Overall a good story. I'm left mildly unsatisfied by the ending and how it all shook out, it feels like it pulled punches to provide a "happy ending", something like how I felt at the end of Eat the Rich, in which the story wasn't necessarily bad but didn't really feel like a, for lack of a better word, "realistic" ending.

I am, however, brainrotten, and can only think about parallels between necromancer/cavalier relationships in The Locked Tomb series and the stormsinger/secondary relationships in this book. Fascinating!

What a delightful book! A story which I couldn't put down and which pulled at my heart strings with the sweetest romance.

I guess Witchmark could be described as a magical alternate historical fiction fantasy novel.  The kind of book that requires the a -punk suffix of some kind.  The setting is in a country called Aeland which feels curiously like Edwardian England which is just beginning to use electricity widely (except in this case it is called aether).

It is a setting where magic exists.  There are witches (considered bad) and mages (considered good) and we quickly learn that although there is a monarchy that rules, executive power lies within a set of 100 families known as the Invisibles.  These families are mages and their power is hereditary, and similar to the Lords class system in the United Kingdom they form an aristocracy that is both the government and a dictatorship.

I will try my very best to avoid spoilers here as to the nature of magic users in the book, but we essentially have a 'whodunnit' murder mystery linked to political machinations and the implications of war, combined with family estrangement and bonding.

The central character Miles Slinger is a psychiatric doctor working with returning veterans who mostly appear to be suffering from some kind of post traumatic stress disorder which build to murderous psychotic episodes.  We quicky learn much more about Miles, and his family and reasons for how he joined the war and came to be a doctor (I really am trying my best not to spoil anything).  The book centres around him, his relationship with an enigmatic stranger and his sister.

The setting seems so very twee and quaint.  I love the descriptions of people joining cycle lanes and also the descriptions of friendly landladies, shop boys and other notable characters.  There are a few female characters who were portrayed in such a way I imagined them more as a femme fatale from a noir film (and I mean this as a compliment), and then the next minute we are faced with simpering violets who would be better off in a Regency period piece (again, a compliment).

The stars of the show though are Miles and Mr Tristan Hunter and their blossoming romance.  Oh my, I felt I fell in love with both of them.  It's been such a long time since I have been pulled along in a book willing the two characters to get together, and whilst it's signposted early I appreciated it never felt rushed.  If you remember being infatuated for the first time, this book will remind you of that.  I adored it, and really wanted to kiss them both.

I've mentioned MIles' sister, and to be honest her character annoyed me.  I think it's intentional, we never quite know if she is one of the world's good guys or out for herself.  Polk gives us plenty to reflect on.  It's not that Grace is especially complex but every time you think you can trust her she does something stupid that makes you think again.  Even at the end I am still not 100% of her true motivations.  I can't decide whether my dislike of her adds to the book or detracts.  I guess I was so invested in Miles and Tristan that I saw anything that got in the way as something to boo!

I've talked about how twee this is.  At times the book demands we stop for tea and crumpets and yet the pacing is never off.  And despite the adorable setting and characters there are occasions where the threat is ramped up, where there is a sinister and malevolent encounter to respond to.  There was one scene in the book where I was so shocked and wanted to scream 'NO!'.  It was nice to have my buttons pushed like that.

There are underlying themes of class privilege, hierarchy, war and the senseless waste of life, and also the dominant class determining who is expendable.

I guess at times towards the end the plot feels a bit rushed and I was a little disappointed at the end, because the book ends but it may as well scream, 'if you want to know what happens read the second book to come'.    I do think I have way to many series to finish but I think I will add Witchmark to the list!

Really enjoyed this one

I loved this book. The beautiful writing and descriptions pulled me into the world better than anything I've read in a long time. The world details that were just there and not necessarily explained made it feel natural that I should know them and, again, pulled me in. And then the romance. Tender and sweet and organic.

As someone interested in WWI, I enjoyed the clear parallels and the interesting new aspects added to the familiar parts.

 3.5/5

Miles Singer has run from his past. His magical ability to heal is treated as nothing more than a trick by witching society, so determined to do some good Miles enlisted and went off to war. After serving, Miles goes into psychiatry and is determined to help other soldiers who are also suffering from PTSD. But the illness seems like more than just PTSD. When a fatally poisoned patient exposes Miles’ healing gift and his witchmark, he must put his anonymity and freedom at risk to investigate his patient’s murder.

This Edwardian world of magic was really interesting. For the first half we don't really see how witching society works as Miles is incognito and hiding from all witches. But when his family comes back into the picture, we see what Miles has run from and see his worst fears come true. The one thing I really liked about the world was that gender wasn't a factor in magical society. It was all based on primary mages and secondary ones. Primary mages can control the weather and are called storm-singers. All other witches with magic are considered secondary and used as batteries to power the primary mages with a bond that basically takes the secondary's will.

The plot kept me guessing the entire time and the last 30% was basically my brain imploding by what had happened to Miles patients and other witches. I did also enjoy the relationship that developed between Miles and Tristan, but the pacing of it felt a bit weird--a little too insta-lovey for me. I'm definitely curious to see what will happen next.

Rep: Achillean male MC with PTSD, achillean male love interest. Many side characters/patients with PTSD.

CWs: Violence, alcohol consumption, blood, confinement of patients, death, death of parent--flashback, drug use, gaslighting, grief, kidnapping, medical content, mental illness (PTSD), murder--flashback, physical abuse, forced enslavement of MC and many side characters, implied sexual content, suicidal thoughts, talk of committing suicide, suicide attempts and side characters who commit suicide. 

This is an alternative history with hidden magic type of book. I really liked the atmosphere and the dual ways that magic was treated in societies. It had a nice little mystery and gave me a ship to care about, so really this was set up to be a book I was going to really love. For the most part I did really enjoy it. 

If it was unclear before, I have strong feelings about characters, and I loathed Grace. Did I knock an entire star off this book because of her? Yes, yes I did. Am I debating not continuing with the series because I don't want her to have a happily ever after? Yup. Jessica /might/ be able to convince me to read the second book, but only if the third book is amazing, otherwise this will live in my heart as a standalone.

Even with that all said, the actual main characters of Miles and Tristan were *chefs kiss* and I feel like this is one of those books that I'll end up rereading on a at least semi-regular basis.

Even though I'm not a fan of first person narration, I liked Polk's writing enough that I'm interested to check out other things that they publishes.