Review by Frank Plowright

Lily Halfmoon has rapidly settled into her new school, with the discovery that she’s a witch greatly easing the transition. In The Magic Gems she learned each witch is connected with a gem and her bond was with a rare moonstone, and her skill is to amplify magic. What Lily doesn’t know is that some elder witches are concerned about her power, especially as Samhain is approaching, when a witch’s power is at its strongest, so they want her closely monitored. That’s where Xavier Bonet begins The Witches’ Council.

Once again, the first thing to strike the eye is the utter gorgeousness of the art. Bonet is an exceptionally skilled digital artist who fully renders people and gives them backgrounds making them stand out, whether that’s just colour or nicely designed locations. These can be as ordinary as a suburban street, but Bonet ensures they look places where children would want to live. When it comes to the magical moments he’s even better.

Additional information about the use of witchcraft and magical creatures, for this book a dragon, are given in spreads combining text and illustration. Only two books in it’s clear that Bonet places importance on categorisation. Individual witches slot into one of eight schools with different colour schemes for uniforms and with individually ranked powers. While Bonet’s skilled at drawing young children who look individual, their dialogue is pretty well transferable as they all have the same enthusiastic and upbeat personality.

The art and the plotting, though, is good enough to disguise that. Young readers will be too engrossed in what’s happening to concern themselves with characterisation. The Witches’ Council title comes from Lily being summoned before said organisation to account for behaviour in dealing with the dangerous Grox. Given what’s at issue, Bonet might have provided a recap, but as the council’s proceedings are interrupted it eventually becomes irrelevant.

With so many powerful witches present it seems odd that it falls to Lily to save the day, but that’s how events play out. Again, children are going to be so enraptured by the charming art that any such lapses of logic will pass them by, and Bonet’s good at accentuating positivity. Overall, Lily’s second outing matches her first.