This was such a short, rushed story and not at all what I expected. This was just not my kind of story, but I appreciate the opportunity to read it.

This book sounded interesting and the cover caught my attention. But that was where my interest ended. The story fell flat to me and I DNF'd it.

This was a DNF for me.

I felt it was too much, yet not enough. There were vital elements that I felt were not explained nearly enough, especially for the debut book.

Pros: I liked this book, the characters and stories. Cons: a very rushed conclusion, shorter length left many characters and plot issues unexplored, and the main plot points seemed a bit obvious. I wish more time had been given to building the world and side characters developed more. All in all it felt rushed and more YA than adult fiction. I believe a novel length might have helped with these issues if done well and brought this up to at least a 4 star book. I'd like to read more by this author and see if some time and polishing could make them truly something special, because I do think they have a unique voice that should be developed.

The magic system and world building is fantastic. I loved Cal so much and the discussions on how magic works and the culture around it. I look forward to the next book in the series. This was a short and sweet novella that left me craving more of its world

I did not enjoy this book - I didn't think the plot or characters were fully developed enough. It was extremely short and I couldn't get a grasp on what it was supposed to be.

Book – The Witch Stone
Series – Court of Ash and Thorn, Book 1
Author – Jasmine Hong
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 103
Cover – Gorgeous!
POV – 1st person, one character
Would I read it again – No
Genre – LGBT, Paranormal, Contemporary, Magic


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **



DNF'd at 18%

I'm sorry to say that, however intriguing it was to make me want to read it, I just haven't got the patience to keep going with it. And I know that if I pushed it, I'd only end up angry and frustrated, which is no good to me or the author.

The simple matter is that I don't like the writing style. The actual writing ability isn't the problem, it's the execution of the storytelling. The story is littered with massive info dumps, explanations of related incidents that don't add anything to the story, and lots of history stories told just when things are getting even vaguely interesting. The writing itself is a little flowery and flashy, all about descriptive telling instead of showing.
The 1st person narrative doesn't help either, as the author fell into the trap that makes it my least favourite POV: not providing context. In 1st person, it's almost impossible to know anything about the MC unless they spell it out or someone else mentions it. In this case, it took until Chapter 3 (10% of the story) before we found out that our MC was a male, called Calvin. Until that point, there was no indicator of gender, or a first name other than “Cal” (which could be anything from Callie to Callum). Just because it's an MM book doesn't automatically mean that the POV is from a male and I found that it was hard to get a feel for either of the characters, due to the lack of characterisation and attention to detail.
I was just starting to get used to the idea of going further when Barney appeared, only for his introduction to be followed by two pages of info dump about Cal's mother.

Overall, I didn't gel well with the writing style, I thought it needed a few beta-readers to point out what was missing, and I couldn't feel any sort of attachment to the characters or their journey.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39002720-the-witch-stone

*arc received in exchange for a fair review*.

I feel like there has to be a sequel with the ending.
The only thing I didn't enjoy was the fact we were thrown into the world with no backstory. I quite like backstory.
But we have majority minority characters and everyone is gay and happily gay and we have trans rep and it makes me really like this book.
I'm looking forward to the sequel. As there has to be. And for the flirting between Calvin and every cute guy to continue.

This was a very quick and enjoyable read. I loved the main character's magic which uses wards. His house is covered in them but I was sad we didn't see more of it, they were really important at the start but then weren't used again for the rest of the novella. I assume they become more important and we'll get more in later novellas as this is the first in a series but it would have been nice to have them affect the story more.
Calvin is an unimportant nobody from a very powerful magical family, one of a handful that live in his city, they answer only to the court. But when his ex shows up at his door telling Calvin the court is dead. The two men have to work together to save the city.
I found the hierarchy and magic very confusing to start with, we're thrown in the deep end and I glossed over it a bit rather than stop to try to figure it out but even not understanding it fully didn't stop me from enjoying it as we're filled in with more info as we go along. Unlike other novellas the book isn't short on plot, we have magic, demons, court politics, old warring families, old gods and cheating boyfriends but some of the tasks felt a bit like non events at times, Cal got through them a bit too easily. They could have been expanded and made more difficult and it would have made for a great novel length story with plenty of time to get across the world building and family politics and to expand on the characters more. It was a very diverse story with plenty of queer and POC characters but I can't speak to how good the rep is as they aren't all very good people.
There is trans rep in this as Calvin's younger cousin is trans, she was my favourite character but I do wish there was more of her in the novella.
Overall, an interesting story, that was an exciting and quick read with lots of potential for the rest of the series.

Fast paced plot which made for a quick read. Really enjoyed this book, hoping there's a sequel really soon so I can find out what happens next, what a cliffhanger!

A fun, quick read book that could have been great it if were a bit longer.
I liked it but there are some part of the plot that are left open and could answered in a next instalment.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher

I definitely think this book could have benefited from being longer, but it was still a fun quick read and I'm hoping a lot of the questions I have will be answered in the sequel. Honestly I've been reading so many full-length high-fantasy books lately that it was nice to just relax with a really light short urban-fantasy read.

So, the things I liked: it had a very nice relaxed writing style, snarky main character, an interesting magic system although we didn't get into the details much, and a lot of diversity. There were several gay [or possibly bi] characters, a trans character, and I think like one white character in the whole thing so it was nice to see that. The thing I didn't like was basically that it felt very rushed overall. I have a lot of questions about the world this is set in that didn't get answered, but like I said before, I am hoping that get answered in the sequel.

Also I saw some complaints that this is not actually an lgbtia 'romance' book, and those people would be correct. The main character's ex-boyfriend is in this series with him but they aren't together anymore, and it looks like it will remain that way in the future. This didn't bother me since I generally like stories that aren't romance-focused, and I think it's important to have lgbtia books where the characters are explicitly stated as being queer but it doesn't necessarily take up the entire plot with just that one aspect of their personality. However, if you are specifically LOOKING for a romance book, you probably would want to give this book a skip.

Honestly, I am not a fan of LGBTQ kind of books. But I am willing to try it as long as the story and plot are interesting enough to caught my attention. Sadly, this book lacks the excitement and did not throw me off. The world building, the pace of the story seems messed up for me. I feel like I am reading the wrong sequel of the book. So much is going on, and the author did not give enough information to let the readers understand the story.

Overall, I feel like the book could have been good if it was edited properly. The language and the flow of the story seems out of order. Writing style could have saved this book from bad impression.

This time last year, I associated the genre of fantasy with boring white dudes acting far more heroic about standing up for marginalised groups than I have ever seen in real life! 🤔

Thankfully I relied on diverse fantasy reads from marginalised authors for escapism over the last year, so I recommend this winning debut, which I devoured in a matter of hours, as Jasmine Hong brings us matriarchal magical power, a queer Muslim protagonist, awkward romantic tension, Asian trans representation, an underworld filled with temptation, animal trickster deities, creepy persuasion abilities, and epic snarky humour alongside social and political consciousness I can respect! ❤

For readers of diverse fantasy, it gives off vibes of Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, Jade City by Fonda Lee, Starswept by Mary Fan, The Keeper series by Madhuri Pavamani, The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Lee, The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi, Strangers by David Alexander Robertson, Food of the Gods by Cassandra Khaw, and Not Your Villain by C.B. Lee! 📚

This book left me with complicated emotions. I'm rating it this high mostly for the promise and potential than what the book is in itself at the moment. There's also not much romance in this book besides some flirting, but I can't wait to see how the hints we got in this one progress in the next book(s?)

I feel like the book would've worked much better if it was longer. The pace moved at breakneck speed and there was absolutely no breathing space. The characters and the plot moved from one place to another without anything in between. The worldbuilding was fascinating and really well done. The story is intriguing and given how this is apparently the first book in a series, I'll forgive dangling threads or plot holes. Well, some of them. I can't believe nobody even thought to properly wonder 'who killed the Court' right up until the villain announced it themselves? It was so weird. Nobody was curious about who wiped out the ruling class of the city? And there were several times something important, plot related was discussed and I kept confusedly going 'wait did I miss something or was this not explained?'. It kept me frustrated.

Thankfully Cal, the protagonist, was wonderful. A brave, sweet, helpful man who didn't deserve any of the bullshit around him. He was great. Tony the lawyer charmed me immediately and I can't wait to see more of the mysteries behind his smooth facade. I'm not exactly thrilled that Salim, the one muslim and the only non-asian poc in the story (as far as I can remember) was described as angry, constantly snarling, rude and emotionally manipulative, abusive and toxic person to not just Cal, but everyone else. I tend do be sensitive to portrayal of arabs in media so this caught my attention, and not in the good way.
I loved Cal's cousin Chuck, and was delighted to know that the author actually did ask themselves the question of "if the society I'm writing is so binary about gender and gender roles, then where do the trans people fit in?, which usually gets overlooked. Chuck was a great, funny character and I hope to see more of her.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review



This didn’t entirely work for me and I think unfortunately it was mostly the writing. It felt like it needed another round of edits – tautologies, grammatical errors etc I expect a few in any book but this just kept jolting me out of the story. It’s fast paced – almost frantic – and those who like to be dropped in in media reas in the second paragraph may well enjoy it more than I did. It is compulsive but it’s a bit like popcorn – not a meal in and of itself. Shout out for the diversity though – that was done really well and never made exploitative or used as a USP. Ultimately I liked it but it was missing something for me.

What an odd little story.

I love urban fantasy/paranormal books, so I was interested in The Witch Stone by newbie author Jasmine Hong. However, this book wasn't quite what I was expecting.

First of all, I wouldn't call this a romance at all, so if you are expecting a romance you are reading the wrong book.

The Witch Stone reminded me of an underdeveloped, rushed version of an Ilona Andrews story. It had a similar magic family, magic world-vibe, but it was so sloppy and confusing that it lost much of the positives.

The writing had a frenetic pace that kept me reading but also left me scratching my head. I felt like I was missing a prequel story or something. There was too much going on and not enough information.

The actual language also felt messy at times, and I think it needed a few more rounds with an editor. There were sentences that I needed to read multiple times for meaning, and characters that seemed erratically conceptualized.

The good news is that there is a whole cast of queer people representing a chunk of the QUILTBAG spectrum with a strong showing from queer POC, which is sorely needed in literature. There were also some strong concepts that could have really been something special with more time and energy spent on developing the story. The book needed to be novel-length, with more world-building, more explaining of basics in order not to confuse readers.

I hope to see more from Jasmine Hong in the future, and I hope she really pushes herself because I could see her coming up with something special. Unfortunately, The Witch Stone wasn't it.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

Fast paced plot which made for a quick read. Look forward to the next book in the series.

I'm so conflicted about this book.

On one hand I like the plot and the characters, and there's definitely a lot of potential.

On the other hand it feel like a sequel or companion although as far as I'm aware it's the first book in this world. There's very little worldbuilding, little to no explanation of the magic system, no meaninful character background, and its just so short.

Overall it reads like it was written for someone already aware of all the little important details of this world. I was just so confused the entire time even as the story propelled me through.