I received this book from Edelweiss/publisher in exchange of an honest review.

😍 Love love the cover and the illustrations inside. They were just absolutely GORGEOUS and I loved all the details.
😍 Doris was such a fun character and I love how she was both strict but also kind towards the boy who wants to be her apprentice. She could have probably magicked him away, but instead she let him stay around and gave him tasks and gave some lessons.
😍 I am happy that eventually we got the backstory on Doris. We already saw some hints but it was fantastic that we finally got to see the whole picture. See what she was like in her youth, see a certain person pop up, see magic grow.
😍 I love that canes/wands are what is up for witches and that there is a whole slew of options. I seriously got some cane/wand envy, haha.
😍 Pacheco was such a fab main character and I love how he never gave up. He kept trying and trying and trying. He was determined to help out his family and he had big dreams of becoming a witch. I was rooting for him and I loved how he found more and more magic in him and found spells to use. Even when things go south with the council I loved that he didn’t give up. He tried his best to help out, search for Doris when she went missing, and more. He was so brave and he has grown up so much. In the start of the story I would have called him a brat but at the end he was really grown up.
😍 Loved the cast of characters (not the council). The girl who becomes friends with Pacheco. Pacheco’s family (despite all their grumbles I could see they really cared for Pacheco. The animals around Pacheco (with even more love to the fire critter).
😍 Love that witches could change into animals, generally birds. It was fun to see what birds each witch had and I love how well it fitted them.
😍 The magic was so pretty! I loved the colours, the way it was shaped, the way it did things.
😍 And as always, I love a story set on an island. Especially when the author/illustrator can make it really come to life. Sometimes islands can be simple, but this felt like a whole world.
😍 The ending and all that happened there, that was certainly a ride! I loved every moment and was rooting for all the right characters.

🥱 Sadly while the story had some fantastic elements, it just never really grasped me. My ADHD was just bored. I kept going to other books or other things near me. The pacing just felt off and I feel it could have been much better.

🤔 I still don’t entirely understand why it is just girls who can do the magic. Maybe I missed something because of the part above, or maybe it was never mentioned, but it just was weird especially since boys COULD do magic. They are able to do it just as well as girls.

😡 The council, at least most of them as one seemed to have some form of understanding, was just horrendous and I was rooting for Pacheco and his friends to fight back and change things.

All in all, I am happy I got to read this graphic novel. Even if it was a bit hard to read due to the pacing, I still had fun!