Witherward follows Ilsa, a young woman with a tragic past who's working as a magicians assistant in London; her big secret, Ilsa can actually do real magic.

After growing up in an orphanage where she was treated as a monster, where her abilities to change her appearance and turn into animals had her labelled as a demon child Ilsa escaped, growing up on the streets picking pockets until she attracted the attention of a magician who recognised that she had real magical abilities. Now a young woman, she's settled into a life working on the stage, hiding her true abilities, all whilst searching for others who are like her. However, when strange figures start stalking her she begins to suspect that there may be something else going on.

When she and her friend are attacked, and her friend is killed, Ilsa is rescued by a mysterious man with powers of his own, who whisks her away to the Witherward, another version of London similar to her own, but where the city has been divided up by different magical factions, all of whom exist in tenuous peace. Here Ilsa learns that not only is she a Changeling, a person with shape-shifting abilities, but that she's part of the most powerful Changeling family, one who is on the brink of war with the other factions. Thrown into a world she barely understands, Ilsa is forced to use every trick she's learnt on the streets and on the stage just to stay alive.

Whilst Witherward follows some very familar paces from the Urban Fantasy genre, a young woman learning about a secret world of magic, finding out that she's special in some way, and falling for a dark and brooding guy, Witherward does things very differently, and quickly stood out as special because of this. The first major departure is that instead of being a modern story it's set during the Victorian era (though I'm not sure that's the right word for the Witherward itself as there's no indication they have a Queen Victoria). I'm always a sucker for this time period, and any story that uses Victorian London as a big part of its setting is always going to win me over quickly, but Witherward did it so well, starting readers in a version of London that's familiar, before moving in to somewhere new and fantastical.

Another great thing the book does is instead of revealing a secret world hidden away from regular people it just takes Ilsa and plants her in another version of London, a connected parallel world where there are some surface similarities, but so many things are altered. The first thing that we notice is that when it's day in London it's night in the Witherward, and that the seasons are flipped, with the cold London winter being left behind for the war summer of this other world. This immediately sets the two locations apart before we even learn any details, and puts Ilsa on the back-foot straight away, forcing a confident character into realising she's not in a situation she ever faced before. It also makes it easier for things to be really, really different, and not having to juggle issues like staying hidden from 'regular' human beings. Instead the Witherward can be bold and in-your-face with the things that make it magical and wonderful.

Whilst the world of Witherward is an exciting new place, the characters that fill it make for an interesting bunch. The changeling faction are the people we spend the most time with, and the inner circle are a varied group to be sure. There's Hester, Ilsa's cousin who's been running the faction but has since been seriously injured, Fyfe, the young inventor, Cassia, the young sorcerer, and Aelius, the crafty spymaster to name just a few. Suddenly Ilsa finds herself in the middle of what could be considered a crime family, surrounded by these characters where she doesn't know who to trust. You really feel for her as this fish-out-of-water character who's been dropped in the middle of this impossible situation.

Despite this Ilsa proves to be an incredibly strong lead character, and is one of the more believable and likeable young woman protagonist I've read. So often there are leads who have no experience but suddenly find they're amazing fighters, or they're shrinking violets who're always needing others to save them. Ilsa is a young woman who's always had to fight for herself, whose wits and skills have kept her alive, and who you truly believe is a strong and capable person, able to do what she does in this book. It's a genuine joy to read a lead character who feels so real, so strong, and so well earned.

This marks the first book in a series, and sets up for an incredibly interesting and detailed world, one that readers have barely begun to discover even after spending 400 pages in it. Whatever happens next in this universe, whatever Hannah Mathewson chooses to do with these characters it's sure to be as imaginative and original as this book.

I have mixed feelings about this book. First, it had such an amazing premise with the magical factions in an alternate London. The world building was incredible, however, I found it difficult to keep up with the different factions. It started off slow, and I struggled to get into it, but it picked up about 25% of the way through.  

Ilsa really annoyed me. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she just wasn’t likeable. For that reason, I couldn’t connect to her and it put a dampener on my enjoyment of the book 

Although I had a few problems, I think I’d like to see where this series goes because there’s so much potential there.

Oh my word, but I loved this book. The writing is fluid and tells the story with an ease that I envy. The story is addictive and compelling, with more than a few gasp-out-loud and grab-the-tissues moments. It does build slowly, but that just makes it better! The characters are beyond awesome. Ilsa is probably one of my top ten characters - ever! The best news is that "Witherward" is just the beginning...

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

4.25 stars.

I really liked this story. I loved the main character. I enjoyed the story and the different worlds. All I could think of while reading was that this was My Fair Lady solving mysteries in a magical London. And I loved My Fair Lady! So this was right up my ally.

I love good rules for magic and this book has that. The magic is very well defined into sections. The different type of being determines what type of magic they can or can't use. Then within that, the individual determines who strong they are and if they can handle the negative side of the magic eg the pain in the bones that comes when changing into something else, etc. It's very well done. Its got rules and limitations and I love the fact that there are people who can't handle the pain or nausea, it makes it more tangible or real.

Ilsa is the main character. As a cockney, she is badass, strong and clever in her own way, and obviously, she can pick a few pockets and is really good a cards. I really liked her!

But there were a lot of well written good side characters like Fyfe, Eliot, Captain F, Cassia, Aelius, and Oren. I think I prefer Captain Fowler and I'm very curious to see what role he plays in the next book because I feel he will play some sort of role small or large but it will be significant. I think.

In Summary
Very enjoyable read and I'm definitely picking up the next in the series. I'm very curious to see where this goes :)

I went into this book with a little apprehension, mostly just because I felt like this was going to feel similar to things I’d read before – the orphan street rat discovers she is in fact not poor and has a family and they have power is not a particularly new idea you have to admit. While this book does have some unique elements to it including some of the ways in which the different kinds of magic interact, I don’t think the broad storyline felt particularly new to me.

With that in mind, for this book to still hit the spot it would need to have exceptional writing or a totally different take on some of these ideas. There were some aspects of the story that I very much enjoyed. While I am never going to be a fan of a character who’s ‘commonness’ is conveyed by phonetically writing out some of her accent I nonetheless found Ilsa to be an enjoyable main character – a must have in a story like this one. What I liked about her is that she didn’t feel as though she just blindly trusted anyone who was nice to her which is often a pitfall of this kind of character.

The exploration of this alternative London also had some great moments, I liked the idea of different territories within the city belonging to different groups as well as the ways in which both Londons might intersect. Again not something totally novel and perhaps something that could have been brought out a little bit more within the story – but still interesting and there’s the seeds of something there. I think what was missing for me was a real sense of ‘London-ness’ which may be me nitpicking but I felt like this could have been any city, it just had London names. If the city is important to the story then I feel like you need to either have a fantasy city we don’t need to recognise or intentionally make things feel London – beyond a cockney accent…

I will say that I thought the last 10-20% of the book showed real promise, where the elements of the plot that had been swirling around up until that point started to mesh together it all felt very quick-paced and exciting. I could definitely see the promise of this book and of this series so I’ll be interested to see where it all goes next.

Overall, I don’t know that this book was for me, partly because this isn’t really the kind of fantasy that I enjoy – and if you enjoy it then that’s totally valid – but also there was just a bit of missing depth for me – which may be a first book problem or a debut problem or both or neither. I would say that for those that love this kind of story I think this would be a fun read and it is worth sticking out the beginning to get to the end. I’ll be keeping an eye on Hannah Mathewson – the potential is definitely there…

My rating: 3/5 stars

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley all opinions are my own.

Witherward is out February 16th!

Welcome to the Witherward, and to a London that is not quite like our own. Here, it’s summertime in February, the Underground is a cavern of wonders and magic fills the streets. But this London is a city divided, split between six rival magical factions, each with their own extraordinary talent.

Just wow, this book is so immersive, magical and full of mystery and best of all, it has a strong, female lead! The author clearly has a very good sense of imagination and you can feel the story come alive as you turn the pages.

The book cover and art is eyecatching and appealing and would definitely attract me if in a bookshop/online.

WITHERWARD is a fun, portal fantasy debut about a divided, magical London, and a girl who suddenly finds it exists - and that her new home is under threat.

I really liked that, once we were in Witherward (the magical London), there were still sequences that happened back in "our" London. There are a lot of portal fantasies that just move to another realm and stay there, but this book didn't do that, and we got to see the consequences of Ilsa leaving, plus her returning with new knowledge to face down her past.

The pacing was a little on the slower side as there was an mystery undercurrent about what Gedeon wanted, and who was the leader of the shadowy society making life extra complicated. There were lots of clues and red-herrings scattered throughout the book, forming new parts of the puzzle to slowly build up the picture. It was really well done.

There were quite a few characters in the new world, particularly the council of lieutenants protecting the part of Witherward Ilsa came from. They all had their tensions and secrets, and watching their various characters interact was a lot of fun. I mistrusted a lot of them, and wanted Ilsa to discover their secrets in case some were colluding against her. And then there was Fyfe, who was the scatterbrained, intelligent inventor who was a lot of fun and stole a lot of scenes!

Ilsa's voice was so distinct from the people she interacted with in Witherward. She was very much your working class Londoner and they were posh. It helped set her apart from them, marking her as an outsider to throw their lives into disarray. Being an outsider, she could naturally ask clarifying questions, which allowed the world building to come across without being an info-dump of exposition.

I selected this on a whim and I am so glad I did. The pacing of the writing was spot on and the story presented a different type of fantasy realm which made a pleasant change.
Our MC is Ilsa an orphan who escaped an abusive orphanage to live on the streets of London. To escape she discovered her ability to change form and used this skill to survive on the streets, becoming a talented pickpocket and then stage magicians assistant.
When her best friend is brutally murdered she is rescued by a stranger who whisks her through a portal to an alternate London called Witherward, leaving behind cold February weather for balmy summer temperatures. This is not the only change as she soon discovers that being a changeling is not something you have to hide however this does not necessarily make living in Witherward any easier. Although Ilsa lifestyle has certainly improved, her life is no less dangerous or complicated. Ilsa has to use her wits and hard one skills learnt from living on the streets to find a missing alpha and to avert disaster for her new home.

Witherward by Hannah Mathewson

Ilsa, a London based 17-year-old street urchin, has been called a demon her whole life. No one she has ever met has ever possessed the magic that she does, and so she struggles with the notion… that maybe she is a demon. The only person she trusts with her secrets is her magician friend Bill Blume, he knows she’s a changeling, he accepts it and lets her be a part of his magic show. Unfortunately, things go drastically south when Ilsa’s best friend is brutally murdered and Ilsa is taken by an assassin, into another version of London, one she never knew existed. They call it the Witherward. Here she finds out the truth of her lineage, that the Witherward is her true home. However, it’s on the brink of civil war due to the different fractions hating the changelings, seeing them more as animals. Furthermore, the brother she never knew existed has gone missing, and she must help her new friends discover what happened to him. However, knowing who to trust proves extremely difficult, everyone seems to have an ulterior motive! Lucky for Ilsa, she knows how to read people, so knows when their lying. She just needs to work out why!?

Witherward has been compared to the likes of Six of Crows and The Prestige. I personally haven’t read those books. But I also saw it was for fans of V. E Schwab, and that instantly piqued my interest. After reading it I can totally see why it's compared to her.

Now, I am a serious fan of YA Fantasy books and also storylines set in parallel type universes. So, I just knew I was going to love Witherward, and I did. I really did. I was absolutely shocked to find out that this was Hannah’s debut novel, it’s extremely well written and has a great plot. I can’t wait to read the second instalment.

I would recommend to all of my YA fantasy friends!

I was initially drawn to this book by its frankly gorgeous cover, and when I read the description it sounded like something that would be right up my alley- a magical alternate version of London divided into six factions each made up of magicians of different types, from shape shifters to those with powers of mind control. A fragile peace is holding for now, but the disappearance of Gedeon , the leader of the Changelings as the shapeshifters are known, threatens to lead to all out war. When Ilsa , a young woman who has grown up in "our" London, but has always known she is different, and does not quite belong , finds herself in the Witherward, she is determined to find out the truth about the family she never knew she had.
Unfortunately I just did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped, I never really felt drawn into it, and did not connect with any of the characters, I found Ilsa vaguely irritating, and I thought her dialogue felt very forced and unnatural which took me out of the story. I do think the book has potential, and I liked the premise and the world building, but the characterisation and pacing were lacking for me.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Witherward is the first in an exciting new fantasy series set in an alternative London. The author has done a fabulous job building this world and making it feel real. The book centres around the main character Ilsa, a changeling, that has lived all her life in London hiding her talents. Ilsa grew up in an orphanage, hiding her magical abilities and it is only when she is dragged through a portal to the Otherworld that she realises her life is not what it was supposed to be. In the Otherworld she is among her own kind and her parents were the leaders of the Changeling faction. The author does a fantastic job of making this trope modern and unique and I loved how each of the factions (there are five) were unique.

The factions are all plotting against one another which is quite typical in fantasy novels but what really stood out for me in this book was the strong characters. Each had their own personalities that were very clear from the start and as I read, their secrets were poured out onto the pages. Isla was a great character from the start. She's strong and not easily fooled. She doesn't trust blindly and she questions everything. Captain Fowler is another character that fascinated me. Although we don't get too much of his story, I have a feeling he will play a prominent role in future books. Eliot, Oren, Ffye, Cassia, Hester, and Gideon were well portrayed and as I reader I never knew who to trust. This kept the suspense growing throughout the book as Isla and the other changelings searched for her missing brother Gideon. There were a few twists I definitely didn't see coming and the tension and build up towards the end was gripping.

The descriptions make the different places come to life on the page and I especially loved the description of the PSI faction's underground location. There is a great deal of mystery interwoven in this novel and I can't wait to read more from the Witherward world and uncover more of the secrets hidden.

Ilsa is a magician’s assistant in a London that is close to the familiar Victorian view – full of cloaks and smoke and orphans. Ilsa herself is an orphan, carving out a life between pickpocketing and pretending that her magic isn’t real on stage, propping up a drunken, washed up magician.

Her world is almost quite literally turned upside down when she discovers the Witherward, the world reflective of, but not quite a copy of, the London she knows. She gets thrown in, and we with her, to a new world of warring factions and militia, of Principles and allegiances. It’s a lot of information packed in to a relatively short book, and at times I wished for a companion map or cheat sheet to remember who lives where and what their magic power was!

Along with finding out all of this new world stuff, she discovers that her family (she is not alone in the world, after all) rules a part of London, and they can also shapeshift, just like she can. Finally she is at home, learning how to wield her magic and that she is not weird or strange or the product of something terrible. It’s here that I was glad of the well drawn characters she meets along the way, as part of her new household and outside of it. I’ll mention Fyfe and Captain Fowler as particular favourites, although I don’t want to say too much more as I don’t want to ruin any of the reveals.
Personally, I found it hard to get to know Ilsa, what she thought and felt with this new found place in the world. There are mentions of how she finally feels like that something that was missing has been restored, and it’s lovely, but I would have liked someone, a friend, for her to share this discovery with.

I did find myself immersed in the book and just as eager to solve the mysteries as Ilsa is. I think it’s a testament to Hannah’s amazing imagination that she’s able to world-build so formed and solid – the names of the characters are both believable but also slightly out of kilter with our world – Ilsa, for example. Not quite Elsa, not quite Isla. Cassia, Gedeon and others.

In terms of recommendations, I’d align it with Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy, Philip Reeves’ Mortal Engines and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, it has the same otherworldly but adjacent feeling, coupled with a strong and confident female lead.

I’m looking forward to what I hope will be book 2 – goodreads has it down as #1 – a good indication that there’ll be a sequel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Titan Books for the digital review copy – pre-order this book today, available from February 15th!

DNF at 28%.

Yet another book which sounds great on paper. Ilsa is a secret shapeshifter, earning her living as a magician's assistant in what feels like Victorian London. Then one night someone catches her performance and realises who/what she is and drags her into the Witherward, an alternative London filled with six warring magical groups and a destiny she could never imagine.

There was a lot of posturing adolescents, talk about dresses and wandering about in the gardens, a missing Changeling Alpha and this just felt like The Princess Diaries meets Vampire Diaries. I feel that there was loads happening but not a lot of plot development, just running around waving swords and being sulky. I'm clearly in a bit of a book strop at the moment but I just couldn't bring myself to read any further.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, Titan Books and Hannah Mathewson for my arc of Witherward in exchange for an honest review. 

Published: 16th February 2021 

An alternative London where summer blooms in February and magic fills the streets, Isla has lived her whole life in the normal version of London, abandoned at an orphanage she has made her family on the stages of London's theatre where she performs her magic tricks as part of a show. But when she is dragged through a portal into the Witherward her life changes forever. Now she has a real family among the changelings, but it's a family in danger as the warring factions of this upside down version of London descend of each other and the only hope she has is to find her brother and save their city from destruction.
Sadly, I couldn't get on with this one. The premise was unique and the writing lovely but there was something stopping me from being immersed in the story. It was like I was constantly aware that I was reading words on a page rather than feeling involved in the story. I couldn't connect with Isla's character, while on paper she is exactly the kind of character I usually enjoy reading her way of speaking like a victorian urchin just jarred me constantly rather than endearing me to her. This has received a lot of comparisons to the likes of Six of Crows and A Darker Shade of Magic and I can agree that it does have similarities to ADSOM which I also sadly didn't enjoy so perhaps that's why it didn't click for me.

STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND READ THIS BOOK!

This insanely amazing book is the reason I haven't slept the last few days. I was unable to put it down and so I've been awake until the run rises reading, but honestly, the lack of sleep was totally worth it!
I truly loved every aspect of this book, and I wish I could give it more than five stars.

The world building was explained incredibly well, and even though it was similar to the world in ADSOM, I loved hearing how the author took it in her own direction.

I was impressed with how the author created such distinct character voices and personalities for each of the main group. Ilsa was without a doubt a fantastic lead, who constantly pulled the story forward and always kept things interesting.

I can honestly say this is the best storyline I've come across in a VERY long time! Often I see plot twists coming, but this book was phenomenal at surprising me at every turn. I NEED book 2 immediately!

Overall, I am so happy that I read this book and I'm very thankful to the publishers for sending me a copy. This book is out in February and I cannot recommend reading it enough. If you enjoy books like A Darker Shade of Magic, City of Bones or The Girl at Midnight, then I think you'll love this read as much as I do.

Witherward, Hannah Mathewson

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Sci-fi and Fantasy

What a fantastic read this was. Its very unusual, and at times I was confused about the different factions and how they interacted. I think with any fantasy though that devolves from the norm that happens, and I'm happy to go along with it to read something new, something challenging.
I loved this read, I just wish parts two and three were out now!

Ilsa is a perfect lead, and at times when her age, and that of some of the other leads, was mentioned I found it hard to believe they were teens. They've had to grow up very quickly, even though they've grown up in different worlds. Ilsa felt so very real, she's struggled to get by, using her wits, all her life, so although she's out of her depth in some ways in this new world, her skills she's honed over the years mean she is well placed to assess what needs doing, what is happening. For other things she's on a fast track tuition process, learning the skills that the others have has years to acquire.

I really enjoyed the story, there's lots of minor plots besides the main one, and they all gel over the course of the novel. It was fascinating reading about the different sorts of magics, the benefits and limitations, and the history of the Witherward. I did have characters I liked more than others of course, but there were surprises in store for me, and I love that. When things happen that I didn't anticipate, it makes the story so much more compelling. Some of the events are hard to read, its a hard, harsh world, and death is never far away for anyone.

Goodreads describe it as YA, don't let that put you off. The main characters are young, but the story is certainly not any kind of simplistic one, in fact I found myself doubling back a few times checking people, places and acts. I'd highly recommend this to fantasy lovers. Roll on the next book. I know once I have all three books its going to be one I read back to back in a total Witherward immersion!

Stars: Five. Fantastic new, unusual, gripping, compelling, fantasy adventure.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

Witherwald reminded me of one of my all time favourites, and for that reason I was instantly interested in the story. But whilst it is certainly similar, it is not a carbon copy and was a great story in its own right.

Ilsa, our heroine, is an orphan growing up in London. Her world is perfectly normal, but she is not, because she has the ability to change shape. She can change her features and into different creatures, but she cannot change the colour of her eyes She doesn’t understand her ability, but she is street-smart and certainly uses her gift to her advantage, first by escaping the abusive orphanage she grew up in, and second by making her living as a magician’s assistant. When one day she sees another person using ‘magic’, she finds herself spiralling into adventure, into a new London and into a civil war where her existence changes everything.

I really enjoyed this story, I loved Ilsa, she was unashamedly herself, and very much reminded me of Lila’ from A Darker Shade of Magic. She did not try to hide her past, nor did she suddenly become a different person as soon as the truth about herself or her family was revealed. The secondary characters were really well told, particularly Eliot, Fyre and Hester - each had their own story and own history and added so much to the final story. I am hoping the next books in the series delve more into their backgrounds and their future. I do wish Captain Fowler had more of the limelight, but perhaps that too is a story for a later book.

One criticism I do have is I didn’t feel like there was enough of an emotional payout to the many twists and turns as well as the long lost family reunions. Considering so much of the story is dedicated to telling us how much Ilsa wished she had a family, the interactions between her and her family seemed a little flat and rushed at times. That said, I really enjoyed it, and the ending was excellent, it was an impressive debut and I will definitely be picking up book 2 when it comes out.

I was given a ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ilsa is an orphan, a street urchin, a stage magician’s assistant and she also has a secret. She has magic. Desperate to find others like her, Ilsa is suddenly snatched from the London we know, and plunged into the Witherworld, a magical version of the city where six factions are constantly at war.

I absolutely loved this book. Very reminiscent of Leigh Bardugo and perfect for fantasy junkies. It’s brilliantly long, so you get wonderful world building.

I was fascinated by all the different types of magic, which were expertly crafted with their owns strengths, weaknesses, rules, regions of London and militias.

You get Changelings who are shapeshifters able to take on animal and other human forms. Sorcerers who do more traditional spell casting including the badass Cassia who is also handy with a gun.

Wraiths who can walk through walls, and often work as assassins for hire. Oracles who see the past, present and future, terrifying Whisperers who can manipulate minds, and the Psi who can control objects with their thoughts.

The clothes, scenery and world are exquisite and I absolutely romped through it in two sittings (would have been one if I’d not started late at night). Best of all is the characters, particularly the lieutenants at the Zoo (the changeling seat). I adored Ffye and his magical inventions. Loved (and fancied) Elliot. All of them brilliant.

Truly a marvellous book and a fantastic way to kick of 2021.