4 ⭐ CW: death of a parent mention, self-harm, child abuse 

The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab is a YA fantasy about the dangers of belief and fear. It's also the first book Schwab ever published. I've read a bunch of Schwab books now, and it's clear this was a debut book. Although I enjoyed it well enough it doesn't quite live up to the quality of story I'm used to with her. 

We follow Lexi Harris in the village of Near beside the moor. There are no strangers in Near, and witches are real. When a stranger is spotted in the night and children suddenly go missing the stranger is blamed. Lexi finds the stranger and makes him Cole. He's a witch with the power of the wind, but he did not lure the children away. Cole and Lexi must find the children and figure out what is causing the children to go missing before the villagers of Near decide to kill the person it's easiest to blame. The stranger. 

We have a bit of a mystery here with the children going missing in the night with no trace and no clues. I love the way magic is weaved into the story. The sisters on the of moor are great characters. Two old witches using the craft they have to try to protect the children that are left. I like that nature magic aspect. I do think the story was a bit redundant in places. It felt like we were going in circles there for a while. A lot of things felt pretty vague as well. There wasn't much in the way of world-building, which is usually what I love about Schwab. 

The edition I have also came with an extra short story telling us about Cole's past before he came to Near, so that was a nice perk. A decent story, but not my favorite from this author.