I absolutely loved A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft!
It was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022 and it definitely lived up to it.
I really loved Wes and Margaret and their Slow burn romance!
I haven't yet read the authors debut novel 'Down Comes the Night' but I'll definitely be buying it soon.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Children's Books for this ARC of "A Far Wilder Magic" by Allison Saft.

I absolutely loved this read and from 54 pages in, I knew this would be a 5 star read and it didn't disappoint. Maggie and Wes were so well written and developed, I fell in love with both of them. I absolutely recommend this story for any new fantasy readers or just anyone in general.

I loved this book. It was well written with great characters, a great storyline and I loved the setting - i ewish more books were set in the forest it has such a magaical feel to it. It was completely gripping and I loved the alchemic and magical elements. I loved it.

An intriguing world that seems to mash together the roaring 20s with fantasy and alchemical which was difficult to get to grasps with in the beginning but I enjoyed it! But oh my GOD that slow burn! The slowest of slow slow burns!

I really enjoyed A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft. This was one of my most anticipated YA novels for 2022, as while I didn't quite click with her debut novel, Down Comes the Night, I felt like she was very much an author to watch and thought her writing had a lot of potential for future novels. And A Far Wilder Magic did not disappoint. Set in a forest - which, probably my favourite sort of fantasy setting - and around a magic that is based in alchemy and thus learned rather than inherited, this tells the story of Wes, desperate to learn magic so that he can use it to set himself up for a better life, to help his family out of poverty, and Maggie, the daughter of a renowned alchemist, raised comfortable in material respects but poor in love. It is a lovely subtle story, both an overt adventure with high stakes, but also featuring an undercurrent of being an outsider in society for various reasons, of class, of what is actually important in life and what sacrifices you are willing to make for those you love, whether romantically, through obligation or friendship. It is a story with strong characters, most of them strong-willed and with clear ideas of how they see the world and their futures, which leads to interesting ways in which they have to communicate and navigate the gaps between these ideas. I did wish that it delved deeper into some of the issues it touched on, but it's a solid read and one that I liked a lot.

Wow!! I loved this! Filled with amazingly filled out and well realised, interesting characters. My only complaint was that this book wasn’t longer, I wish I could have stayed in the world forever

Dark and mystical with both a soft and optimistic character and one hard and cynical character. This book ticked all my boxes!

A far wilder magic is beautifully written and while it is slow (in a good way, if you're a fan of v.e. schwab you'll appreciate this) i was sucked into this world from the first chapter.

Margaret Welty in her isolated house and nearby woods spots the legendary Hala, and knows that the famous halfmoon hunt will soon follow. Anyone who is able to kill the creatures are to be given fame and riches, she also sees it as an opportunity for her mother to be happy and be a family. To enter the hunt, however, she needs an alchemist.

Wes is an aspiring alchemist- it just doesn’t helped that he’s been fired from every apprenticeship he’s ever had. He arrives quite suddenly and unexpectedly on Margaret’s doorstep wanting to apprentice with her famous alchemist mother. Margaret allows him to stay… providing he enter the hunt with her.

At first they make an unlikely team and seem to disgust and annoy each other. However, overtime their quirks and personalities become endearing. Theu find themselves drawn to each other. Both are outsiders seeking different things: him to be able to change the world and afford a nicer place for his close knit family; her wanting to win a mothers love despite being constantly left alone in the isolating manor in a town that doesn’t want her.

This had some really fascinating magic in terms of alchemy. It also had some interesting differences in religious ideas (cross cultural) and immigration which took root from our own world.
This was also different to most fantasy books I have read with its focus on a deadly hunt and alchemy (most seem to involve some form of fantasy royals or empires recently) which was really refreshing to read.
The romance in this also wasn’t too heavy, it was tender and had a nice progression.

The issues I had included: that I thought the ideas of the Hala and different gods could be expanded on. I still could not 100% say for certain why the Hala had to be killed and I would’ve loved more knowledge on these different fantasy religions. It also wasn’t explained as to why the Hala just starts wrecking/killing things and I wanted more on this mythical beast.

While the plot is around a hunt- the hunt doesn’t actually take place until the last 10% and so I was expecting this to have much more action than it did have.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this E-Arc.