Curse of the Night Witch (Emblem Island, 1)

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Jabberwocky for the review copy of Emblem Island: Curse of the Night Witch. I absolutely loved Aster's debut, and I know my 12-year-old son is going to devour it. It has characters you want to root for, a fast-paced plot, Latinx mythology, and a magical—albeit sometimes dark—adventure. It tackles themes of friendship, sacrifice, and not letting fate define you. Also, as the daughter of Colombian immigrants who grew up hearing stories of legendary creatures like La Patasola, El Silbón, and others, I loved seeing how Aster wove these into unique monsters in The Book of Cuentos and in Emblem Island Curse of the Night Witch.

My 12 year old daughter loved this book! She just devoured it in 2 days and kept retelling the story to me :D

I got this book for my younger sisters and i read it to them, and wow!!! the plot was thrilling, and the different aspects of this fictional world were exciting to read about! I know kids, teens, and adults would all have a good time reading this book!

Awesome story, well written!!! You will want to tell your friends about this one!!!

Great book!

Emblem Island is an incredible place full of magic, color, and adventure. It can also be a dangerous, treacherous place…especially if you’ve been cursed by the Night Witch, like Tor and his friends have been. Most Emblemites are born with an emblem somewhere on their body, a birthmark that indicates an ability—like singing beautifully, cooking like a master chef, or even breathing underwater—that determines your course in life. Tor, son of his village’s chieftess, was born with a leadership emblem just like his mother’s. He hates it, though, and he wants more than anything to change his fate. So on the annual Eve celebration, when Emblemites submit a wish to the gods, Tor wishes for a different emblem.In a chilling instance of “be careful what you wish for,” Tor gets a nasty shock the next morning. Instead of the water-breathing emblem that he so desperately wants, he receives a curse: a blinking eye on his wrist that he learns is a malevolent gift from the fearsome Night Witch. She is the most frightening monster in the Book of Cuentos, the formative book of folklore that all Emblemites use as a guide to life on the island. When he accidentally passes his curse to his friends Engle and Melda, Tor must use the Book of Cuentos to find the Night Witch and convince her to remove the curse before all three of their lifelines run out.To find the witch, the friends go on an odyssey from their beautiful village by the ocean to the bleakest, scariest parts of the island. Author Alex Aster cannily intersperses tales from the Book of Cuentos between the group’s adventures, introducing the reader to the monsters the friends are about to encounter in increasingly terrifying stories. Letting the readers know what’s ahead, and what these monsters are capable of, adds a tremendous level of tension and suspense to an already exciting read. I raced through this book, and I’d be willing to bet you’ll do the same.Emblem Island is a fascinating location. I selfishly wished that Aster would have spent more time exploring the different cultures there, because it’s such a thrilling, vibrant place, but the book is paced so well and the descriptions are so vivid that it ultimately felt like the perfect amount of world-building. I’m eager for the next book, not only because I can’t wait to go back and learn more about the island, but also because the ending was so clever and so surprising that I’m going to be on pins and needles waiting to find out what happens next.The book’s nuanced look at the nature of stories (and at the motives of storytellers) is a delight, asking the reader to simultaneously think more critically and be more open-minded about folktales. Curse of the Night Witch is a rousing, spooky adventure that examines the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. It shows its readers that the world is more complicated and more amazing than we realize, and that you can always change your fate…but you may not like what happens when you do.

Emblem Island is an incredible place full of magic, color, and adventure. It can also be a dangerous and treacherous place. Most Emblemites are born with an emblem somewhere on their body, a birthmark that indicates an ability—like singing beautifully, cooking like a master chef, or even breathing underwater—that determines your course in life. Tor, son of his village’s chieftess, was born with a leadership emblem just like his mother’s. He hates it, though, and he wants more than anything to change his fate. So on the annual Eve celebration, when Emblemites submit a wish to the gods, Tor wishes for a different emblem.In a chilling instance of “be careful what you wish for,” Tor gets a nasty shock the next morning. Instead of the water-breathing emblem that he so desperately wants, he receives a curse.Tor along with his friends Melda and Engle set out on a quest to find the Night Witch to try and reverse the curse. It was fun reading the short monster stories from the Book of Cuentos which gave us clues as to who they would encounter next on their quest. I loved the themes of friendship, loyalty and accepting the consequences of our choices. The ending was a total surprise to me, and I really enjoyed it.The book’s subtle look at the nature of stories (and at the motives of storytellers) is a delight, asking the reader to simultaneously think more critically and be more open-minded about folktales. Curse of the Night Witch is a rousing, spooky adventure that examines the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell others. It shows us readers that the world is more complicated and more amazing than we realize, and that you can always change your fate…but you may not like what happens when you do.

In the spirit of Percy Jackson, this epic fantasy adventure novel had me turning the pages as fast as I could! Emblem Island is a place of magic, but none like we have read about before. And when a young boy wishes for a future different that what he has been given, he ends up cursed along with his best friend, and a girl from his class. They must break the curse by finding the Night Witch. What I found the most lovable about this trio is that they reminded me so much of Harry, Ron and Hermione from the Harry Potter franchise. Tor, born with the leadership emblem, is our fearless hero, his best friend, Engle, is the lovable side kick, and Melda, is witty, brave, and sometimes annoying, but overall a wonderful friend to have by Tor's side. This type of trio is often found in epic fantasies and is one of my favorite parts of the structure of these types of middle grade literature.The most frustrating part was the ending... WHAT A CLIFF HANGER! I cannot wait to see what happens in book 2! I highly recommend this to fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, For readers ages 9- 14, and for anyone who needs a little magic and a little adventure in their lives.