Book Review: ‘The Rebel Witch’ by Kristen Ciccarelli

The Rebel Witch (also titled as Rebel Witch) is the second book in Kristen Ciccarelli’s romantasy duology: The Crimson Moth.

Throughout the book we once again follow the ‘will they, won’t they’ romance between the witch Rune Winters and the witch hunter Gideon Sharpe. Set three months after The Crimson Moth’s shocking conclusion, Rune is engaged to the Umbra Prince, Soren, who has promised his army’s support to the newly returned Queen Cressida. Knowing that Soren will only commit his army once Rune is his wife, her former flame Gideon has travelled to the mainland to assassinate her. What follows is a cat and mouse game between Rune, Gideon, Cressida and Soren as they fight for a very uncertain future.

Initially I was worried. The Crimson Moth was such a good book! Could Rebel Witch truly match the first novel and conclude the duology in a satisfying way?

With the fate of Cascadia/The New Republic and all of the island’s inhabitants in the balance, I loved the moral dilemma facing Rune and Gideon. With both characters on opposite sides of the war, they know that victory for one will likely mean the death of the other. Furthermore both they and the reader realise that no matter who wins the war (either the witch Cressida or the non-magical Blood Guard) it will likely mean the suffering of half of the island’s population. So the question becomes – who do you really want to win? I really enjoyed the view we got of Rune and Gideon separately wrestle with their head and their heart as they searched for a seemingly illusive future where they could both be safe and happy.

A reoccurring theme within the novel is Rune and Gideon’s inability to trust each other; and an equal inability to communicate. This creates plenty of entertaining conflict within the story. Each character has their own agenda, their own hopes and dreams. They also have a duty to their own side in the war which is made considerably more complicated by their growing feelings for each other. As readers we are given the perspectives of both Rune and Gideon. The slow building of trust, the misunderstandings, both characters refusing to accept how they really feel about each other despite their panic when the other is in danger – altogether this is what made the story compelling for me and what made me want to keep reading.

Rebel Witch also grows Rune and Gideon as characters. In the second book we see Rune’s improvement in both her magical abilities and control thanks to her new training. Elsewhere Gideon’s experiences have changed him too. We see him thinking for himself and making his own choices rather than simply following orders. All of the character growth and progression feels like a natural part of their journeys and blends effortlessly with the wide story.

Ultimately Rebel Witch did provide a satisfying conclusion to the duology that managed to wrap everything up nicely however the pacing of the ending did surprise me. For much of the story there is a gradual build up as the net tightens around the protagonists. The ending, while it didn’t feel rushed, certainly packed a lot into just a few chapters. In fact, with around 100 pages left, there was still so much left to resolve that I thought I’d misremember this series being a duology and was fully expecting the story to continue over in third book. But Ciccarelli clearly had a plan and all loose ends were successfully tied up.

A worthy sequel, Rebel Witch did indeed match up to expectations left by The Crimson Moth. This is definitely a series I’m looking forward to re-reading and falling in love with Rune and Gideon all over again.

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