The Sapling Cage

I’ve been on the lookout for epic fantasy debuts, especially since I wasn’t terribly impressed with the early few I read during 2024. The Sapling Cage captured my attention with it’s cover, and earned a purchase with the promise of witchy epic fantasy. I found it a refreshing reset, blending the best parts of classic fantasy with modern sensibilities.

Elevator Pitch:
Lorel wants desperately to be a witch, and trades places with her best friend to do so. The only problem: Lorel was born in the body of a boy, and witches only let women in. It doesn’t matter that Lorel thinks of herself as a woman, so she must hide that part of herself. She joins the witches at a turbulent time. Duchess Helte is on the move to grab power, demonizing the witches as a scapegoat. The Knights are more violent than normal, and someone has developed a magic that Blights the land. Nobody knows the culprit, but the witches are suspect number one. Lorel just wants to learn magic, but its a long and winding road to get there.

What Worked for Me
I really, really jived with this book. It felt exactly like what an epic fantasy book focused on witches would be like. It’s less focused on epic battles or grand scenes and more on process and connections. For all its about witches, relatively little magic is actually done in this book, and Lorel learns almost none of it in this book. Witches treat words and weapons with equal value as magic, and she wields an axe more than a hex. The cycle of life, of the seasons, and of relationships (mostly platonic) are central to the storyline. I think some would claim this isn’t epic fantasy. The stakes are closer to Game of Thrones than Stormlight Archives, for example, but I think it fits quite nicely.

One thing I appreciated was how the book was plotted. The author eschewed a lot of the more traditional storytelling beats, oftentimes establishing and resolving elements in quick succession, but in a way that felt more natural to how things actually happen, rather than how stories are supposed to go. Similarly, the interactions between characters feel refreshingly natural. The people are just … people. They’re allowed to exist in a way that even the best character writers like Hobb sometimes lose in their deep pursuit of developing characters. Killjoy just lets them exist as they were, following them in a way that feels natural.

This book is brutal, but not in a way designed to tug heartstrings. It’s brutal because life is. People die. The main character questions lots of things. The adults aren’t total idiots and similarly the whelps (below even apprentice witches) get things wrong. It was all just refreshing in how understated the book was. Lorel’s queer journey, including navigating whether or not she even wants a physical transition, is similarly low drama, despite the intolerance she faces from some witches.

I’ve said it a few times already, but this feels like a really pure distillation of epic fantasy meets witches. If that idea appeals to you at all, then this is a good one.

What Didn’t Work For Me

The worldbuilding was a hair simple for me. For how natural everything else felt, the clear ‘factions’ of witches, knights, and brigands, each oddly symmetrical, felt a bit out of place and forced in a way the rest of the book wasn’t. It didn’t pose a huge barrier to entry, but was definitely something I was noticing while reading. It isn’t quite as clear cut as witches = good and knights = bad (there are plenty of helpful knights and nasty witches) but I think introducing those dynamics in a less formalized way would have been good for the book.

Additionally, for all that I liked how subtle the story was, I do think it lacked just a little bit for an ‘it factor’. This book was enjoyable in almost every single way, and you can bet I’m reading the sequel when it drops, but there was a little nibbling feeling like something was missing. Can’t tell you what it is though.

In Conclusion: A lowkey epic fantasy about a fledgling witch

• Characters – 4
• Worldbuilding – 3
• Craft – 4
• Themes – 4
• Enjoyment – 4