Joseph Minart puts us in the middle of an awesome fantasy adventure set in a lush world of magic and technology with The Tale of the Young Witch! Witchcraft and magic have died out a long time ago, but that hasn’t stopped mysterious powers from manifesting in young Amelia Twigg. Now she must escape a secretive cabal that’s hunting her to use her powers for their own nefarious ends, all while discovering the secrets of her magic, and why it chose her. This adventure was all around really fun, and Minart does a fantastic job of making Amelia a really likeable character in a wonderfully lush magical world! It was fun to see a fantasy world that seems to have forgotten magic as it moved towards technology, and the level of worldbuilding is truly impressive (I also really enjoyed the supplemental materials like the colorful maps and various glossaries in the back of the book). That being said, Minart does a masterful job of adding worldbuilding, but not letting it get in the way of the perfectly-paced story. All around, if you love things like Harry Potter, LOTR, or Avatar The Last Airbender, come spark up your magic with The Tale of the Young Witch!
