The Never Witch by JP McLean

Reviewed by Wendy Hawkin

From the masterfully crafted opening line to the cheeky last comment, The Never Witch will keep you spellbound. McLean has a talent for creating unique supernatural worlds, so real they could actually exist in contemporary Vancouver. In this, the first of the Thorne Witch series, we’re introduced to a sophisticated world order of witches and warlocks who intermingle with humans. That in itself may not seem new—we’ve certainly met them before—but McLean’s world-building is complex, intelligent, nuanced, and, naturally, political. Oh, and yes, there’s a romantic subplot involving a witch and a warlock that slips this series into the new rage realm of romantasy.

McLean is the Mistress of Complications. These two distinct races of beings— witches and warlocks—are not limited by gender, but there are separations, regulations, and some intriguing intermingling. Both witches and warlocks are born with magic in their DNA. The power of young witches is kept bound until their thirteenth birthday, when a ceremony is held to unbind their elemental earth magic. Every two years thereafter another element is unbound—air, water, then fire.

The problem for our hero, Adeline Thorne, is that her unbinding never worked, and after four attempts she was left barren—without her magic or her coven or her pride. She’s come to accept her fate and lives a quiet life in Dunbar painting portraits, until a violent event sweeps her back into the corrupt world of witches and warlocks. At the same time, it’s discovered that the grid, “the warp and weft that fuelled the magic of witchkind” is being targeted by a warlock. Could it be the same warlock who, having been convicted of siphoning magic from others, slams his magic into Adeline for safekeeping, rather than lose it as his penalty? Warlock magic can kill a witch but, having once tasted of its dangerous power, Adeline decides to keep it, even knowing he’ll kill her to get it back.

As with all new worlds, McLean injects a unique vocabulary and specificity into her writing. Warlock magic smells of ozone; while witch magic smells of cloves. There is a Warlock King and a High Priestess of Witches. Lords and Ladies. War mages and nulls—trained assassins immune to all magic but the king’s. Courts, councils, and cuffs—metal jewellery that blows up at attempted removal, taking a hand, or a head, along with it. Runes and rune glyphs—a permanent mark, like a tattoo, etched onto the skin to prevent siphoning of magic. This reviewer loves this immersion into magical language, but suggests a glossary in the next instalment.

McLean’s writing has never been more stylish and powerful—this book raises the bar on craft. Her signature cheekiness contrasts with elegant, sensory descriptions and riveting action sequences. Some sentences are show-stoppers—“Her hostility was a sheet of hardened ice under a fragile façade of politeness.” And there are echoes of Avatar in this beautiful description of the grid: “She’d spent many evenings in her witch’s garden, watching the tiny specks of life break away from trees and spiders and drift up to become a part of the living grid. Brushing her hand across the tops of tall grass sent the specks scattering like sparks from a bonfire before they rose in a twisting vortex” (13).

The Never Witch is whimsical, hard core, intelligent, and enthralling. Fans of The Discovery of Witches will enjoy McLean’s multi-faceted magical universe where a desire for unity and freedom seethes beneath a surface of cultural differences, rules, and prohibitions. And fans of Practical Magic will enjoy this tale of two sisters: Adeline, the elder, who was never a witch but now carries warlock magic, and Sarah, the younger, a binder and spell caster married to a witch.

JP McLean is a bestselling author of urban fantasy and supernatural thrillers. She’s been the recipient of numerous honours for her Dark Dreams series and her six-book Gift Legacy series. Among them are a Global Book Award, CIBA and Page Turner Award, the National Indie Excellence Awards, the UK Wishing Shelf Book Awards, and the Whistler independent Book Awards. McLean lives on Denman Island and is a favourite at Vancouver Island markets and festivals.

The Never Witch is published by WindStorm Press, August 2025

W.L. Hawkin writes an urban fantasy/crime series about a coven of Vancouver witches who solve murders using ritual magic and a little help from the gods.