Powerful witches deserve better
Book review: Hekate-The Witch by Nikita Gill
Hekate - The Witch by Nikita Gill
Published: September 16, 2025 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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Synopsis:
Born into a world on fire, Godling Hekate has never known safety. After her parents are on the losing side of the war between the ruling Titans and new Olympian Gods, Hekate is taken by her mother Asteria to the Underworld, where Styx and Hades agree to raise her. Meanwhile, Asteria is pursued across the world by Zeus and Poseidon and, to escape their clutches, transforms herself into an island in a stormy sea.
Orphaned and alone, Hekate grows up amongst the horrors and beauties of the Underworld, desperate to find her divine purpose and a sense of belonging in the land of the dead.
When Hekate finally uncovers her powers and ascends to Goddess status, she realises that even the most powerful Olympians are terrified of her. But when immortal war breaks out again, threatening to destroy everything from Mount Olympus to the Underworld itself, the Goddess of witchcraft and necromancy is the only one who can bring the deadly conflict to an end. . .
Rating:
Review:
This book seems to be a prime example of “Everyone loved it but me.” It’s very highly rated, and plenty of people clearly connected with it. I started to wonder if maybe I was just in a bad mood, so I shelved it for a few days and tried again. I still couldn’t connect with it. Even after pushing through 50% of the book, I just couldn’t enjoy it. Which is frustrating, because I normally love retellings and absolutely adore mythology.
What I didn’t realize when I picked this up is that it’s written in verse. Frankly, if I’d known that beforehand, I might not have read it. The writing style was incredibly distracting. Unfortunately, what sometimes happens with “in verse” writing is that the author isn’t really writing poetry; they’re just separating sentences into multiple lines. That’s exactly how this book felt. It didn’t read like poetry; it just made the prose feel choppy and disjointed. Combined with some paragraphs that were completely normal, which was equally disjointed and distracting.
The problems didn’t stop there, unfortunately. Hekate was reduced to a whiny child, which I absolutely hated. I love Hekate, and I desperately wanted a different take on her, but this felt insulting to the original myth. This was supposed to be a story about powerful, dangerous women. Instead, it felt like a tale about a simpering, insecure child trapped in the most heteronormative relationship imaginable.
Nearly nothing happens in the first 50% of the book either. I found it desperately boring.
I’d recommend skipping this one.