With a Rerelease, V.E. Schwab’s Debut Novel The Near Witch Finally Gets Its Due
Throughout her career, V.E. Schwab proven to have a keen grasp on the elements that make fantasy fascinating.
Inspired by the tropes of comic books, the Villains series churns with the malevolent energy of the antihero. The Shades of Magic trilogy focuses on scope—the story plays out across the challenging playground of four parallel Londons—but doesn’t leave behind character (we leave it to you to decide which element is responsible for all that amazing fanart). And the YA and middle-grade series she’s produced as Victoria Schwab likewise demonstrate her deftness with compelling paranormal (The Archived, Cassidy Blake) and urban (Monsters of Verity) fantasy.
The Near Witch (B&N Exclusive Edition)
Hardcover $19.99
The Near Witch (B&N Exclusive Edition)
By V. E. Schwab
Hardcover $19.99
All of this is already known. And all of it is present in her debut novel, The Near Witch, which gets a reissue this month after spending five years out of print. It’s a fantastic way to experience this nascent work from a future fantasy megastar, featuring a new introduction from the author and a prequel-of-sorts in the novelette The Ash-Born Boy. [Editor’s note: the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition also features a unique cover and map and a Q&A with Schwab.]
All of this is already known. And all of it is present in her debut novel, The Near Witch, which gets a reissue this month after spending five years out of print. It’s a fantastic way to experience this nascent work from a future fantasy megastar, featuring a new introduction from the author and a prequel-of-sorts in the novelette The Ash-Born Boy. [Editor’s note: the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition also features a unique cover and map and a Q&A with Schwab.]
In The Near Witch, there are misty moors, vengeful winds, fairy-tale witches, and unexpected romance. It’s part Wuthering Heights, part Brothers Grimm, and 100 percent V.E. Schwab—even in this, her earliest published work, written when she was just 21 years old.
The novel unfolds slowly and deliberately across the rolling moors outside a town called Near, whose structures form a circle pointing inwards, and where strangers are unwelcome. (“There are no strangers in Near.”)
A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic Series #1)
Paperback $17.99
A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic Series #1)
By V. E. Schwab
Paperback $17.99
Here lives Lexi Harris, a young woman torn between who she is and who everyone else—particularly her close-minded uncle—wants her to be. Lexi is a tracker, a hunter, an all-around child of the moor, an identity largely carved from her late father’s teachings.
Here lives Lexi Harris, a young woman torn between who she is and who everyone else—particularly her close-minded uncle—wants her to be. Lexi is a tracker, a hunter, an all-around child of the moor, an identity largely carved from her late father’s teachings.
Lexi’s own “otherness,” her rejection of traditional femininity, puts her in a unique position when a mysterious stranger comes to town. Immediately, Lexi is drawn to this boy, whose novelty (everyone knows everyone in Near) finds a complement in the ephemerality of his appearances in and out of town.
But no sooner has the strange visitor arrived than the children of Near start disappearing in the night, leaving behind only unmade beds and open windows as evidence. Suspicion quickly turns to the outsider, and Lexi’s is soon the loudest—perhaps the only—voice shouting down the mob mentality that quickly seems to overtake her neighbors. Guided by deepening admiration for the stranger and the advice of two outcast witch-sisters, Dreska and Magda Thorne, Lexi delves into Near’s forgotten past to find the truth behind the mystery, and the real story behind the terrible legend of the Near Witch.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Paperback $15.99
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
By Neil Gaiman
Paperback $15.99
Concerned above all else with establishing a mood, The Near Witch is nostalgically foreboding. Situated in the sweet spot of the supernatural and the melancholy alongside works like The Ocean at the End of the Lane, it boasts the dark and inviting sensibilities of fairy tales.
Concerned above all else with establishing a mood, The Near Witch is nostalgically foreboding. Situated in the sweet spot of the supernatural and the melancholy alongside works like The Ocean at the End of the Lane, it boasts the dark and inviting sensibilities of fairy tales.
Beyond its atmospheric qualities, this unassuming first novel speaks to modern issues of identity, gender, and, of course, the “other.” (For a starter kit on toxic masculinity, look no further than Lexi’s uncle Otto and his posse on the hunt for the stranger.) Schwab tackles these topics quietly, letting her characters speak for themselves—allowing them to show through their actions the nobility or repulsiveness of their causes.
All in all, this is a delicate, yet powerful novel that succeeds equally as either a journey back to the beginning or as a first tumble down the rabbit hole and into your next author obsession.
The B&N exclusive edition of The Near Witch, featuring a variant cover and map and a Q&A with the author, is available now.