Witch Soul by Morgan Dante

One of the more unusual set-ups for a sequel I've encountered, WITCH SOUL takes place almost one hundred years in the future after A FLAME IN THE NIGHT. It's about Millie, a witch, who has been arrested for vigilante distributioning of free magical medicine-- because obviously anyone who's handing out cures willy nilly in a capitalist society must be suspect. *rolls eyes*

She's freed from jail by her two exes, but not wanting to implicate them, she runs away-- and ends up in the same town that is occupied by the vampire thruple from the previous book: Claire, Leon, and Matthias. She and Matthias hit it off at a bar, but are chased by a rogue vampire, and end up trapped in a cave, where they have a deep conversation that echoes the one that Leon had with Matthias in book one while he was still human.

I did not like WITCH SOUL nearly as much as I liked book one. I think part of that is because it tried to do too many things in too short amount of space. Book one is about two sex workers soothing their PTSD in a post-war society who end up getting revenge on the people who hurt them the most. Book two is about identity, sort of, and possibly also a metaphor for queer awakening and overcoming internalized homophobia. The idea of a witch soul was fascinating-- as a witch, Millie carries a sort of fallen angel/demon inside of her with its own separate gender identity, but because her mother was such a bigot, she never wanted to fully embrace that witchy side of herself.

This is something that I wish had been more fully explored because I think it was a really interesting take on what it meant to be a witch. I think the book also suffered a little because the historical setting was what I really loved about book one, and how it added to the gothic atmosphere. This book didn't feel very gothic at all, more speculative sci-fi-fantasy. Which was still interesting, but was so different from what book one was setting out to achieve to do that it didn't really feel like it fully meshed as a sequel.

2.5 out of 5 stars