Witch Dance

The year is 1518, medical student Evelina del Valle journeys from the Spanish city of Salamanca to the Austria city of Strasbourg with her colleagues to find a cure for a strange illness. The citizens of Strasbourg are dancing to death. Every experiment of Evelina’s fails, and she quickly figures out that this dancing plague is a curse. Alaric Keller is someone who hates magic after being kidnapped and taken to faerie, and he distrusts Evelina immediately knowing she’s a witch. The unlikely pair work together endangering their lives to find a cure and face off against magical foes and without planning it, possibly falling in love….

 Storytelling & Characters

While I couldn’t get into Isabel Ibanez’s novel What The River Knows, I decided to give Witch Dance a chance. I saw that it’s the second book in a series, but you can read each book as a standalone. After falling in love with the story immediately, I put Graceless Heart on hold at the library and plan to read the other books when they are released. I love the magic system with the witches, fae and vampires. I love the reference to Hamelin from the fairytale The Pied Piper. Evelina is my favorite character she wants to help people by being a healer and she remains kind despite the cruelty of others. Alaric understandably doesn’t trust magic after being kidnapped as a young boy in Strasburg to be taken to faerie.  I will say, I felt the romance between Evelina & Alaric was rushed considering Alaric spent a huge, annoying chunk of time hating and not trusting Evelina. I didn’t feel the chemistry between them, and it felt like it was written in at the last minute. I also felt Sabina had gotten away with way too much. Despite the imperfect romance and Sabina, I enjoyed Witch Dance. If you enjoy historical fantasy that could also be considered magical realism, I recommend Witch Dance. Witch Dance is available on Netgalley & will be available on March 9^th!