Stonewitch (Hedgewitch #4) by Skye McKenna

Title: Stonewitch (Hedgewitch #4)

Author: Skye McKenna

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Published: 30^th September 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 448

Price: $22.99

Synopsis: Cassie and her coven compete in challenging games at the Covenmoot while menacing forces haunt the moors and rumours of the Stonewitch swirl through the camp.

Step into the magical world of Hedgewitch, where the land of Faerie lies just beyond our own . . . The fourth book in the enchanting Hedgewitch series, perfect for children age 9+ and readers of Nevermoor and Michelle Harrison.

To complete the next step in her witch’s training, Cassie Morgan must invent a brand-new spell. However, she is struggling for inspiration – so she jumps at the chance to attend the Covenmoot.

Every five years, covens from all over Britain and Ireland meet to take part in a series of challenging games in the hopes of winning the Covenmoot Cauldron. Cassie and her friends travel to Glen Carlin, a remote valley in the Scottish Highlands, to take part. But menacing forces haunt the moors and rumours of the ancient Stonewitch swirl through the camp.

Cassie and her coven must work together to prove themselves in the Covenmoot, while long-hidden secrets come to light and the wicked Erl King’s power grows.

Witches aren’t born; they’re made …

~*~

Cassie and her friends are back for their fourth adventure, and after the revelations of Seawitch, things are starting to ramp up. Cassie now knows more about her mother, and it has changed things. Now, we’re into book four, and off to Covenmoot, a series of games for the covens of Britain to compete in. But there’s something sinister going on. More sinister than the competition for the Covenmoot Cauldron and the gossip about Cassie and her mother from the other covens. More rumours swirl as the games progress about the Stonewitch and the Erl King, and what happened. Could the former Stonewitch be amongst their numbers somehow? Cassie, Rue, Tabitha, Robin and new friend Una are determined to find out.

But when patrol and coven in-fighting threatens to bring them down, Cassie, Robin and Una start working together to discover old secrets. Even if it means admitting the things they don’t want to admit. Everyone ends up arguing over things that can easily be resolved, over things that should be good. It’s an added conflict that adds to how the rest of the novel plays out, and it was needed so each character could grow and evolve, and so the story could get to where it needed to go.

The thrilling penultimate novel in the Hedgewitch series is here, and this time, we’re off in remote Scotland exploring the moors and highlands with Scottish magic, new characters, and characters who appeared in the previous book. Cassie is slowly putting the pieces of her mother’s past together, and the trip to Glen Carlin starts off with a train journey. This series is set in a Britain that feels like its set in a different time, and where the monarchs have different names as well. Everything is related, to ensure connections between places like Hedgely and London or Cornwall are clear, necessary and used effectively to drive the story.

The Seawitch, Robin and Mahreen are back, and it’s been really cool to see how the characters have changed and grown throughout the series and the books they have been in. Stonewitch starts bringing everything together carefully, with all the clues that have been dropped and hinted at since book one coming together, starting to weave into something that will lead us into the finale, and hopefully, answer the many questions readers and Cassie have had about Rose Morgan. I have been reading this series since the beginning, and I feel that it builds so well on what we find out from book one, moving into the subsequent books. I devoured this one in two days. I had to know what was going on, and it had the right balance of ebbs and flows, of things happening and the quieter moments where the characters reflected and started to pull everything together.

Of course, I am an avid Oak Patrol fan, and I adored their friendship with Una. She was such a fun and fabulous character. As a cat lover, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for guiding light Montague, who has exactly the right amount of attitude, advice-giving and friendship that any witch’s familiar should have. He’s lots of fun and I feel for the poor cat when he gets dragged into things he’d rather avoid. And, when it comes to witch’s familiars, in this series they can be anything. I like that, as it makes each witch and their familiar unique. I think it makes these witches, and their covens stand out in the fantasy genre. It’s been fun to read this series, and I am keen to see how it all comes together in the next book.