Roots & Wrath, by E. J. Wenstrom, is a dark fantasy thriller about five former friends, witches who once formed a powerful pentam at an elite magical school, being dragged back together after the death of their old professor. What begins as an uncomfortable memorial turns into something much darker when Alicia, Everyn, Isa, Rachel, and Sybil learn that Professor Berriman’s will has bound them to her unfinished work through an old blood oath. From there, the novel becomes a sharp, witchy story about power, guilt, ambition, betrayal, and the awful weight of the past refusing to stay buried.

I liked how prickly the book allows its characters to be. Alicia, especially, is not softened for the reader. She is angry, defensive, vain, wounded, and often funny in a cutting way. I found that refreshing. The story doesn’t pretend that old friendships, especially ones forged under pressure and broken by trauma, can be fixed with one heartfelt conversation. These women hurt each other. They also know each other in ways no one else can. That tension gives the book its pulse. The magic is fun and dangerous, but the emotional history is what kept pulling me in.

Wenstrom’s choices give the novel a nice bite. The alternating “now” and “then” structure works well because it lets the dread build in layers. We see the adult witches circling each other like knives, then we go back and watch how they became that way. I also appreciated that the school setting isn’t just nostalgic window dressing. Millinocket feels enchanted, with its rituals, codes, and old power, but it also feels like a place where ambition can curdle. The book is candid about how institutions can reward brilliance while ignoring harm. That idea sits under the plot like a root system.

I would recommend Roots & Wrath to readers who enjoy dark fantasy, witch fiction, and supernatural thrillers with messy adult friendships at the center. It will especially appeal to readers who like stories about magical schools after the shine has worn off, when the graduates are older, angrier, and still paying for what happened there. This isn’t cozy witchcraft. It’s sharp, moody, and full of grudges. And for the right reader, that is exactly the fun of it.

Pages: 397 | ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GSGPD2PD