Review: "Spellfire" by Agatha Willow

Spellfire by Agatha Willow
Published October 2025 via Avon
★★★

Castles and magic and witches, oh my!

I'm always going to perk up at a new queer boarding school book—especially when, as is the case here, the boarding school is in a castle and the characters are witches. Here, Luna thought she'd put her school days behind her...until an unexpected inheritance puts her back on campus and the school head begs her to stay and teach for the term. Never mind that the school head is Luna's school crush...

Relationship- and romance-wise, this gets high marks from me. Luna and Amelia do a generally great job of speaking up and checking in. Just about every time it looks like they're going to go down the well-worn-to-the-point-of-overdone path of "both characters want something long-term but think the other only wants a fling!" one of them steps back and says hmm, actually, while it's okay if that's what you're looking for, I'm actually looking for something else. They even take the (far too unusual in romance) initiative to discuss the power imbalances and possible pitfalls of a head dating a teacher she's hired. And I love to see it.

Plot-wise, this gets...not so high marks from me. The stated conflict of the story is that the school is struggling, and the board is trying to make Amelia into a scapegoat. There are some interesting related points about the role of technology in a magical school, but—partly because so few students and so few other staff members are developed as characters—it doesn't really go anywhere. I wanted to know the names of more than three students; to know the names of more than three other professors; to learn more about the castle layout; the inherited library to come into play; Luna to try to get the ball rolling on ADHD testing for a student who is struggling in all the classes and thinks he does in fact have ADHD; the staff member who is awkwardly introduced two thirds of the way through to have a purpose in the story; the conflict to have a bit more of a solution rather than just...Amelia being impressive, I guess.

I initially gave this a rounded-up four stars, because I read it so quickly—and was so pleased by most of the communication—that it took me until close to the end to start being dismayed that the plot clearly wasn't going to go anywhere. On more reflection, I have to take it back down to three, because the plot just wasn't there. A valiant debut effort, and if there's another book—there's potential setup for a romance between two other staff members—I will hope for more from it.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.