Review by Frank Plowright

Saoirse is now twelve, and stretching against the boundaries her father sets for her in their small village community. The direst warnings concern a witch in a tower deep in the woods, yet on a festival day that’s where she heads, accompanied by her younger brother.

Conor McCreery draws on characters and concepts from Irish myths in establishing Saoirse and her world in the middle ages. There’s a richness to the background, but the terminology requires plenty of explanations. The Cailleach, for instance, leads a coven of handmaidens, witches by any other name, attempting to free the Faerie King who’ll then eat the world. The distinctive birthmark Saoirse has on her arm, is actually a witchmark, enabling both protection and action.

The Last Witch doesn’t greatly deviate from the fantasy template of a well intentioned novice on a quest to save people, but it’s a popular form of young adult reading, and the skill is in the telling. McCreery is greatly helped in this by the simple, yet skilled art of V. V. Glass. Attractive, wide-eyed people with an emotional strength are par for the course, the same type of personalities seen in Disney animation and drawn in a similar style, with Natalia Nesterenko’s bright colours increasing the comparison.

While allowing that The Last Witch is intended as a positive experience, McCreery relies on tragedy as motivation without really addressing it, too keen to reach the training and confrontation stages, and while wallowing in misery would be going too far, greater acknowledgement was required. It’s with the action scenes that both creators come alive. They’re well conceived, with the twists thrillingly illustrated, as Saoirse gradually becomes more adept. A new ally is introduced late in the game, and they’re fascinating, and beyond the initial sweeping of tragedy under the carpet there’s a convincing arc to Saoirse’s growth.

The one great drawback is this volume being only half the story. There’s been no continuation since 2021, and the duration is a sure sign of it being unlikely. Readers invested in the situation are going to be very disappointed.