as good as the first one. It’s entirely from Aris’ point of view, and I felt so many emotions. His trauma is dealt with realistically, and respectfully.

If you love fantasy, curses, and queer characters, you will love this book.

You can find A Spellbook for the Once Cursed here