The Witch of Salt and Storm Review

The Witch of Salt and Storm by Kendall Kulper

“Just because it’s common doesn’t make it less powerful.”

Avery Roe is from a long line of sea witches from Prince Island and after her mother abandons her as a child she’s raised up by her grandma, the island’s resident witch.  Avery grows up fascinated by magic and her grandma and dreams of taking her grandma’s place when she’s older but her mother comes back and takes her away when she’s twelve and putting a dent on her plans, the same mother who turned her back on magic and becoming a witch leaving Avery’s grandma being the Roe witch way past her time.  Avery bids her time; passing four years living with her mother and her new family and waiting till it’s time to return to her grandma and learn to become a witch.

Though Avery’s mum has turned her back on the Roe witch’s it doesn’t stop her from using magic to prevent Avery escaping to her grandma. This puts Avery in a dilemma. That is until Tane comes along, from a different island and carrying his own magic he can help Avery but in exchange for something. Every Roe Witch has her own unique gift and Avery’s is to interpret dreams and Tane needs his dreams explaining and so they strike a deal.

What I didn’t expect this book to be was sad; in order to become a witch and unlock her magic Avery needs to experience pain, the kind of pain which doesn’t ever heal and every time she uses her magic it will be fuelled by this pain. Avery doesn’t know the first thing about being a witch and this shows from her excitement and happiness to get her magic, she’s willing to do anything and everything until the cost of her magic is too high.  

Her desperation to become a witch and to unlock her magic is down to the dreams she’s been having; a dream in which she gets killed. And everybody knows that you can’t kill a Roe Witch. But as Avery finds out more about how to unlock her magic and the sacrifices the Roe women have done to gain it the less sure she becomes on becoming a Roe witch.

Avery character was so strong and smart; she has to deal with a lot of hatred from the islanders, trying to escape from her mother’s tight grip, knowing she’s going to die and being unable to prevent it, everything to do with Tane and her undecided fate of being the Roe Witch or not. Her mother though at first seemed uptight, a bit crazy and cruel didn’t change that much but she did decide to tell her daughter the truth which helped Avery a great deal.

The last quarter of the book what happened in the book was so unexpected and sad. The amount of pressure put on Avery and the how much the islanders rely on the Roe Witches. The ending was beautiful in the sense it was sad but hopeful.

★★★★★