Witches Steeped in Gold

Written by Ciannon Smart

Narrated by Nicola Lambo and Tamika Katon-Donegal

This Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut about two enemy witches who must enter into a deadly alliance to take down a common enemy has the twisted cat-and-mouse of Killing Eve with the richly imagined fantasy world of Furyborn and Ember in the Ashes.

Divided by their order. United by their vengeance.

Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom—and vengeance.

Jazmyne is the Queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.

Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain—except the lengths they will go to win this game.

""A thundering waterfall of magic, vengeance and intrigue."" —Samantha Shannon, New York Times & Sunday Times bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree and The Bone Season.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063063426

Ciannon Smart

Ciannon Smart lives neither here nor there and writes stories about similar places. Convinced the Bad Guys have received an unfair edit, she’s dedicated her middle grade career to straightening this up. In the Night Things universe, her characters can be found defeating the Really Bad Guys. Usually with awesome weapons. Always with brilliant humor. Humility too. Now, these villains aren’t to be confused with the Really, Really Bad Guys she writes about in her young adult stories, Witches Steeped in Gold and Empress Crowned in Red. When not fighting all caliber of villain, Ciannon Smart sleeps, because defeating evil is an exhausting superpower. You can learn more about her at ciannonsmart.com.

Reviews for Witches Steeped in Gold

[Kayla Pratt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am in AWE!!!

My family is from Belize and I was telling my uncle about the book I was reading. He shocked me by telling me what he knows about Obeah legends. I hadn't realized that Belize has the same legends of witches. It only made this book more interesting to me and I can't wait for book 2.

5 stars

[Lisa Shibest · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The audiobook was done really well and helped with the confusion I was having distinguishing between the two female mc’s.

The book itself was only a 3.5⭐️

[Thee Kruella De'Ville · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh my gosh I loved the relationship between the characters the back story was so compelling. The drama yes was everything the plot twist the reveals. Where is book 2?please let there be a book 2

[Angel White · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Pretty boring and hard to get thru. Nothing much was happening throughout. The two main characters are so much alike it was hard to tell which one was speaking when their name wasn't mentioned right away. Had high hopes for this one but overall just ok. I don't think I'll be continuing with this series.

[Rebecca · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was such a rich and beautiful story, and I was consistently captivated by its characters and their journeys.

[Ventura Dennis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wanted more world building , and more showing not telling. Starts off slow, and has a ok plot. Probably will not br continuing the series

[oceancat-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those well done books that turn out to not quite be for me. It’s about two girls in different magic orders, one the daughter of the current doyenne and one the daughter of the ousted (and murdered) former. The magic system was awesome and well described, the plot and pacing was well done, so I do recommend it if you like stories of revenge and where people work together but only by forced necessity. I really really hope they become friends in the next book, they could do so much if they were truly working together. I don’t know that that is going to happen though, and it is the main reason I did not end up loving this book.

[lyrrael · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When the enemy of your enemy is your enemy to be, everything's gonna end up crashing down in the end.

[jmchshannon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart is everything I love about fantasy novels. Simply, it is a fabulous story, rich in backstory and culture with its basis in Caribbean folklore. The two main characters play off each other to perfection with their opposing desires for revenge versus better leadership. I never knew what was coming, and I definitely didn’t know how it was going to end. While I find myself more sympathetic to one of the main characters, the entire story has me vested in both their stories, so much so that the sequel will be one of my more anticipated stories for 2022.

[black2lilly · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an enjoyable read overall.
It started strong, ebbed off a bid in the middle and went out with a lot of action again. The world building was great, the island and the places on it came to live very nicely. The was the magic worked also made sense, no complains there. Being set with a background in Jamaican folklore was a nice treat, having not that much knowledge about it, I have now the meaning to fix that.
I only gave three and a half stars though because I just could not warm up to Jazmyne in anyway. In the beginning she came off as dull and then the transformation towards the end came so quick that it felt forced. Most of the time I was not really interested in her side of the story, whereas the side characters like Anya seemed to be more exciting than her.
Ira on the other hand was the opposite, her inner struggles were good portrayed and even though her stubbornness in seeking revenge was getting a bit bothersome at times, she was the one I was drawn to. Maybe I just like sassy characters more?
It will be interesting to see where the second part of this story will bring us and how the characters will go on developing.