“Legacy Witches” by Cass Kay

Legacy Witches

Cass Kay
Dream the Dream (2022)
ISBN: 9798986074504
Reviewed by Rachel Dehning for Reader Views (08/2022)

“Legacy Witches” by Cass Kay opens with Vianna Roots staring at her childhood home, creating an air of intrigue for the reader regarding her obvious history with the home and surroundings. Vianna is home to bury her mother and nothing more, as she’d love nothing less than to leave the home and town for which she possesses less than fond memories. Vianna is a legacy witch with a hefty expectation on her shoulders of carrying on the family line after her mother’s death. This includes bonding with the family familiar and utilizing past ancestors. When she catches the eye of an old classmate, she feels both enthralled and confused as she realizes the extent to which she’s grown while on her own over the last ten years. When Vianna uncovers a mystery related to the status of a missing childhood friend, she struggles to beat the odds of convincing the majority coven, who are misinformed, and prepares for battle as a consequence.

“Legacy Witches” is a mixture of coming of age and standing up for what is right in the face of pressure and tradition. Several themes present themselves and show the polarity they work against—acceptance versus rejection in personal character, presentation, and family lineage, “old-age” versus “new-age” with behaviors and cognitive reasoning, and dependence versus independence within self and outwardly toward others.

“Legacy Witches” is the first in the “Legacy” series and this reviewer highly anticipates the next volume if it continues to follow similar themes and characters. The story shows a different view of witches in other ways than they are portrayed in media; being a witch isn’t just warts, cauldrons, flying broomsticks, and black cats, but rather a more in-depth look at them as being both everyday citizens of the town of Salem, and their private personas that spotlight their rituals and rules of law and order, depending on the clan/tribe/last name with which they associate.

Through “Legacy Witches” Kay allows the reader to accompany Vianna on her personal journey which leads to more extensive changes in and around herself. At the beginning of the story, there is a trigger warning that is a good head’s up to readers that Kay doesn’t shy from mentioning ways that “witches” have died in the past from witch hunts and trials as real happenings in the story. The story is best suited for mature audiences as it refers to physical assault, murder, drug use, sexuality, and violence, and contains some less-than-child-friendly language.

“Legacy Witches” had me hooked from page one – so good! Highly recommended 5-star read.