Review: The Night Witch by Jenn Stark (Wilde Justice #6)

The Night Witch (Wilde Justice #6)
Jenn Stark
Published: Aug. 3, 2020 (Elewyn Publishing)
Purchase at: Amazon
Review Source: Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewed by: Amy

Average Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it will reference events from previous books in the series. If you haven’t yet started check out VBC’s review of Getting Wilde

As Justice of the Arcana Council, Sara Wilde is starting to feel the pressure. Not only in regards to figuring out the Shadow Court’s nefarious plans, but also in that she’s been receiving and inordinately amount of requests for aid from various corners of the Connected community. She can’t seem to make any headway on the piling up cases.

When one of her nearest and dearest is targeted by the Shadow Court—which is pretty much an attack on Sara herself—Sara is enraged when the Council decides to take the road of passivity.

But acting out on her own, without the Council backing her up, is not how Sara normally operates. Then she begins to hear the rumblings of The Night Witch—a vigilante who goes where, and does what, Justice cannot—under the cloak of darkness. Can Sara cross that line and put aside her convictions if it means saving lives? When a new, mysterious ally emerges, Sara sees a great opportunity, but their price for help might lead to more trouble than its worth.

The Night Witch started out for me a little precariously. I feel like this series has a tendency to play the long game. Meaning that readers don’t always get the answers within the pages of one book. Sometimes things can stretch across multiple books and oftentimes that makes me feel like I’m just standing in one place, so to speak, while the book slowly progresses around me.

That’s how it felt when I first started this book. The Shadow Court has been a thorn in the side of this series for a couple of books now, and we started in pretty much the same place we left, not knowing much more of anything about them.

Then Jenn Stark just completely turns things around, and The Night Witch ended up having some of the most compelling revelations and climactic scenes of the series thus far. Of course talking too much about this would spoil a lot about the book unfortunately.

Suffice it to say, when I finished reading and even now as I write this, I have to marvel at the way that Jenn Stark incorporates the metaphorical (or is it?) idea of the Night Witch with Sara’s own inner struggle with the authority of the Council and her role as Justice. For me, this was a very unassuming aspect of the story, but it’s one that has left the biggest impression on me since finishing. It’s an aspect that I am greatly looking forward to continuing to explore in future books.

Jenn Stark has been writing the Sara Wilde world for sixteen (!) books now and this is not even including the spin-off Demon Enforcers series (of which there will be a total of six). To continuously add this level of depth, and keep it plausible, is a feat. I enjoyed the surprises, I loved that the above mentioned Demon Enforcers make a significant appearance, and I enjoyed seeing Sara interacting with Councilmembers outside of her normal group (such as Judgement and the High Priestess).

There are interesting setups in The Night Witch, I cannot wait to see how they continue to play out.

 Sexual Content: Sex