Toby and the Silver Blood Witches

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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Toby raised his eyebrows. What a ridiculous rhyme. Yet, every cell in his body quivered. The sensible voice inside his head reminded him there was no such thing as magic, but he couldn’t help wonder, would something happen?

What’s Toby and the Silver Blood Witches About?

Toby Bean doesn’t have the easiest life. He’s a twelve-year old who’s bullied at school and he hasn’t spent much time with his football team or friends since his mother became ill a couple of years earlier with myalgic encephalomyelitis (it might have been nice if myalgic encephalomyelitis had been spelled out at least once) and he’s had to spend all of his time taking care of her/their house.

After hearing strange noises in their attic a couple of times, Toby goes to investigate only to find an injured woman in the attic—she’s strangely dressed, and what she’s saying is even stranger. She claims to be a witch who crashed on her broom, landing in the attic. Not only that, but she needs his help to be able to leave. He’s just this close to calling the police to come pick her up, but decides to indulge her. He finds her wand around where she thought it fell, and then he sees her use it.

And Toby’s complicated life just got more complicated—and more exciting.

He finds himself helping magical people in ways that only non-magical people can, visiting a city that’s shouldn’t exist, and taking on a secret organization to rescue some witches.

This summer break isn’t anything like what Toby’d expected.

Worldbuilding

It was obvious which of them was the Head Witch. It wasn’t just Willow’s height which gave her presence– she exuded a quiet air of authority. Her face was unreadable, neither stern nor overtly friendly. It bore no wrinkles, no lines. It was as if she never betrayed great emotion. She was impassive with a touch of the formidable.

Doherty’s worldbuilding is just great. The human/earthen conflict with the witches was introduced and dealt with in a way that is both easy to grasp and believe.

The witches’ hidden city was a great concept, and the tour of the city that Doherty took Toby (and the reader) on through it was well done and entertaining. Just about everything she gave the reader about witches—from Witch Bumble’s words for objects/animals (think The Little Mermaid‘s Scuttle) to their wands—is exactly what you want to find in a book like this.

I do think the big, evil human group could’ve been developed a bit better—they did stop short of twirling their mustaches or Tex Richman-esque maniacal laugh, but just by a hair. But that’d be my only complaint on this front (and that’s something that can be addressed in the next book so maybe I’m being premature on this point).

The Difficulty Setting

The more she talked, the more Toby felt as if he was falling headlong into a curious fictional world. He needed to take charge of the situation, before it completely spiralled out of control.

If you think of this as a video game, you’re definitely reading a play-through on the “Easy” setting. Every single arc resolves pretty easily and without a lot of tension—there might be some tension or suspense in the setup, but it goes away pretty quickly.

I noticed this first with the arcs involving Toby’s friends and his mother, but once I put my finger on it, I realized that’d been what was bugging me about everything.

This could be by design—particularly if Doherty is aiming at the younger end of the MG audience. If it’s not by design, I’d say all the elements for a more suspenseful and satisfying resolution are there, the text just needs to explore that better—and add another hundred or so pages to the book (that’s just an assumption on my part based on similar MG books I’ve read).

To be clear—this isn’t a flaw in the stories/arcs—everything ended in a very satisfactory place and I wouldn’t ask Doherty (or any author) to change that based on my whims. I just want the journey to that end to be more satisfying. The resolutions—particularly to the friends and mother—didn’t feel earned.

So, what did I think about Toby and the Silver Blood Witches?

Bumble leaned forwards. “It’s good to be different.”

“Being different is horrible. Being different means you get picked on,” Toby muttered.

“Being different is great! Who wants to be the same as everyone else?”

Toby looked up at her. She sat there in her bright patchwork dress, a bat peeping out of her pocket and her head held high.

Bumble smiled at him. “Be proud to be you, Toby ,” she said gently.

This was a perfectly charming and fun read—it was quick, too—not just because of the complexity, but primarily because the narration was so engaging that the real world melted away in the background and the only thing you wanted to focus on was the book.

Toby’s an endearing character, and you can’t help but root for him and those around him (other than his bullies, obviously). He ends up in a pretty good place and it’ll be good to see how a better-adjusted version of him who is already familiar with the world of witches deals with things in the sequel.

I did want more from Toby and the Silver Blood Witches—and think that MG readers would be justified in asking for it—but please note, I’m asking for more of something good. Not wanting a mediocre or disappointing read to offer more. It’s good, it just could’ve been better. Still, most MG readers are going to want to return to this world in the sequel(s) and from re-reading it.