I know nothing of romance books, but Witchmark by CL Polk was the HEA bookclub pic for december on r/fantasy, and I’d heard only good things about it, so I went in. I was expecting a nice chill love story between two men, maybe some sort of fantasy of manners. I was not prepared for the wild ride this book had in store for me. Yes there was a love story and it was very sweet and I liked it, but oh boy was there a lot of story beyond that, and it got seriously dark. 

It starts off pretty slow and chill, with Miles Singer working at a mental hospital. He’s a very good man by the way, he’s so compassionate and kind, a sort of Hawkeye Pierce but with magic instead of sarcasm. Then a poisoned patient is brought in by a handsome stranger, and I thought oh right, this is gonna be a murder mystery, nice. While trying to find clues about this murder victim, Miles is also trying to solve a medical mystery, a dangerous madness that affects soldiers recently come back from war. So about a third/halfway into the book I thought, ok this is gonna be about solving this puzzle with the soldiers. But then in the last third it becomes clear that there’s an even bigger fish, strap in everybody cause it gets insane. The final showdown ending scene is so dramatic, powerful and emotional. I wasn’t expecting it all to wrap up so well in a relatively short book, but I was very happy with the ending. 

I really liked Miles, but I’m generally a huge fan of good characters. I passionately hated his sister, especially because she was seemingly moderate, wanting change for the oppressed class, but really pulling the same oppressive shit herself. She’s gonna be the protagonist in book 2, and I’m very concerned over how that’ll go. I thought love interest was interesting enough, though I was expecting a lot more of the book to be focused on their relationship, that’s not a complaint just an observation. 

Oh I almost forgot, bicycles are an important part of worldbuilding, with even a bicycle chase at one point, and that’s super cool.

Bingo squares: Book club selection; Local author (Calgary, AB, Canada)