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theblurbwitchproject · 1 year ago

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The Nature of Magic by Rachel Griffin

Published: June 1, 2021 Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc

The Author

Rachel Griffin writes young adult novels inspired by the magic of the world around her. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Rachel has a deep love of nature, from the mountains to the ocean and all the towering evergreens in between. The Nature of Witches and her subsequent novel Wild is the Witch were both New York Times bestsellers.

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The Story

For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, their power from the sun peaking in the season of their birth. But now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic. All hope lies with Clara, an Everwitch whose rare magic is tied to every season. Clara wants nothing to do with her power. It's wild and volatile, and the price of her magic- losing the ones she loves- is too high, despite the need to help control the increasingly dangerous weather. Over the course of the novel, Clara must choose between her power and her happiness, her duty and the people she cares for, before the changing climate thrusts the world into chaos.

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The Vibe: witch academia, boarding school, weather magic, wheel of the year, climate change, plant magic, slowburn romance, LGBTQ+ representation

The Style: first person, standalone, easy-going prose, young adult

Tringger Warnings: climate change, severe weather scenes, wildfires, character death, sex, negligent adult in position of power

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The Review

The Nature of Magic by Rachel Griffin is described on Goodreads as Practical Magic meets Twister, is anyone really surprised I gave it a try? The story scratched a lot of itches for me; I’m a big fan of nature magic, and have been a Climate Action advocate in my personal and professional life… and as always, I’m trying to find the next Practical Magic (my absolute favourite witch-focused series by far). While The Nature of Magic is very much a YA novel, it contains some very creative and original magical lore that makes it a worthwhile read if you like witchy stories as much as I do.

Our protagonist is Clara, a 17-year-old student of the Eastern School of Solar Magic, an institution that teaches its students to use their nature magic to combat climate change and protect the non-magical inhabitants of the world, otherwise known as Shaders, from ecological disaster. In this world, witches are born on either a solstice or an equinox and their magic is strongest in the season of their birth. There are Spring witches, Summer witches, Autumn and Winter witches. Clara’s magic is somehow tied to all four seasons, making her an Everwitch; an extremely rare trait in which her magic morphs with the seasons making her powerful year-round. Clara’s teachers haven’t seen an Everwitch in their generation, in fact she is the first to be born in over 100 years and finds her powers isolating and overwhelming. The seasonally-focused nature of the magic was, for me, the most enjoyable aspect of the story; it really demonstrated a love of the different spokes of the Wheel of the Year and the beauty to be found within each.

"Winter is the truest of the seasons. It’s what remains after everything else is stripped away. The leaves fall. The colors fade. The branches get brittle. And if you can love the earth, understand it when all the beauty is gone and see it for what it is, that’s magic."

I love the way Griffin describes the magic in this story, it feels very natural and tied both to the character’s bodies and the world around them. While Clara’s magic is “special” in the only way a YA protagonist’s skills could be, I actually preferred how the regular seasonal witches magic was written: Springs are calm and project this vibe outwards, Summer’s magic is “a constant rush, strong and powerful,” Autumn’s magic “builds on an undercurrent of thankfulness and sorrow”, and Winters are very straightforward- “what you see is what you get” with them. Another interesting concept that Griffin developed was that witches gain their power from the sun, and can lose their magic permanently by depletion through severe overuse, or being in the path of totality during a solar eclipse. The novel utilises depletion by overuse to demonstrate the increasingly fragile global climate, as witches worldwide find it more and more difficult to manage the Earth’s severe weather and begin losing their magic and their lives as a result. Meanwhile, Clara has a more personal struggle as she grapples with the idea of stripping herself of her magic intentionally during an upcoming solar eclipse.

Typical of any YA protagonist, Clara is absolutely swimming in tropes. She is singled out as The Chosen One from chapter one, being the only known Everwitch and thus The Only Hope in managing the worsening climate crisis by harnessing the magic of every season. She’s Not Like Everyone Else. Her magic is tied to her emotions, and seeks out those closest to her, resulting in the deaths of numerous loved ones including her parents and more recently, her girlfriend Nikki. Clara struggles with the responsibility forced upon her; her powers are overwhelming and she lashes out at anyone who forces her to use them (which is fair, as only one adult in the story seems to have any sense or consideration for her trauma at all). This all comes to a head when Sang Park, a Korean AP Botany student, is brought in to help train her. And he’s super cute.

"We’ve tried to adapt and handle the shifting atmosphere on our own, but we can’t keep up; it’s as if we’re blowing our candles when the whole house is on fire."

What would a YA novel be without a romance subplot? Thankfully, Sang is a lovely counterbalance to Clara’s sometimes overwrought teen angst, bringing his Spring magic and plant-whispering skills to the school and, with some difficulty, into Clara’s life. He is initially brought in to train Clara in the use of her magic, however these lessons tend to blend together in a “one step forward, two steps back” series of events which slow the pace of the book somewhat. Later on, there are some lovely scenes of communication between the two through the plants he grows (a kind of melancholy Floriography that I found lovely.)

As I mentioned earlier, the pacing of the book could have been improved with a shortening of some sequences, but overall, I really enjoyed the story. Some readers may think the climate change message a little too on the nose, “-no one wants to hear they’re part of the problem- that they are the problem now”, but I think a message like this needs to be on the nose at this point.

Finally, before I wrap up, I want to give a shoutout to a few additional points that I enjoyed: Clara is a good example of bisexual representation (yay!), Nox the cat is super cute (what would a witchy story be without a cranky black kitty?), and the excerpts from the ficticious book A Season For Everything which open each chapter are a wonderful world-building choice.

"I’ve had moments of despair and deep resentment. But then I stand outside and touch the earth, feel the magic in my fingertips, and understand that this is how it’s meant to be. The sun and stars conspired for me, and I am filled with gratitude."

I asked Rachel Griffin whether she'd ever return to the universe, to which she replied, "I'd never say never, but I don't have any plans to return to that world at the moment. I would have to come up with the right idea, but if I did, I wouldn't be opposed to it!" I would consider this a standalone for now, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Griffin returns to this story sometime in the future, as there is plenty of potential for a deeper exploration of the magical lore she has created.

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

[Goodreads]

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rosieandthemoon · 2 months ago

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