#witchmark

-Version Control by Dexter Palmer started September 30, 2025 and finished October 4, 2025- 4/5 stars. This book is way too long for what it is. Time shenanigans don’t even start till half way through the book. Halfway! This book is almost 500 pages long. This book had a lot of unnecessary chapters or sections. Like we didn’t need chapters or sections on random security guards who are employed by Phillip’s work. We didn’t need the background on some characters. It wouldn’t be bad if these sections were cut out. It’s a good thing Dexter Palmer writes such good characters. He makes them all very interesting so that’s why it’s not below a 4 star rating. Anyway, time travel is discussed in this book. A lot. It’s always so interesting how authors will tackle time travel or time dilation. Dexter has a more realistic and scientific view on it which is quite interesting. Space has to come into play when it comes to time stuff. You got to think about the space around you when it comes down to that stuff. You don't want to be sent back and end up in a space that’s unhealthy or harmful for you. Also with time travel, things are overwritten when you travel and you don’t remember the time before. Quite interesting stuff. I guess the point was that Sean would survive. The most interesting thing about the book are the little dystopian background details that people just throw out there or are mentioned on the news. The lovability stuff is quite scary. But yeah overall a decent book. 

-Witchmark by C.L Polk started October 5, 2025 and finished October 7, 2025 - 4/5 stars. This book was pretty enjoyable. It reminded me of The Last Binding trilogy by Freya Marske. Also Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall.  I guess I really like this genre. Historical fantasy with queer themes. I like the idea of using magic to become a better doctor for your patients. It definitely felt like the first book of a trilogy. The book just sort of ends but I guess it’s good that the main character ended up with the guy he liked. Definitely not as graphic as The Last Binding trilogy but that’s fine. I will definitely read the other two books when I go back to the library. 

-Self Portrait with Nothing by Aimee Pokwatka started October 8, 2025 and finished October 11, 2025- 4/5 stars. I like the idea of painting things and them coming to life in a way. It reminds me of the concept of people reading characters or things out of books. This book became a lot more interesting during the second part when the main character wakes up and sees and meets multiple Ulas in her room. Ula Frost was definitely an interesting character. Her doubles even more so. So Ula frost gave up the main character as a baby. So the main character was raised by two women and had a decent upbringing. She didn’t figure out who her birth mom was until she was like 15. The main character grew up and got married. When Ula Frost is reported missing and such, the main character’s husband becomes pissed that she knew that Ula Frost was her birth mom? Why would this piss him off? It doesn’t concern him? I don’t know why this bothered me. 

--Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin started October 11, 2025 and finished October 14, 2025 and finished October 14, 2025- 4.5/5 stars. This book was pretty damn good. I liked the characters and the mythology element to it all. This book was also urban fantasy and I really like when everything exists at the same time. Aunt Tigress was certainly a character. That woman was complicated. I like how everyone was connected to each other. That was pretty interesting. The stories told about certain characters were fascinating. So yeah pretty damn good book. 

-The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski started October 15, 2025 and finished October 18, 2025- 4/5 stars. This book was cute and cozy and felt like a hallmark movie at times. I like that the witch sisters were triplets and had a strong connection to each other. Some parts of this book felt quite relatable. I love that they lived in a sentient house who was it’s own character. The triplets all had their own distinct personalities which was good. Witch related books are always entertaining. It’s fun to find out the certain things they can and cannot do and whether or not the whole being a witch thing is a secret. Overall a pretty cute book. 

-Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling started October 19, 2025 and finished October 22, 2025- 4.3/5 stars. This book was a little fucked up but in a very intriguing and entertaining way. The main character is quite interesting as she has many layers even more when her doppelgänger shows up. It was quite intriguing to see the dynamic between these two women shift at various points in the book. Tamsin is quite a mess. Her relationship with Lachlan was weird and deeply disturbing. I’m glad I kept reading as I wasn’t feeling it that much at the beginning. I was reminded of The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. I think I like the genre speculative horror or whatever this book is. 

-I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter Beagle- 4/5 stars. This book was extremely entertaining. I like that dragons are so common that the main character has them as pets. He doesn’t like that it’s his job to exterminate them for people so it’s nice that he keeps some of them. I don’t usually go for high fantasy books but this one had a comedic tone to it so that made it readable for me. All the characters were interesting and the plot does shift when the evil wizard appears. Overall a pretty fun book to read. 

Summary: A doctor hiding great magical ability to heal must both solve a murder and escape his family's clutches.

Whump rating: 3/5

Witchmark by C.L Polk- This is a book I've wanted to read for a while. It felt similar to The Last Binding trilogy by Freya Marske and Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall. Who knew there was a book genre like this? Not me. I guess I really like historical fantasy that is queer. I have already read this book and I enjoyed it.

Self Portrait with Nothing by Aimee Pokwatka- The plot of this book sounded interesting. Parallel universes through paintings and all that? Sounds like fun. Currently reading this.

Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin- I think I found this by looking up urban fantasy on meetnewbooks.com. This book popped up and it seemed like something right up my alley. It has a pretty cool looking front cover.

The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski- This seems like cozy fantasy which is another genre I have found that I like. I like reading about witches and this book seems to have witch siblings. I am sure this is a goodreads recommendation.

Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling- I like speculative fiction. I probably found this book by looking at a list of speculative fiction and thinking this book sounded interesting. Doppelgangers sound fun to read.

Soulstar is the final in this series by C.L. Polk. Following Witchmark and Stormsong, Soulstar focuses again on a new voice in the world of political power, magic-fueled misery, deadly snow-storms, corruption, hope and change.

Polk is quickly becoming my go-to for fantasy politics. The worlds they create are interesting, diverse, and magical.

If you boiled these books down to their bare essentials, I think you'd get a murder mystery and a political mystery, but these are just the foundation.

C.L Polk has enriched these mysteries with war, medicine, family drama, romance, royalty, class systems, PTSD, asylums, aether, intrigue, and most importantly, witches.

The magic, witches, mages, and weather of Witchmark and Stormsong are all new and wonderful explorations of the theme. But the thing that struck me the most was how seamlessly the worldbuilding worked.