Review: The Last Lunar Witch by S.F. Henne
Blurb:
I only wanted to control my magic, but a single potion catapulted my life into chaos…
I’m Nyssa, a witch with broken magic. If my unstable powers are exposed, my coven will strip them away. To live without magic, that’s a fate worse than death. Desperate, I escaped to the big city to search for a cure and stumbled on a long forgotten potion that might help to control my magic.
But one night I’m cornered by thugs, and I unleash a rare and dangerous magic, tearing the veil between my realm and the one ruled by demons. Now I’m hunted; by demonspawn who hunger for my powers and the authorities who fear them.
Can I master my magic or will I have to sacrifice my powers before the city falls to demons?
For fans of Heather G. Harris and Lindsay Buroker, The Last Lunar Witch is the first book in the Lunar Order Chronicles urban fantasy series. Set in an alternate modern world where technology and magic work together, filled with strong women, found family, inner growth, and cozy vibes mixed with heart-pounding action. Dive into S.F. Henne’s gripping adventure now!
Review:
I’m going to preface this entire review by saying that I did not expect to like it as much as I did for two reasons: when I picked this up, I hadn’t read urban fantasy in years and I’m also not a fan of first person POV. And yet. AND YET! Not only did I finish the book without any distractions (huge plus for me), it’s because of Henne’s writing style and intro that I decided to start reading urban fantasy again.
And wow - expectations set! The world for this story was amazing. When I think of Urban Fantasy, I usually get taken to some popular overcrowded city with a dark and gritty neighbourhood, and overused bars and alleys, maybe even a biker gang of some sort. That’s not where Nyssa and her friends are hanging out, though! That alone had me straighten up in my seat when I caught it because - new world and new history, here I come!
The story itself, for me, was quite unique, about a young witch who is more focused on being an alchemist than a witch due to her magic acting weird, and the friends she makes along the way that help her out with external issues not fully related to the internal ones we think about. Nyssa is trying to make a name for herself and survive, and makes connections that both make things better and worse.
There are multiple “solutions” available for her throughout, but the reason for the quotes around that word is because I felt just like Nyssa did when those solutions were presented to her - not an answer. Her take on the problems and how she reacts seemed very realistic to me and made it easier to connect with her. In fact, she was so real because she did things I would expect from a real person - she got tired when she ran, she had no idea what to wear to a raid, and she just threw all her stuff in a bag without organization! The last one got me a little twitchy, but it was relatable.
Add to that the fact that both Nyssa’s internals and POV were good and it was easy to both enter her mindset and keep myself separate from it, along with Henne’s writing - I was hooked and there were moments where I felt like I was one of those tiny emotional characters from Inside Out and kept changing my colours based on the situation.
Outside of the main character and her internal struggles though, the story itself has a much bigger scope. We have the buildings of a cozy urban fantasy, except for the stakes outside of that are much, much larger. Now, I’m not big on politics, but there were some aspects and nuggets that Henne dropped so artfully in this story that got me invested even more in the world. I’m so curious to learn more about the different factions, groups, and alliances that were revealed throughout and love the fact that we got just enough of them to make sense in context without it being overwhelming or distracting from either Nyssa’s struggles or the big issues.
However, the main thing that put this book so high in my mind’s eye was the style. Henne did a truly phenomenal job with writing and immersing me into this world, but it was the pacing that was just so on point. I never felt like I was waiting or wanting to rush through a scene. I think SF Henne’s writing was so well done and she took me for a ride with a unique voice for the main character (and not being blown over by the “I”s common in first person) and a smooth writing style.
I also mentioned the beginning of a cozy? Well, the main reason for that is because even though Rynac is my favourite character (from the stoic personality to the blushes, from being over-protective to knowing when to ask for help - he is truly an amazing and such an in-depth character) my favourite was the Divine. This is a sentient coffee shop. It’s a character all on its own that helps Nyssa bake delicious sweets and protects our team from evil!
Now this is a character everybody deserves in their lives. This sentient shop (and its staff and the general interactions around and inside it) is what gives me a very comforting and cozy feeling that offsets the darkness and all the issues that Nyssa has to deal with in a very balanced way. The way it felt to me was almost like a haven - a safe spot for people to hide and connect between battles.
A final thought is about the actual ending - I’m not going to spoil it, but I just want to say that the ending Henne chose to write was a perfect way to close off the book without that rabid feeling of needing the next one right now to find out what’s happening. We ended with a peek into the rest of the series, just enough questions left unanswered to get you to want to pick up the next book, but it wasn’t a cliffhanger that makes you feel like it’s incomplete.
Summary
Genres: urban fantasy, fantasy action and adventure
Romance: almost none, but feels like it’s building up to it
Highlights: unique world setting that had me into
LGBTQ+ rep: side characters
Writing: first person, single character, past-tense
