{"id":25771,"date":"2026-01-31T09:50:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=25771"},"modified":"2026-02-01T10:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T15:03:16","slug":"witchmark-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25771","title":{"rendered":"Witchmark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Witchmark<\/em><\/a> (2018) C.L. Polk<\/a> (The Kingston Cycle #1)<\/p>\n

\"Witchmark\"I reread this so I can finally finish the series.<\/p>\n

Mr. Elliot dragged in a tattered breath. \u201cI got too close. They needed the souls. The war\u2014\u201d He gagged and rolled away from me, retching. <\/p>\n

I held him steady. \u201cDon\u2019t try to talk.\u201d <\/p>\n

He dragged in ragged breaths and kept talking. \u201cFind my murderer, Sir Christopher.\u201d <\/p>\n

I froze. \u201cI\u2019m Dr. Singer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHelp me find out who killed Nick Elliot, and everything I can teach you before Frostnight is yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting with how to hide your true nature, I think. You shine, Starred One, to anyone with the power to see.\u201d <\/p>\n

Possibilities lay outside the door he\u2019d cracked open. If I could appear mundane to highborn mages with the trick of seeing magical auras, Kingston could be mine to walk again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHow did it come to this?\u201d He wiped a hand over his forehead as if he could erase his vexation. \u201cEvery single spirit speaker I\u2019ve visited is a fraud. Every building reputed as haunted is just drafty and old. Every true witch I\u2019ve seen in a trial has no hope of freedom.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t try you until you fail the examination.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they\u2019ll arrest someone on the barest suspicion, so long as they\u2019re poor. Did you know that?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI do,\u201d I said. \u201cWhich is why I would like you to please stop speaking of it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Dr. Christopher Miles Hensley Singer, Mr. Tristan Hunter, Nicholas Alva Elliot, Mrs. Bass, Mrs. Sparrow, Dame Grace Hensley, Miss Robin Thorpe, Kate Small, Dr. Matheson, Dr. Crosby, Dr. James Fredman, Young Gerald, Gerald Grimes, Bill Pike, Cpl. James Badger, Pvt. Jack Bunting, Cpl. Terrence Pigeon, Sir Percy Stanley, Raymond Blake, Richard Poole, Celinda Poole, Clara Sibley, Julia Riggins, Douglas Fox, Constable Fisher, Avia Jessup, Caroline Miller, Alice Farmer, Janey Cooper, Cully Miller, Grand Duchess Aife, Cormac, Queen Constantina<\/p>\n

Cover design by Will Staehle<\/p>\n

Publisher: Tor<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Witchmark (2018) C.L. Polk (The Kingston Cycle #1) I reread this so I can finally finish the series. Mr. Elliot dragged in a tattered breath. \u201cI got too close. They needed the souls. The war\u2014\u201d He gagged and rolled away from me, retching. I held him steady. \u201cDon\u2019t try to talk.\u201d He dragged in ragged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,27,292,2,204,33,207,148,41,26],"tags":[865,915,544],"class_list":["post-25771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-alternate-history","category-ebook","category-fantasy","category-good","category-historical","category-mental-health-rep","category-queer","category-reread","category-romance","tag-c-l-polk","tag-kingston-cycle","tag-mm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-6HF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21098,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21098","url_meta":{"origin":25771,"position":0},"title":"Witchmark","author":"Michelle","date":"October 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Witchmark (2018) C.L. Polk (The Kingston Cycle) Set in a world somewhat like England after WW I, but not really. Miles Singer escaped his family and ended up in the war between Aeland and Laneer, his medical schooling put to terrible use. Now he works as a psychiatrist in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Witchmark","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Witchmark.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Witchmark.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Witchmark.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Witchmark.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25788,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25788","url_meta":{"origin":25771,"position":1},"title":"Stormsong","author":"Michelle","date":"February 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Stormsong (2020) C.L. Polk (The Kingston Cycle) Grace has escaped with her brother after the destruction of the aethernet, but when she senses a terrible storm coming she knows she has to return to Aeland to protect her people. A storm spread out miles wide, spinning away from the Cauldron\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stormsong","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Stormsong-187x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25800,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25800","url_meta":{"origin":25771,"position":2},"title":"Soulstar","author":"Michelle","date":"February 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Soulstar (2021) C.L. Polk (The Kingston Cycle #3) This is the conclusion to the Kingston Cycle, and there is a lot going on here: Severin Mountrose is now king, witches are free, there is a search to replace aether, and Solidarity has decided to hold an open election--even if it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Soulstar","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Soulstar-186x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23153,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23153","url_meta":{"origin":25771,"position":3},"title":"Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"January 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection, Audio Book (2020) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by: the author, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Ben Elliot, Felix Grainger, Sam Peter Jackson, Alex Kingston, Shvorne Marks, and Penelope Rawlins (Rivers of London) Part One: The Peter Grant Stories The Home Crowd Advantage The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tales from the Folly","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Tales-from-the-Folly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20909,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20909","url_meta":{"origin":25771,"position":4},"title":"Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection, Audio Edition (2020) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by: the author, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Ben Elliot, Felix Grainger, Sam Peter Jackson, Alex Kingston, Shvorne Marks, and Penelope Rawlins PART ONE: THE PETER GRANT STORIES The Home Crowd Advantage: set between Rivers of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tales from the Folly","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Tales-from-the-Folly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17369,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/17369","url_meta":{"origin":25771,"position":5},"title":"Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"June 6, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection (2020) Ben Aaronovitch narrated by: the author, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Ben Elliot, Felix Grainger, Sam Peter Jackson, Alex Kingston, Shvorne Marks, and Penelope Rawlins PART ONE: THE PETER GRANT STORIES The Home Crowd Advantage The Domestic The Cockpit The Loneliness\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tales from the Folly","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Tales-from-the-Folly.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}