The Hedgewitch of Foxhall is a young adult stand-alone (yay) vaguely historical fantasy. Set in medieval Wales, this is in a version of Wales where magic was very real. Or it had been and the quest to restore magic to the land is the big driving force of the narrative. I listened to the audiobook version of the novel, and it was awesome to hear the Welsh names and phrases pronounced. For those who pick up the physical book, there is a pronunciation guide. (I had the physical novel out from the library, but then my hold on the audiobook came in, so I read the book that way, but I was able to flip through the physical copy.)
Plotwise the book follows Ffion (the hedgewitch of the title), She’s not into being a part of the Foxhall Coven and is one of the last few independent witches (most of them having been gathered up into the Foxhall Coven). She is careful with her magic, as all magic costs something (usually a sacrifice of something found in nature) and she doesn’t want to use up the resources at hand. This is not how the coven operates.
The scarcity of resources and magic is a concern all over the kingdom, magic has been fading over Ffion’s lifetime, and the kingdom is currently in strife. The main antagonist is Mercia ruled over by King Offa, who has built a massive dyke that cuts across the kingdom. The magic started fading with the construction of this dyke … (also, it is real thing!).
So naturally the king wants the dyke gone, and he challenges his two sons (Dafydd, and his illegitimate son Taaliesin) to destroy it. Taliesin would be okay with magic being gone from the kingdom forever, but he wants the crown. Dafydd would rather not be King, but he gets forced into the challenge laid out by his father. Then Taliesin ends up joining forces with Ffion, after the Foxhall coven refuses to help him, and Ffion is out to spite the coven after they cause her a personal loss.
Let me just get this out of the way now, there is a bit of a love triangle in this book. I am not as vehemently opposed to love triangles in my fiction as I used to be, and this one mostly didn’t bother me. There was an urgency to the plot (the characters are on a tight timeline to achieve their goals before a prophecy around the death of the king comes true, and before Ffion can’t achieve her goals) and while there is some angst, and mixed feelings the characters stay on task. I appreciated that. No pausing for sorting out feelings while trying to prevent regicide, or magic up a resurrection.
The chapters alternate their point of view between Ffion, Dafydd and Taaliesin. I enjoyed getting to see the characters through the eyes of each other, and seeing what they thought about each other. I did find the initial Dafydd chapters not as engaging. He’s separated from the main action for a while, and I wanted to get back to Ffion and Taliesin sparking off each other.
I loved the setting, and while there is a fair bit of song in the book (I typically am only a little more fond of song lyrics written into books than I am of love triangles) it worked for the plot. And I guess since I was listening to it, and it was read more like poetry, than someone trying to sing acapella, I liked it. It made sense in the story as a lot of the magic was tied to the song as part of the ritual.
I also somehow made it this long without knowing about the Mari Lwyd which in this book is a skeleton unicorn. My life feels much richer for knowing about this now, and I loved the book’s take on it.
Four stars from me, I do love a fantasy stand-alone (and this one feels nice and complete).