The characters are basically being hunted, and you’re not sure how or when they will be targeted. There are murders taking place, and a real sense of foreboding. I think this would be a great October read for a blustery evening. On the other hand, maybe it’s not that he’s unnecessary maybe it’s just that I didn’t like him! I did get caught up on Samuel, though, who seemed more like a plot device to show things that the other characters necessarily couldn’t see. By halfway through, although I didn’t remember all of the side characters’ names, I could appreciate what each POV brought to the story. I also found it difficult to keep track of so many names all at once (but that’s a fault of mine as a reader). I found it difficult to get into Witches of Ash & Ruin because of the constant POV shifts: it felt like there were so many starts and stops.

We also get Samuel’s POV, who is Dayna’s ex, the Good Christian Boy, and is secretly obsessed with a serial killer. Cora sometimes gets her own POV, revealing her desperation thinly veiling her vulnerability.

Dubh is the witch killer, and we see brief, chilling glimpses into his actions and motivations. While Dayna and Meiner are clearly the main characters in this story, and their hate-to-love relationship is compelling, there are more point of view characters included. Cora will do anything for power, even if it means losing herself. She and Meiner used to be close, and even dated briefly, but now they have been pitted against each other for who is most worthy to inherent the coven. Also taken in by this grandmother is Cora, who was “rescued” from an abusive aunt. Now, the King Witch is losing her memory, and often slips into irrationality or moments of delusion. Meiner has been raised by her abusive grandmother, who also happens to be a terrifyingly powerful witch. Now, the cozy family she has with her coven is being threatened, and she’ll do anything to defend it. She also deals with somatic OCD, and has been ostracized by her community after being outed as bisexual. He cast her mother was cast out for her mental illness, sending her to a Christian camp that she has only recently returned from, a stranger to Dayna. Her father is a conservative Christian who would never tolerate witchcraft, if he knew about it. Two rival covens must make an uneasy alliance to find and defend against this witch killer.ĭayna’s coven is the only place she feels at home.

Witches are turning up dead in this small Irish town–and they are following a pattern, one that has been winding through different towns for decades.

Witches of ash and ruin