Wishtress by Nadine Brandes
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Web ID: 16223579The Magic System Shines, But So Does The Story
Spoiler alert! If you don't want spoilers, look away! Disclaimer: I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review; it took me too long to put it out, but I know what to say now. This book and I have been on a strange journey together. I’m a writer, and back when I first read it, I was going through a season of growth and I had reached the stage of confusing style and formula. Over the past two years, I have slowly discovered so much to love about this story. In a way, it’s like I was following along with Bastiaan in learning to look at the heart instead of what I thought it should give me. Myrthe was hard for me to relate to at first. She didn’t act like a seventeen-year-old (and of course I knew all about that because I was seventeen myself at the time). I didn’t realize back then that that was the result of her trauma and her grandmother’s manipulation. This last time reading it, I came to appreciate her complexity so much more. It’s still hard for me to get into the first-person POV, but I acknowledge that’s a stylistic choice. Plus, her whole thing is she isn’t allowed to feel emotions. Emotions are what we use to connect to the characters, so she felt too passive. She spent more time reacting to others' actions than taking actions of her own. But later in the book, she starts coming out of her shell and is much easier to like. Something I still don’t like (though it isn’t as bad as I previously thought and this is more of a stylistic choice again) is her romance isn't romantic. Nor is it a beautiful friendship blossoming into love. She just picks a guy, decides to love him, and then silences all the warning bells in her head so that she won't know he isn't loveable. It's weird. Yes, love is a choice. I personally prefer when a character doesn't make the choice to start loving a person, but when they realize that they do love them, they make the choice to keep loving them. I've noticed this in the *Out Of Time* trilogy too. The choice to love someone is often a choice we don't realize we’ve made until it happens, but Nadine's characters make the choice very verbally, even if only in their head. Fawkes handled the romance pretty well, though! Plus, she can make wishes come true just by crying and everyone can find a thousand reasons to use a wish, so that adds a cool element to the story. Bastiaan grounds the story and adds a wonderful balance to it just like Runt does for him. He adds a level of sanity to the confusion of rebellions and self-glorifying power-seekers and tries to calculate his moves, even if he’s stuck with the wrong equations. His Talent has become a crutch that he relies on too heavily, but I love how he started out just trying to help his mom and ended up saving the kingdom, even though he went about it the wrong way. I love the way Runt has to ground Bastiaan whenever he comes home, how he and the mothers are the epitome of everything good in the world, but he still has a streak of human weakness that he doesn’t mind letting show, how he wants to be like Bastiaan but doesn’t know how and still keeps trying anyway. Runt’s personality is anything but. He grew up before his time, but he still has the heart of a ten-year-old. And who wouldn’t want a friend, cousin, mother, coworker or queen like Anouk? She deserves so much better, but no one else could handle everything she did with such grace. Sven, Oma, Hetti, and Mattias were all very well done and (mostly) believable. Until one remembers history, it’s hard to believe that anyone could be so ruthless as Hetti. She and Coralythe provided a dynamic to the story that is hard to find in fiction. Most stories antagonists are either a flat line of evil or a roller coaster of redemption arc that takes away from their character. They were a nice (and terrifying) change of pace. I could go on about the worldbuilding, the themes, the wonder of the Well, the satisfying conclusion, etcetera, but this is getting long enough as it is. At the end of the day, I don’t think I’d mind if she ever wrote a sequel. As to what you will think of it, I guess it all comes down to whether you can really understand the characters and what they’ve had to go through or not. This book has reached the tier of comfort-read for me, and I already look forward to the next time I read it!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A feel-good book with a sprinkle of magic
Wishtress" is like a cozy hug in book form. The small-town charm, quirky characters, and the magical element make it a delightful read. It had me smiling throughout. Its engaging, with a touch of whimsy. If you're in the mood for a feel-good book with a sprinkle of magic, "Wishtress" is a gem.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Beautiful Dangerous World
This was a beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful story. Never having read Nadine Brandes, I had no idea what I was getting into, but she created a beautiful fantasy world. A girl whose tears grant wishes and a boy who can stop time find themselves caught in a war between how and if magic should be used. They have to learn to trust themselves and each other, and find hope that the well of magic tends toward goodness. The story reminded me a little of Carol Beth Anderson's books and has cemented Nadine Brandes as an auto-buy author for me. I look forward to seeing what she writes next. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and have reviewed it willingly.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Absolutely magical!
Full of depth, beauty, and endearing characters, I loved this story's vivid setting and the way it handled both wishes and grief. Definitely my favourite book by this author so far.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
This book is deep!
I’ve already started my second time through Wishtress. The depth of spiritual truth demands multiple reads. Wow. (I’m a Bastiaan fan.)
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Nadine Brandes’ Magnum Opus
Words are impossible when you've just discovered a new favorite book. I've always loved Nadine Brandes and her books - Fawkes had been my favorite of hers for ages. But this. This is her magnum opus. Wishtress kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Although I wanted to sit down and absorb the entire book in one sitting, I knew I had to take my time and relish every single page. I won't talk about the plot - you can read the synopsis and discover the rest for yourself ;) - but everything was wildly amazing and interconnected. The magic system is phenomenal, the setting is utterly gorgeous, and each character is beyond complex. It's been a while since I've read a YA fantasy I've enjoyed so much. This book is about broken hearts and broken pasts, finding a way to move on and step into who you were meant to be. It's about the seasons of time and the seasons of life, the joys of winter and the sorrows of summer. It's about the type of love that hurts and the kind of love that heals instead. Wishtress above all is about forgiveness - accepting it from and extending it to others, but also to yourself. Wishtress is devastatingly beautiful and emotionally complicated. I cried at the ending because it was just so perfect. If you want a book that will see your soul and speak to your heart, this is the one.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Action Packed Fantasy Novel
Wishtress by Nadine Brandes was one of my most anticipated 2022 releases, and after finishing it, it took me a little while to gather my thoughts coherently enough to sit down and write a review. It really wasn't entirely what I was expecting, but in a way that was a good thing as the story definitely kept me intrigued, and I especially loved the parallels to the Christian walk of faith, and overcoming temptations and struggles to follow who we know we should be following (Jesus). Told in the dual POV's of Myrthe and Baastian, the reader is treated to a whirlwind fantastical story that showcases the extreme lengths some will go to for ultimate greed and power. Myrthe was born with the "wishtress" talent, but she's spent her entire life being taken advantage of by the only one who knows she has it. Baastian was granted his "timesnap" talent as young man, and has relied on it ever since to try and bring about the change he desires to see in the world. When the current king is murdered, and his son's desire for political power involves unethical and inhumane choices, Myrthe and Baastian end up joining together for a pilgrimage to the well of talents to try and put a stop to the new king's orders. However, the well is more powerful and complicated than either could have ever even imagined, and the answer is not as easy as they initially believed. With fantastic world building, and a complex magical system, Wishtress was a book that easily pulled me into its complex intricacies, and I read the majority of it in only a couple of reading sessions. I ended up preferring the secondary characters to the main ones, as I really loved Anouk and Runt, but the story overall was one that held my attention, and felt original from a lot of the other young adult fantasy novels I've read. My only complaints would be that I didn't really care for either Myrthe or Baastian as main characters, and I would have liked a little more development and growth to be seen in both of them by the end. I thought their romance was incredibly insta lovey, and it didn't seem believable how fast the feelings grew between them with everything they'd been keeping from each other, and how few interactions they'd truly had within the story. I also really enjoyed the majority of the magical system, but a couple of the components concerning Baastian's talent were kind of confusing, and didn't make sense to me how they jumped from one point to the other. Lastly, I was a little confused by the ending. This is clearly labeled as a stand alone, and yet to me, the ending came across like it was setting up for the next book. Not sure if this was the author trying to leave things to the imagination of the reader, or if there will be eventual plans for a second book. Final Rating: 4/5. Overall a wonderful fantasy story with great allegories to the Christian faith, complex world building and a brilliant magical system. I'd recommend this one to anyone who is a fan of clean young adult fantasy, and fantasy novels with a bit of a more complex magical system. Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson for allowing me to advance read and review this one! I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Thomas Nelson) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Fascinating Fantasy World
Wishtress, by Nadine Brandes, is an absolutely beautiful story that demonstrates the gospel message in a unique and fascinating way. As with all of Nadine’s books, I read about three pages and think, “How does she do it?” Her characters and plots are intricate and imaginative, and I love stepping into each of her story worlds. The romance part of the story was sweet, full of a love that put the other person first, and never wavered even when the worst of each other was revealed. It’s a book I will be reading again. Highly recommend Wishtress, and all of Nadine’s books. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com