Nowadays it seems that every other urban fantasy book I pick up has witches in it, and the blurb goes along the lines of “she’s a witch, but she helps humans” or “she’s a witch, and now humans are after her”, or it has some other iteration of “witches vs. them” theme. And that, sadly, is usually the reason I don’t even continue checking out the rest of the blurb, let alone reading the actual book.

It’s because I miss the witches of old. Or rather, to be more precise, I miss how they used to be portrayed in stories. (more…)