Apparently there’s a need for evil and nasty things in the world, so the world’s most evil wizard must find an evil successor before retiring. I’m not surprised it continues to come out in new editions since Ibbotson has such a great reputation, but I am surprised I seem to be the only one on Goodreads who thought the tone of the book is off since I don’t consider myself particularly sensitive to these things.īeyond that, the plot of the novel doesn’t make much sense. If this book were sent out on query today, I have large doubts it would find a publisher. However, everything from the general worldview (women need to marry men to support them only pretty blonde women are worth marrying) to the politically incorrect jokes made me mildly uncomfortable about the whole experience. Unfortunately, Which Witch? didn’t live up to all the hype.įrom the beginning, the novel seemed dated, and that’s not usually something I notice about books, particularly fantasy. So although I was really behind trying to jump on the bandwagon, I was really excited to give this novel a try. Everyone groups Ibbotson with Roald Dahl. My best friend from college names Ibbotson as one of her favorite childhood authors. Lauren Magaziner’s The Only Thing Worse Than Witches was compared to her works when it debuted in 2014. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Eva Ibbotson. How can she become more devilish than all the other witches? Review Ī sorcery competition is held to discover which witch is the most potent and fiendish, and glamorous Madame Olympia conjures up a thousand plague-bearing rats Belladonna, the white witch, desperately wants to be a wicked enchantress, but her magic produces flowers instead of snakes.

But his wife must be a witch of the darkest powers. Arriman the Awful, feared Wizard of the North, has decided to marry.

Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson