I really, really enjoyed this book. I love the idea of orphaned children taking their lives and freedoms back from tyrants. The 8 witches and the poison apples, the sister intent on revenge 🤌🏼. This book could have easily been clunky with nothing fitting together and yet it flowed beautifully. I would have liked to have seen the witches a little more present through the book, but aside from that I think this is my only criticism.

I had such a great time with this book. The story follows a group of boys living in an orphanage ruled by a cruel and terrifying headmistress who enforces her strict rules with deadly consequences. Any boy who dares to break a rule is forced to eat the infamous poison apple, leaving the children resigned to a life of fear as they simply try to survive each day.

Everything begins to change when a young woman arrives and recruits the older boys to help bring an end to the headmistress’s reign of terror. As they dig deeper, they uncover the shocking truth—she isn’t just an abusive caretaker, but a powerful witch with dark magic at her command.

Determined to protect the younger boys and finally put an end to her cruelty, the group embarks on a dangerous journey that may lead them into the very realm the witch came from. There, they’ll have to uncover the secrets of her power and discover how to defeat her once and for all. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and they’ll risk everything to save the orphanage—even if it means sacrificing their own lives.

This was an entertaining read overall!

I really loved the gritty historical vibes of this book. The world had a dark, urban feel to it, that really drew me in from the start.

The orphanage and the evil head mistress also gave me Annie vibes, but with a group of boys, and obviously a lot darker given the head mistress is a witch. It was both inventive and nostalgic at the same time.

There were some elements of the plot that I felt could’ve been fleshed out a bit more; I really like the fast pace of YA books, but I felt here that there was still room for certain scenes to breathe a bit more.

As far as characters go, there were a lot of boys to keep track of. But the main characters were all interesting, and I liked seeing them try to bring an end to the witch’s reign of terror.

All in all, I had a good time reading this book, and I think others will too.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Janelle Gabay Books for allowing me to read the eARC!