B+
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Romance, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Theme: Mistaken/False Identity
Archetype: Witch/Wizard, Writer/Author/Librarian
Well this was just delightful. Wooing the Witch Queen revolves around one of my least favorite tropes: The Big Misunderstanding. And yet, it is a delight from beginning to end, with a minimum amount of stupidity and wonderful characters.
Here’s the publisher’s description of the plot:
Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.
When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…
Little does Saskia know that the “wizard” she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he’s in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other?
This book includes: a cozy kitchen with a bossy cook who makes sure everyone eats, three witch queens – all of whom wear simply amazing outfits, a crow friend, a crow army, gryphons, poetry, a castle, a library, and a ballroom. And tea, lots of tea. Also magic and politics. Although the vibe is a cozy one, characters deal with serious issues so TW for discussion of child abuse, murder, and PTSD.
Let’s see if I can sum up the political situation here. It seems that Felix should be the ruler of the Serafin Empire. However, his now father-in-law, Count Gerhard von Hertzendorff, had served as regent for years and had subjected Felix to horrendous mental, emotional, and physical abuse since childhood. Meanwhile the Serafin Empire has been trying to take over Saskia’s kingdom, Kitvaria, and finally gives up, believing that there is no defeating the Witch Queen’s spells.
Felix (who is now a widower) takes advantage of this truce to flee to Kitvaria, hoping to throw himself on Saskia’s mercy. She mistakes him for a sorcerer and puts him in charge of organizing her library, which is large. So he wafts around the castle in a half-mask and black robes, and spends so much time pretending to be powerful and confident that he actually becomes so.
Meanwhile, Saskia is beset by the demands of her two fellow witch queens, whose kingdoms are allied with hers. She is also beset by the demands of Mirjana, her ex-lover and First Minister, who wants Saskia to change her image from Wicked Witch to Respectable Ruler. Emperor Otto in the Kingdom of Fiora is clearly about to invade at any minute, and there’s no telling how long the truce with the Derafin Empire will last. All she wants to do is work in her laboratory, so you can imagine that all this is very stressful and irritating for her. Yet whenever she enters the library and ‘Sinestro’ is present, she feels a sense of calm and confidence. And also a sense of lust, because even with a half-mask ‘Sinestro’ is clearly hot.
I have to confess to you that I could only explain all this by going back and re-reading parts of the opening chapters, because my experience of reading the book went like this:
Opera!
Burning skulls = nice decor
Misunderstanding, ugh
Ooooh! Library!
Argument about pens is weirdly hot
Crow!
Politics blahhhh blahhhh what is everyone wearing
Romance, romance, romance
tea, pastries, yummy
romance
IDK something is happening I guess
sex
last minute crisis
who are all these people
I guess everything worked out, yay
HEA + sequel bait.
I really, really, really loved our hero of many names (Felix/Sinestro/Fabian) and Saskia. I loved how they treated each other. I loved how they stood up for each other. I loved how they protected and cared for each other emotionally and physically. They express interest in each other’s interests and needs. They champion each other’s best qualities. They are funny together and have intense chemistry (although their one sex scene is not very explicit). I especially appreciated that:
When ‘Fabian’ finally reveals himself to be Felix to Saskia, she gets over it remarkably quickly given the magnitude of this revelation. They trust each other so much by that point that a little thing like the disclosure of an entirely manufactured identity is barely a hiccup in their relationship.
This isn’t the most well-constructed book. The political situation is all over the place. My cynical heart is quite convinced that in real life the book would have ended in a blood-bath. The world-building is minimal. The sequel bait is so obvious it might as well say TO BE CONTINUED, THIS TIME WITH KINK! in neon letters. All important themes of the book are all so obviously explained that they might as well be written in capslock.
However, despite the aforementioned TW for discussions of abuse, this is a great comfort read. The secondary characters are delightful. The chemistry is magnetic. The villains are scummy. The pace is brisk. There’s a lot of attention paid to people taking care of other people – paid staff, but also friends, lovers, ex-lovers, sometimes fighting but always trying their best to help each other be their best selves. It’s a very gentle book. There are pastries, there is tea, there is a library in a castle, there is self-actualization. In these trying times, it’s incredibly comforting to read a book in which people have faith in other people and in which people are given the opportunity and tools they need to develop faith in themselves. I predict reading this many times in the years ahead.
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This was such a fun book! I read it in print and listened to the audiobook, because it was so engaging and comforting. I really appreciated how respectful people were, in the end, even after all the miscommunication. It was a lot of people being kind (except the villains) and trying their best amid the difficulties. I cheered on Saskia being very good at magic and strongly protective of all her people. And yes, just ignore the hand-waving of the political shenanigans cause some of it didn’t quite make sense. I am so ready for book 2 and more joyful chaos.
Just a slight correction – Felix is an archduke and rules over a semi-independant archduchy within the empire. His evil former guardian/regent/father-in-law Count Gerhard has been using the archduchy’s army trying to take over Saskia’s kingdom. At the opening of the story the emperor has been tacitly okay with what has been going on, but hasn’t sent any imperial support. The emperor apparently has been fooled like everyone else in thinking that Felix is the one making all the decisions.
Yeah I liked the characters a lot, but the larger plot was a bit messy and hard to sort out. Still not sure I understand it all. But I’m invested enough that I will probably pick up the next book.
I also loved this. I was hooked right from the start because of the characters–both of them wearing literal/figurative masks, and both having histories of abuse that you knew would be avenged by the end. And the sense of supporting each other that you describe is important to me. I found the plot to be more engaging than many of the cozy-vibe romantasies I read lately. I liked that political intrigue was happening, but we were not in the midst of it. Honestly, the only thing I didn’t like about this story was that (minor spoiler) Saskia turns her enemies into pathetic animals, because once they were animals I felt sorry for them.
Most of the characters names are amusing, they are pretty normal contemporary German first names; Felix, Fabian, Saskia, Mirjana all read as mid to late thirties office workers or people I went to school with. Gerhard would indeed be an older generation so that tracks. I would find it distracting, but maybe if the plot is good enough it fades into the background? I am curious, do these names sound like fantasy names to US American readers?
Yeah, I liked it a lot too. Felix/Fabian was adorable. I loved the food scenes and the crows and goblins and trolls, and I think there was an ogre too? I guess I would call it castlecore.
@Mona, I didn’t realize the names were common German names. To me (in the US), they are not names I hear around me every day but they seem consistent, so I didn’t notice them as unusual. But I can see that if they were common names I heard in daily life, but set in a fantasy world, they might distract me.
This sounds fantastic!
Hi @Mona, my family background on one side is German, but the names didn’t strike me as German. I guess because the Germans I knew had those older generation names, like Gerhard, Hans, Heinz, Otto, Martha, Therese, Karla and Hedwig. I thought Saskia sounded vaguely Scandinavian and Mirjana sounds Slavic.