SPELLS TROUBLE

The start of a new fantasy series about witchy twins from the mother-daughter Cast authors.

Hunter and Mercy Goode, twin sisters and descendants of Salem witch Sarah Goode, are turning 16 and being initiated into their full witch powers. Like all their ancestors, they are the guardians of the gates to different Underworlds—all located in Goodeville—including Egyptian, Norse, Hindu, and Japanese. Tragedy strikes when their mother dies while saving their lives when one of the gates briefly opens to unleash a monster during their dedication ceremony, the first in a string of mysterious murders, seemingly connected to the weakening of the gates, that spells global catastrophe if Hunter and Mercy can’t keep them closed. The book, which features graphic sex and violence, does well when showing the sisters’ relationships with one another and with their best friends, Jax and Emily, as well as when examining their internal struggles: Mercy’s dynamics with an abusive boyfriend and lesbian Hunter’s self-harming and trauma over childhood bullying. As a fantasy, however, it is less successful: The worldbuilding is weak, and the choice to situate the White Goode sisters as the sole, most powerful protectors of the entire mortal realm feels questionable in the context of the overall treatment of diversity. Emily is cued as Black while Jax seems to have a White mother and Iroquois father.

Only for hardcore fans of the authors.