Night of the Witch

I went in expecting a standard witch-hunter trope, but Revis flips the script with a protagonist who’s more likely to hex first and ask questions later than she is to seek truce. Fritzi’s unapologetic rage is a breath of fresh air in a genre too often filled with brooding, noble witches. Otto, meanwhile, is the kind of villain-adjacent ally who makes you question every moral alignment. Heyborne’s Fritzi crackles with energy, but his occasional over-enunciation in her most emphatic moments can feel a touch theatrical—though it suits her character’s larger-than-life personality. Abbey’s Otto, by contrast, is a masterclass in controlled menace; his voice alone made me flinch when he delivered lines about ‘cleansing’ magic. Where the story stumbles is in pacing. The middle third drags as Fritzi and Otto’s tenuous alliance lurches from bickering to reluctant teamwork, with too much time spent on side quests that don’t advance the core conflict. The production compensates with strong performances, though—Emmes’ narration keeps the emotional beats from feeling as clunky as they read on the page. If you’re here for a dark, morally murky fantasy where witches aren’t just misunderstood but actively persecuted, this is your audiobook. Just be prepared to lean into the discomfort of rooting for a protagonist who’d rather burn the world than let it burn her.