I was randomly browsing on Libby and scored a Skip-the-Line queue for Sangu Mandanna’s ‘A Wirche’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping’ (July 2025). Yay! I really enjoyed Mika Moon’s adventures and I wanted to check out the author’s stories in these worlds.
Exiled as a talented teenage witch-in-training, now thirty-year-old Sera Swan now runs an enchanted inn ‘The Batty Hole’ with her Great-Aunt Jasmine in Lancashire. It is home. It feels like home. She never wanted to run this inn, but here she is. This enchanted inn isn't exactly on the maps; it can only be found by people destined to find it and see it. It's a haven for lost souls.
Sera was born a powerful witch, second only to British Guild of Sorcery Chancellor Albert Grey, who didn't like it one bit that he isn't the most powerful anymore. When Sera was fifteen years old, she botched a forbidden spell while resurrecting said Great-Aunt, and lost most of her magic, and as a result, Albert Grey took the opportunity to boot out of the Guild.
There are many characters in the inn, all of which come to stay permanently, and they form bonds to build the chosen family. Together, they are Great-Aunt Jasmine, eccentric Matilda, Clemmie the fox-witch, Theo, the young boy-cousin of Sera's, Nicholas the Knight, and Malik and Elliot. There's the odd element of romance in the form of Guild librarian and historian Luke Larsen, who has average magic, and came to the inn for shelter with his magically talented sister Posy.
Which brought Sera rather neatly to: how the fuck had she misplaced an entire eleven-year-old boy?
She stormed back inside. Jasmine as at her worktable in the large living room and, amazingly, remained unfrazzled. "Now, pet," she said soothingly, "I'm sure there's a very good explanation for this. Theo wouldn't do anything untoward.
"Wouldn't he?" Sera replied. "Not even if Clemmie asked him really, really nicely? Untoward is her middle name!"
"I think she once told me it's Mary, but I take your point. I do feel, though, that whatever Clemmie may or may not be capable of, Theo wouldn't let himself be led astray. He's an angel."
"So was Lucifer," said Sera darkly.
Things toddle along, and of course Sera requires a restricted book from the Guild library to regain her magic. The universe and everyone schemed to help her without breaking Guild rules. So that's the adventure readers get to go along for. She got her magic back. She renovated the inn and fixed it all up brilliantly. I wanted the story to end nicely there. But it doesn't.
I really didn't like the final part of the story. Then there's political intrigue. Albert Grey's daughter Francesca became Chancellor and wanted the chance to kick her father out of the Council, and required Sera's powerful magic to break the binding spell to his contract at the Guild. So she did. It set off a showdown between Sera and Albert Grey. He was her mentor and rival, and now, he must be rendered powerless so as to stop him from hurting others. And the only resolution was a shitty one. To counter the wizard's power, she had to take his, and accept the consequences of having her own magic revoked too. She did so anyway, for the safety of everyone she loved. ARRRRGGGGH.
I do not like the ending one bit. I didn't want Sera to have to sacrifice for the greater good. All of her power originated from love, the heart, and to defend her friends. Her power is in shielding. She managed to put away evil wizard Albert Grey, at the great cost of her own magic. She is now normal Sera. But she accepts it. At this point of her life, that is all that she wants to be. I like the language the author uses. I like the multi-ethnic characters. They're well fleshed-out and richly built.
She watched them for a moment. There was something bittersweet about seeing the next generation of witches take her place.
Bittersweet, but not bitter.
When she thought about it, the truth was that what she had now was worth so much more than what she'd had before. The magic of her past had been a gift, but the magic of her present had been earned.
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