Night of the Witch

by Sara Raasch

TW: Violence, violence to animals, death of parent

Night of the Witch is part historical fantasy and part paranormal romance. It’s the first book in a series, but doesn’t really end on a cliff hanger and the romance gets a full arc by the end, so it’s fine as a standalone. I enjoyed the supernatural element of this book, but I really enjoyed the historical aspect as it was a time period I hadn’t read much about previously.

Set during the European witch trials in Germany, this novel follows Fritzi, a young witch who loses her entire coven to the hexenjȁgers, or witch hunters. After a brutal attack sees Fritzi’s mother, a coven elder, burned alive, she makes it her mission to save the one witch the hexenjȁgers let live and took hostage. Fritzi is traumatized and on her own, yet somehow must rescue her ten-year-old cousin from the hexenjȁger’s fortified base of operations.

Otto is a hexenjȁger like his father before him, but he’s harboring a secret. He doesn’t believe in magic or witches, and he sees the church’s witch hunts as a thinly veiled means to keep the population, especially troublesome women, in check. He plans to destroy the hexenjȁgers from the inside out, but Fritzi disrupts his plan and he’s shocked to discover her magic is real. Together the two of them work out a plan to rescue the witches (and those accused of witchcraft) from the clutches of the sociopathic Commander Kirch, while simultaneously navigating their forbidden attraction to each other.

I’ve read a lot of paranormal romance and fiction in general, but this was the first book I ever read set during the European witch trials. I found the medieval setting, and its link to real history, fascinating. On a personal note, much of this book was set in Trier, which was extra cool because I’ve been there. Honestly, so many historical witchy books are set in/around Salem, so this was a neat departure, and I didn’t even know these witch trials had occurred.

The book does a good job of blending a lot of action (Frizti and Otto have a lot to do to bring down Kirch), fantasy/paranormal elements, and romance. The world building around how magic and witchcraft work is solid and creates a good base for other books to be set in this world. The romance-while-doing-all-the-things was charming too, although I sometimes wondered at how long Otto and Fritzi went between bathing when things got heated (they crawl through sewers, y’all). 

Occasionally the action felt a little stalled amid the exposition and world-building, but it wasn’t enough to tamper my enjoyment of the book. If you’re looking for a paranormal romance with a unique setting, then I highly recommend Night of the Witch. 

– Elyse

A witch and a hunter. Vengeance is their mission. Love is their destiny.

Fritzi is a witch. A survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she’s determined to find her only surviving family member and bring the hexenjägers—zealot witch hunters—to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader—Kommandant Dieter Kirch.

Otto is a hexenjäger and a captain, the second in command to Dieter Kirch—but that’s just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjagers burned his innocent mother alive and since then, he has been planning a move against the witch hunters that tore his family apart. And now the time has come for them to pay for what they’ve done.

When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other, despite their common enemy. But all they have is one another, and they both crave revenge. As truths come to light and trust shifts, Fritzi and Otto uncover a far more horrifying plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks . . . but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all.

Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult