A Resistance of Witches review
5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: historical fantasy, witchy reads, multiple POVs
Considering the history of witches + witchcraft in Germany and Hitler's obsession with the occult, I'm surprised there haven't been more books combining witches and WWII. The concept is what drew me in and I was curious to see where Ryan would go with the story. This is one of those books that teeters between YA and adult, and I think enjoyers of both age ranges would enjoy this novel.
Witches are hidden among everyday people, with most not even realizing they exist. In this fragile, hidden state, the witches of the UK manage to exist alongside non-magical people, with their academy hidden behind careful glamours and wards, and the witches themselves carefully keeping out of non-magical affairs. But much like how WWII mixed up class lines in Britain, it mixes up magical ones too. The Grand Mistress of the Royal Academy of Witches, Isadora, refuses to stand by while the Nazis ravage Europe, and so she offers their aid. As expected it's all very hush-hush, but from what we can glean, the witches seem to focus on keeping magical artifacts out of Nazi hands, though I suspect they do a little art smuggling and resistance work at times as well.
There are an unclear number of magical specialties that witches can have, at least those practicing Western European magic. Projectionists, like Lydia and Isadora, can perform astral projections and have their body in one place while a 'projection' of them walks around elsewhere. This also helps them track objects and people. Then there are Glamourers, like Kitty and Fiona, two other witches from the Academy, who can change their appearance to look like anyone else. Travelers, Fiona again, can teleport to various locations. And Forces, who have the ability to control people, though are not able to make them think differently or say things they don't want to say (though there are ways of...encouraging speech). Based on this, it's pretty obvious how witches could be helpful to both sides of the war.
While plenty of witches believe in the good of the work they're doing, there are stirrings of discontent, particularly among the venerated older witches of the council, most of whom prefer a return to the older days when witches and non-magical affairs stayed separated. This discontent gets blown wide open when two witches are murdered when a Nazi witch infiltrates the Academy and steals a carefully-acquired page from the Grimorium Bellum, hoping to take it for Hitler.
Our main witch, Lydia, is the apprentice and right-hand to Isadora. Firmly on the side of witch intervention, and with something of a desire for vengeance after the attack, Lydia finds herself increasingly frustrated with the council's inaction. I've got to say, while Lydia herself might not have much experience going on missions to the continent, when she wants to get something done, she does. And Lydia is determined to stop the Nazi witches.
In disguise and with only the briefest of SOE training courses, she heads off to France with the goal of finding the grimoire before the Nazis can. But Lydia is just a but in over her head. While I like my MCs competent, I did enjoy seeing Lydia learn about life in Occupied France, and her needing to lean on people created some strong bonds between her and those who reached out a hand to help. Lydia has strong magical abilities, and I particularly enjoyed the scenes when she got to work her magic, particularly in coordination with other witches.
As mentioned, Lydia needs some help during her journey, and the first person who aids her in her work is Rebecca. Rebecca works in the Resistance, and is wary of Lydia's clearly-British origins, but ends up ferrying her from the coast to Chateau de Laurier anyway. Rebecca's clearly got a past but keeps it pretty close to her chest for most of the book. Whatever is haunting her has also hardened her, though the things she herself has done and seen done while in the Resistance have certainly aided in that as well. But when push comes to shove, Rebecca is someone you can rely on in a fight, and she'd go down guns blazing, protecting people any day of the week.
After Rebecca drops Lydia off at the Chateau, Lydia's next point of contact is the person living there, Henry Bordeaux, who has already had contact with witches and is On His Guard. It's hard not to like Henry from the get-go. While he too is wary of Lydia and her apparently obvious Britishness, he's also kind-hearted and unwilling to turn her out of the Chateau. It doesn't take long for Henry and Lydia to warm up to one another, and it quickly becomes clear that any gruffness from Henry is simply his desire to do his part to foil the Nazis. He's plenty willing to help out, even risking a great deal himself. Henry is also somewhat of a surprise, he has his own magic, passed down through his mother's family and quite different from the version of magic Lydia is used to.
With Lydia and the Nazi witches searching for the Grimorium Bellum, the race is on, and no time can be spared. The Nazis are, of course, far more ruthless than our trio, but with some cunning and a great deal of luck, they manage to stay one step ahead...at least for a while. A lot of this novel does focus on finding the grimoire and then trying to keep it from being used for nefarious purposes. As a result, I think it fits in quite well with 'spy books' set in this time period (I will admit, I could not stop thinking of Code Name Verity the entire time I read this, but it's similar to the fictionalizations of Nancy Wake's work too).
I do wish there was a little more build-up of the relationships in this novel. We get some good work with Lydia and her mother, Rebecca and her ex-girlfriend Claire, and with Rebecca and Henry, but I want more with Lydia + Rebecca and Lydia + Henry. They quickly become friends and allies, but I just wanted to see that deepen into something greater. It's clear they care for each other, but it was kind of a blink-and-it's-there kind of situation. Especially with Lydia and Henry, whom we can see have a budding romance, but it just doesn't feel all that strong by the end. But I suppose this doesn't really take place over that long of a period, so that's actually probably better than if they were massively in love, lol.
One other thing I will say is that I wish Ryan had explored the concept more. At the very beginning of the novel, we get hints that the Academy has been tracking magical artifacts across Europe and snatching them out of the continent before the Nazis can get their hands on them. I was hoping to see more of that work in this book, with the grimoire being just one of many artifacts the British witches focus on, or at least with more of an indication this work is going on in the background. Alas, the focus is almost wholly on the grimoire, and moreover this is Lydia's first 'assignment,' so we don't even have her thinking about past missions.
