title: The Black Witch: An Epic Fantasy Novel (The Black Witch Chronicles)
author:  Laurie Forest 
description: Gr 8 UpIt is one thing to be the granddaughter of Carnissa Gardner, the legendary Black Witch, but it's another to be the spitting image of her. Elloren Gardner discovers this from the moment she is uprooted from her uncle's secluded house and enrolled at Verpax University, which is rumored to be "racially integrated," to Elloren's great shock (Elloren shares her aunt's opinion that the integration is "misguided"). While outwardly resembling a bildungsroman, albeit a fantasy one, this novel features a protagonist who remains naive for far too long and, unfortunately, is painfully slow to confront the racist attitudes that she has inherited and that are essential to Gardnerian dominance. By the book's end, readers will wonder if she has learned anything at all. Teens will have to get through hundreds of pages of stereotypical characterizations of marginalized groups (non-Gardnerians are hateful and ultraviolent, their blood is "polluted," they mate like animals, the non-Gardnerian women are trying to steal Gardnerian men, etc.) before Elloren begins to recognize that maybe Gardnerians are the bad guys in her realm. Although unlearning prejudices is a timely theme in YA, Forest handles this issue clumsily. In a particularly rough, tone-deaf scene, mean girl Fallon berates Effrey, a purple-skinned enslaved Urisk girl. Elloren eventually comes to the rescue, and Sparrow, another enslaved girl, approves of her actions with a smilejust one of the many white saviorlike moments throughout. The world-building also leaves a lot to be desired: the Gardnerian creation story is an almost verbatim retelling of Genesis, and there are sporadic, vague mentions of martial arts and elemental spirits in this otherwise "Harry Potter" meets Tolkien universe. VERDICT Poor writing and character development contribute to an overall uneven handling of race and racism in a fantasy setting.Della Farrell, School Library Journal
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  INESCAPABLE
  
  
  BOOK TWO – HEXBORN SERIES
  
  
  BY
  
  
  CARA E. HOLT
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  Published by Cara E. Holt.
  
  
  Copyright © 2020 by Cara E. Holt.
  
  
  No reproduction without permission.
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  
  
  
  License notes
  
  
  This e-book is an original work of fiction. Names, characters, places and
  events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious
  manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. No
  part of this book may be reproduced in any form or used in any manner without
  the written permission of the publisher.
  
  
  Cover art by Fantasia Cover Designs.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  INTO THE DRAGON’S DEN
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  As the gates to the Black coven grounds close behind us, I feel my confidence
  waning. I was spending the Samhain holidays here at the Black mansion with
  Drayce and his family. I was invited here before Lorelai had dropped the bomb
  I was a Bennett witch. There was not a coven more hated by the Black family
  t