Witch Queen Rising by Savannah Stephenson

TL;DR: A great beginning to an urban fantasy series about returning home.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much!

Plot: Seraphina gets powers she shouldn’t have and everyone is against her rise. Struggles follow.
Characters: I enjoyed the primary three or four characters we got. The over description of everyone else was a bit strange though.
Setting: I do wish we’d gotten a hair more of this but it was great.
Urban Fantasy: This had just enough explanation to make sense but not much deeper than that.

Summary:

For New Orleans witchkin, there is no greater honor than to become the Prime—chosen to rule. But the title is meant to pass between two rival Houses of magic. Not to the prodigal daughter of the former Prime who died under mysterious circumstances.

As a girl, Seraphine Barreau was dubbed the Tick Witch for her ability to feed on magic and make it her own. Even among those who alter fate and manipulate reality, she was a powerful outcast feared and misunderstood by her people. Now dragged back to continue the legacy that nearly destroyed her, Phine has her work cut out for her. She must earn the respect of her people, navigate the politics of the paranormal communities residing in her city, and heal a broken heart all the while battling a parasitic curse poisoning witchkin. Between her werewolf ex, power-hungry vampires, and the skeletons in her family’s closet, Phine must learn to make peace with her past to save her—and all of witchkin’s—future.

Thoughts:

This one felt like an old urban fantasy mass market you’d pick up at Walmart or the pharmacy. It had a great tone and setting, but everyone was a person of color and the cast was far more diverse and rich in flavor. We had a bit of a stereotypical plot, the shunned daughter returns upon inheriting power and everyone is against her. But the cast and setting lends this a bit more life.

The characters and food are very deeply described, a bit too much at times, but it adds to the distinct flavor of this. I enjoyed that in contrast to how brutal this felt at times. I will say it felt a bit heavy on the violence against children aspect with the murder of several small children a distinctly important part, and a gruesome forced abortion as a huge plot point. I bring up the forced abortion because that can and will cause issues for readers such as myself who have lost pregnancies in traumatic fashions. Go in expecting it if you have an issue with this, it’s treated as a bit of plot device and ‘surprise’ but it shouldn’t have been.

So this wasn’t a bad read, in fact I really enjoyed portions. But know about the brutality, child death and loss, and go in with care. This will be a hit with old school urban fantasy fans.