A review by jmcclelland17
The Witch who Trades with Death by C.M. Alongi

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

📚The Witch who Trades with Death by C.M. Alongi📚

Overall Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice Rating:🌶️

✨Tropes✨
⚔️Healing
⚔️Political Intrigue
⚔️Gentle & Sweet MMC
⚔️Unique Magic

✨Initial Thoughts✨
I have mixed feelings about this book. As I reflect about the book as a whole, I realize this book had a lot of great qualities, and my original rating of 2⭐️ is a “me problem.” This book, while well written and well thought out, just simply wasn’t for me. With that in mind, I changed my public rating to 3⭐️ because I think many people would enjoy this book and I don’t want to put anyone off. Let me explain why. I did read the trigger warnings. I went into this book this only a vague description of what it would be about, but I saw that there would be some mention of sexual assault, abuse, etc. Thankfully those are not particular triggers for me and I thought that the book did a decent job at handling those situations. 
I didn’t realize there would be so much animal death (it is one of the ways that our FMC, Khana’s magic works). Most of it isn’t graphic, but it’s talked about often due to the nature of Khana’s magic. It was rough for me reading about it. I’m most likely the only person that is extremely squeamish about this topic so again, if this is not a particular trigger for you, then this book would be enjoyable. I just wish I would have known about it going into the book. I probably would not have picked this up.
As far as the overall story, world building, and the uniqueness of the magic it’s a great book. 

✨Pros✨
  • Great world building. I imagine it’s difficult to create an intricate environment for a standalone book. The author did a great job in creating a rich, immersive world.
  • Unique magic: while not at all my favorite method, the concept of life magic is really interesting.
  • I really liked Khana. I saw her as a survivor of the trauma she went through at such a young age. 
  • Sava is so sweet and gentle. 

✨Cons✨
  • The mention of animal sacrifice.
  • For a hot second, I genuinely thought Khana would get together with Death at one point and I was kind of excited for that prospect. I think Sava was a safe choice for the love interest. 


Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the gifted copy and the opportunity to review this book.