Friday Firsts: Curse of the Night Witch by Alex Aster

By: Manuela Soares

Hey all! Welcome back to another Friday here at Functionally Fictional and this week’s Friday Firsts. For those who don’t know, Friday Firsts was created by Tenacious Reader and is used to spotlight the first few sentences/paragraphs of your current read and your first impressions. It’s meant to be a quick and easy way to share a bit about what people are reading.

This week is not from my TBR jar but from my borrowed library books that I’ve been reading off and on for a while now. I give you Curse of the Night Witch by Alex Aster.

“The Wish

Tor Luna often studied his little sister’s lifeline. Today he ran a finger across Rosa’s tiny hands, and she squirmed, laughing. “Look at all of those peaks,” he said, tapping the rainbow-colored lines winding up and down her palms.

“More than the Scalawag Range, even” Rose said with a smug grin. She had never seen the Scalawag Range, Tor knew-and neither had he. But the famous mountains were rumored to dwarf the ones that surrounded their village like fences.

He closed Rosa’s hand gently with his own, satisfied. Though it was rare, lifelines could change overnight, so Tor always checked, just in case. He found the ritual comforting. Seeing Rosa’s destiny printed out in front of him, across both palms was like witnessing her future unfold: the challenges (valleys), the trials (loops), and, of course, the accomplishments (peaks). Her lifeline was longer than average, dipping down almost all the way to her right wrist. And Tor was grateful for that.”

First Impressions:

This is one that I first came across thanks to the author’s Instagram account and a reel she re-posted from her TikTok. The quick little video caught my attention, and fortunately, my library has an eBook copy of the book. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of this one so far, and I like how the opening started and how the next little bit flowed. A couple paragraphs after this, it explains the basics of lifelines and marks that people are born with. It’s an interesting and cool concept that Aster has going on, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this affects Tor and the other characters that have yet to be introduced. Overall, based on what I’ve read and heard about this, I’m optimistic about what’s to come.

What are you currently reading? Have any of you read Curse of the Night Witch before? What did you think?

Happy Reading!