In this intriguing Edwardian fantasy, readers are blessed with a warm-hearted idealist as our hero. Dr. Miles Singer is in some ways a rule follower who can't fathom selfish motives behind noble acts, and in others, he is a rebel who would run from home and defy his father to stand free and use his gifts to help others. He is such a gentle soul, and I would love to read more fantasy protagonists with his overwhelming kindness.

The story draws on many relevant social issues. Classism is a major component here, since lower class witches are shipped off to asylums, whereas the ruling class of mages keeps their power secret, even as they use it to advance their own importance. Imperialism, war, and its traumas are also a large presence here. Miles works as a psychiatrist at a veterans' hospital. Once a prisoner of war himself, Miles' empathy and patients-first attitude make him well-loved by the men he serves. He can't use his magic healing abilities to help for fear of being accused of witchcraft, so he trudges along, filing paperwork, arguing with his boss, and doing his best with limited resources. I really resonated with the way his empathy was trampled on by bureaucracy, politics, and lack of funds.

There was so much to love here. I would say the world-building skews towards social rather than magical detail. I loved the descriptions of bike traffic (including an adrenaline-filled chase scene!), fashion, and technology. There's also a very sweet mlm romance that had a light touch on the story but was still fully realized rather than an afterthought. In addition, a complicated brother/sister relationship left me with a mix of emotions. The layers of mystery and power-grabbing machinations in the story were captivating. I am eager to dive into the rest of the trilogy.

 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. 

Such a good balance of fantasy, mystery, and romance. Also a balm to my soul.

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. 

I'm still giddy about Witchmark. This book hits the ground running and shouts brusquely over one shoulder that the reader had best keep pace. I felt like a detective slowly discovering secrets; the world was complex and the characters were immediately fascinating. 

It's world-building by immersion with very few asides and explanations for the first third of the book. By the time it deigns to pause for backstory it's all details of a personal nature; political alignments and players in power. It assumes that the reader knows whatever someone growing up here would have been taught, but it casually drops in just enough explanation that I felt a sense of triumph every time some previously opaque bit of detail was clarified. 

Even when I didn't yet know where I was I knew why I cared. Though the explanations took a bit to arrive, the characters were great from the start. Miles was likable immediately, the main plot kicks off with a bang, er, with a person desperately in need of his help, and it was a really fun read. I have a bias towards liking the character, Robin, but everyone felt really engaging (even the ones I don't share a name with). Flipping through it I see some stuff in the early bits that I didn't know were actually important when I started and it makes me want to re-read this immediately to soak up more detail. 

The characterization is solid, there's a quaint understated-ness in certain areas which made it really feel like it maps on to a vaguely 1900's, quasi-British sensibility while still being its own thing. Those points of familiarity helped ground me as I got a sense of how this world describes itself, while gradually making it clear that this was truly some fantasy land as the book kept rolling. 

I loved the ending, I finished this book really happy about how everything ended up and very excited to read the next one.