Witchling (Sisters of the Moon #1) is a 2006 paranormal fantasy romance thriller novel written by Yasmine Galenorn and published by Berkley.  Set as the first book in the Sisters of the Moon series the book follows the D’Artigo Sisters, operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency, who are tasked with keeping the mysterious Shadow Wing and his minions at bay.

Paranormal stories like this tend to blend with other stories. Reading Witchling I felt like I was reading a story from the Crimson City series or the Immortal Empire series, and it does little to differentiate itself from this type of stories. but that isn’t necessarily bad.

Serving as the first book of the Sisters of the Moon series, the story follows the half-human, half-faerie D’Artigo sisters, Camille Delilah, and Menolly, who are operatives of the Otherworld Intelligence Agency, and their efforts to stop a powerful demon named Shadow Wing from unleashing hell on both Otherworld and Earth. Witchling is narrated in first person by Camille. The story actually starts off as a mystery but as it progresses it grows into a save-the-world mission to stop the leader of the Subterranean Realms, Shadow Wing.  It can be bogged down with scenes that slow the story to a crawl while some are action packed but feel meaningless.  Because of how poorly many of the story plots are handled or revealed, the twists aren’t really engaging.

The story itself is alright but it’s certainly not breaking any new ground. It’s a story that you’ve read many many times before and because the story isn’t as well written as it could’ve been the story isn’t really interesting. Yes, experiencing moments between the characters as they try to unravel this mystery and ultimately try to deal with the incredible threat is cool but it doesn’t feel like progression.

One of the better subplots is Menolly still dealing with turning into a vampire. You can see how it affects her relationships with her sisters and actually offers something interesting to the worldbuilding and story.

There are some twists and I personally don’t think they were handled particularly well. One of them being the reveal of the main villain Shadow Wing. His name’s revealed relatively early and the fact that he doesn’t make an appearance hurts that same angle. If the writer had revealed him towards the end of the book the reveal would’ve been more impactful. I Still like the story, seeing the daily lives of these three women, and the setup but it just felt like the story was lacking. (3 out of 5)

For the most part I liked the characters. The main protagonists are the D’Artigo sisters who are half-human half-Fae operatives of the OIA–the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. Camille is a witch, Delilah a shapeshifter, and Menolly a vampire. They each have their strengths and characteristics that complement the others. Camille’s powers are unpredictable which lead to some interesting sequences. One thing I didn’t like about Camille is her reliance on her magic. It doesn’t make sense for her magic to be so unpredictable, yet she utilizes no other means to defend herself. Delilah at least uses a gun and Menolly has her vampire abilities.  And honestly, the three don’t even feel like real agents of anything. However, I do find that they fit into those troupes tighter than a sock over a watermelon. If you’ve seen the Powerpuff Girls or Charmed, you know how their dynamic is.

The supporting cast is decent but most fit into those same roles as well. Camille has to deal with the return of her former lover, Trillian, as well as the charming fox demon, Morio. Thought Trillian was a pretty awesome character (though he does fill the bad boy troupe) and there is this rivalry between him and Morio.

Menolly is probably the most interesting of the bunch as she is dealing with her being a vampire after she was unwillingly changed. Delilah is able to shapeshift into cat forms and usually changes into a domestic cat at the first sign of trouble. She also develops this relationship with the head of Fae/Human CSI, Chase Johnson.  Chase is probably the most underutilized character to the point that it is frustrating.  When things happen, he is always the first to be surprised, sickened, or hurt.  He was always creeped out, basically made to be physically, mentally, and emotionally inferior to the main three to make them seem “strong” In all honesty, if the writer gave a crap Chase could’ve been the next Aloysius Pendergast.

There are some interesting side characters but most of them are one dimensional and seem like plot devices rather than believable characters. It seems like instead of the three investigating and figuring out what’s going on, a new character pops up and gives them the information. (3 out of 5)

Yasmine Galenorn does a good job of setting up this interesting world and fleshing out the main characters. I like her vision, I like many ideas presented, I like the setup. The dialogue is pretty solid filled with wit and humor. Books like this tend to have dialogue where the women characters are witty and it works here. It helps make the conversations engaging. However, witty dialogue all the time can make characters seemingly view tense situations in the wrong way or a sarcastic comment during a tense moment break that moment. And this book walks that fine line.

The writing has a definite focus on sex, but the mystery, action, and fantasy elements are balanced out pretty well. Also, there is sex and there is a good bit of description.  However, the wording is careful not to make it overly descriptive. I get the romantic angle but like my thoughts on Bewitching the Enemy, I think Galenorn focuses too much on sexuality than the actual meat of the story.

One thing about the writing that I didn’t like was how quickly revealed things are. When there is a particular question about a certain event or character someone always knew which ruins the mystique. Hardly any mystery for the characters to figure out. Definitely takes some of the tension out of the writing. Even with the Shadow Wing character, there’s little to no build up surrounding him nor mystery. It’s just that he’s evil, powerful with little regard to him at least working his way to the top. It would’ve been better had he made moves but no one knew who he was until later on.

One other problem I noticed was the description of the sisters.  Each sister is as different as they could possibly which doesn’t make sense.  Delilah’s a blonde, Menolly’s a redhead, Camille’s a brunette.  Delilah’s a shapeshifter, Menolly’s a vampire, Camille’s a witch.  Delilah’s tall, Menolly’s short, Camille’s in-between. Get the point? Even their personalities are vastly different.  Hell, me and my sister have similar personalities and we look alike but we’re completely different people.  Why couldn’t these characters look similar, have similar abilities, but also have personalities that make them different.  

Another problem I had with the sisters is that I don’t believe in the slightest they’re agents. They don’t act like agents, they don’t move like agents, they’re not trained like agents. For example, Camille’s magic is unpredictable. Meaning that it’s unreliable. Unreliable in a fight could get people killed. What’s her alternative. She has none. none of the sisters are trained in combat, nor trained to fight in situations where their powers don’t work. You’d think they’d have magical weapons to fall back on. (2 out of 5)

The Verdict: In the end, Witchling (Sisters of the Moon #1) is a good read but not as good as it could’ve been. This’ll be a good read for fans of the paranormal romance genre. Most of the problems I had with the book is with the writing; how things were revealed, descriptions of the sisters, focus on sexuality over the quality of the story, and a few plotholes.  However, the story is interesting, characters are good, witty dialogue, and some of the world building is good.  Witchling (Sisters of the Moon #1) gets 3 out of 5.

Anyway, in the comment section below let us know what your thoughts are of Witchling, did you like the book, did you not like the book, who are your favorite characters. Be sure to hit the like, share, subscribe, and that notification button to get the best of what we have on the channel and we’ll see you guys next weekend.