Daughters of Dark Root Books In Order

Publication Order of The Daughters of Dark Root Books

Publication Order of The Daughters of Dark Root Short Stories/Novellas

Daughters of Dark Root is a series of paranormal novels by the American novelist April Aasheim. Aasheim has made a name for herself as one of the best paranormal novelists to emerge from the United States in the recent past. Her very first novel in the series was the bestselling novel “The Witches of Dark Root” first published in 2012. With the critically acclaimed novel attaining early commercial success, April has published a novel every year since. The series of novels is set in the village of Dark Root, a town where every person had the opportunity to become whatever they wanted to be. The series of novels has a lot to do with her childhood in which she spent a lot of time traveling around the country with her get-rich-quick stepfather and gypsy mother. She learned the art of Tarot reading from her mother and once lived in an abandoned miner’s shack, which perhaps explains the fascination with the darker aspects of witchcraft and dark haunted places. The Daughters of Dark Root may be best described as modern paranormal novels with a touch of romantic comedy that focuses on the relationship between Maggie, a young woman, her siblings, and her mother. The series of novels seamlessly combines the fantastic with the mundane, and the mystical with the normal, as it follows the life of the lead protagonist an apprentices to a witch.

The Daughters of Dark Root series of novels features the lead protagonist Maggie Maddock, her three sisters, and their mother. When we are first introduced to the protagonist, she is feeling trapped in the mall town of Dark Root, Oregon. Her mother is the powerful leader of the local coven, who wants all of her daughters to become witches, so that they may save their town from impending Armageddon. Forced into a predictable and boring life of practicing magic, the girls could not be happier when they grow up and leave Dark Root. Several years pass before they reunite back home after their mother falls seriously ill. They come home to find that the impending doom they scoffed at is all too real, and if they do not do something, their hometown is sure to die. Maggie in particular has been groomed to take over as the leader of the Coven of witches led by her mother. Even as she had been practicing magic reluctantly before she left town, she had discovered that she was more capable than she could ever have imagined and that she was special. But she now has to deal with something deeper and darker that includes the typical family drama and demons from the past. Over the course of the series, Maggie grows and develops as she navigates the complex relationships against a backdrop of magic and witchery. In the face of all she has to deal with, she also has to live a life that alternates between apathy and anger, while trying to attain her dreams of repairing her hometown that she one time looked forward to leaving and never coming back.

Influenced by Stephen King who is considered the best paranormal writer ever, the Daughters of Dark Root series by April Aasheim are unconventional novels with a contemporary feel. Unlike most of its contemporaries, the series gives a back-story to each of its witches, which gives it a more realistic feel. It could arguably be said to be one of the most character driven paranormal novels, as its focus is the relationship between the lead protagonist Maggie, her possible love interests, her boyfriend, her mother, and her three sisters. April Aasheim shines in the depiction of relationships, particularly between Maggie and her sisters. The jealousy, protectiveness, co-dependence, adoration, sibling rivalry and all sorts of sisterly love and emotions make for such a thrilling ride. When it comes to a novel about witches, the Daughters of Dark Root has some of the best magic you could ever find in a paranormal or magic novel. It has some great scenes when Maggie Maddock just lets go and embraces her powers that she had been suppressing for ages. All of the novels of the series also end with an excellent unexpected twist that most of the time the reader has probably forgotten by the time it is resolved in an explosive way. What makes these twists so important is that they make way for some interesting continuation in plot in the next novel in the series.

“The Witches of Dark Root”, the first novel of the Daughters of Dark Root series of novels introduces Maggie Maddock an untamed woman with magical powers otherwise called a witch. Maggie spent most of her childhood dreaming of the day she would leave her hometown of Dark Root, Oregon. Outside there, she could become herself – free from the pressures of her mother who wanted her to take up the leadership of the Dark Root coven of witches. An opportunity soon presents itself when she falls in love with a handsome man, who sweeps her away to the big city. She leaves vowing never to come back, but seven years later, she gets a call from one of her sisters with an urgent message that her mother was taken ill. She heads home to deal with the problems she thought she had left behind for good: renewed sibling rivalry, a mother suffering from a mysterious illness and a town losing its magic and crumbling into nothingness. While she had never fancied the life of being a witch, she now has to learn fast if she is to set things right and take the leadership of the coven that is counting on her.

“The Magick of Dark Root” is the sequel to The Witches of Dark Root the first novel in the series. Maggie Maddock and her three siblings are back under the tutelage of Miss Sasha Shantay, their mother and leader of the Dark Root coven. Their mother is training them to take over the leadership of the coven. While the lessons are going on well, their mother’s health is not as her mysterious illness is back with a vengeance. To make matters worse the Harvest Home’s taxes are around the corner and lacking the money, Maggie has to rally her sisters to somehow raise the money through witchcraft. And just when they think they are on the right track, things go terribly wrong. The novel is an excellent paranormal thriller with excellent characters that is more than just a tale of witch Sabbaths, but more of a story about sacrifice, relationships, and the healing power of family and love.