The Witch Collector

Published in 2021, The Witch Collector is the first installment in Charissa Weaks’s fantasy romance Witch Walker series. Known for blending lush romantic tension with high-stakes magical conflict, Weaks builds a world shaped by elemental forces, ancient gods, and the perilous balance between free will and fate.

The Witch Collector follows Raina Bloodgood, a voiceless witch living in the rural village of Silver Hollow. For years, every harvest moon, the mysterious Witch Collector has taken one of Raina’s people on behalf of the Frost King, but when he comes for her sister, Raina plans to kill him. However, her plan unravels when an enemy attack throws her into an uneasy alliance with him. As Raina is drawn deeper into the politics and peril of the Northlands, she discovers a destiny far more powerful and dangerous than she imagined. The novel explores themes related to choosing forgiveness over vengeance, forces of good versus evil, and how destiny intertwines with choice.

This guide is based on the 2021 e-book edition by Owl City Press.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, suicidal ideation, cursing, sexual content, rape, and ableism.

Plot Summary

Every year on the harvest moon, the Witch Collector visits the villages on the edge of Frostwater Wood and takes a Witch Walker to serve the Frost King of the Northlands. Eight years ago, the Witch Collector took Raina Bloodgood’s sister, Nephele, and Raina has vowed vengeance ever since.

Raina hopes to use the God Knife, a powerful ancient blade crafted from a god’s rib, to kill the Witch Collector and the Frost King. Her friend and former lover, Finn Owyn, sharpens the knife for her despite warning her against revenge. Though she’s a Witch Walker, Raina lacks witch marks, the runes that indicate magical ability. She also can’t sing spells aloud, as Witch Walkers must, because she was born mute. However, she uses signed Elikesh to cast her spells and has both healing magic and a rare Seer’s gift that allows her to see present events involving people, places, or things she has already observed.

Meanwhile, the Witch Collector—Alexus Thibault—meets with the Frost King, Colden Moeshka. Colden fears that the Prince of the East will break their treaty and launch an invasion. Alexus reminds Colden that Raina might be a Seer, as Nephele claimed, and insists that he take her to Winterhold. Alexus departs, but the first village on his route is attacked by Eastlanders wielding ancient Summerlander fire magick. He fends off the assault and warns nearby villages before heading to Silver Hollow.

In Silver Hollow, Raina’s friend Helena worries about the hunters, including her father, who haven’t returned. Despite their absence, the village begins its harvest festival, which is soon interrupted by Alexus’s arrival. Eastlanders descend on the village, their enchanted crows attacking and their arrows setting fires. Raina’s mother, Ophelia, uses powerful magick to summon a storm, but the Prince of the East kills her. Raina wounds him in the face with the God Knife, and Alexus fights him off to protect Raina. Fleeing with Alexus, Raina suddenly manifests witch marks. She discovers that most villagers have been killed. When Alexus collapses, she reluctantly heals him, and he calls her a Resurrectionist.

Raina and Alexus form an uneasy truce. Because Nephele taught Alexus to sign, they can communicate. Together, they enter Frostwater Wood, breaking through the Eastlanders’ thorny barrier using an amethyst sword that Raina conjures with Alexus’s help. She remains angry and insists that she won’t help Colden, but Alexus reveals that Nephele and Colden are lovers. Realizing that she can’t survive alone, Raina continues with Alexus.

They reach a magical construct that the Witch Walkers created at Winterhold. While they cross a frozen lake filled with the corpses of fallen Eastlanders, a woman Raina recognizes as Helena attacks them. Though her memory is fragmented, she’s hostile toward Alexus. The Prince of the East haunts Raina’s dreams, and a wraith possesses Helena. She attacks using the God Knife and exposes Alexus’s inner darkness. Nephele’s magic restrains the wraith in vines, but they must leave Helena behind. Raina takes the knife.

Realizing that the Prince of the East is spying on them through crows, Raina kills them. Alexus explains that the God Knife is bound to her because her father was once its Keeper, and the prince can’t take it from her by force. Additionally, Alexus reveals that her father’s curse passed to her: Raina is the current Keeper.

In the forest, they encounter Eastlanders. Alexus destroys them with devastating force and warns Raina not to approach, but she finds him wounded amid a crater of ash. Later, he recounts the gods’ history, which led to Neri being trapped within Alexus’s body.

While Alexus gathers wood, Rhonin, a Northlander spy posing as an Eastlander, ambushes him and delivers him to General Vexx. Meanwhile, Helena finds Raina in a cave. No longer possessed, she helps Raina locate Alexus. However, all three are captured. Vexx nearly kills Helena, prompting Raina to reveal her healing power. Vexx stabs Alexus with the God Knife and takes Raina prisoner.

Bound in a tent, Raina confronts the Prince of the East, who claims ownership of her. Seeing Nephele held captive, Raina agrees to cooperate to see her. Rhonin slips her a dagger, urging her to wait for the right moment. When the prince demands that she heal him, Raina discovers that he feeds on stolen souls. Scanning his essence, she confirms that his power isn’t his own. Alarmed, he locks her and Nephele away.

Later, Raina is chained inside a prison carriage with Colden. During the journey, Neri appears and lifts Colden’s frost curse before vanishing. Raina, Colden, and Nephele reunite and flee toward the Eastlander camp, now under attack. Alexus appears, miraculously alive and marked by the God Knife, and helps turn the tide. Raina conjures a new amethyst blade, and together they fight. The prince retaliates by capturing Nephele and unleashing devastation. When Colden and Raina try to save Nephele, the prince captures them too, transporting them all to the Shadow World.

In the Shadow World, Raina finds Colden and Nephele trapped. On the Winter Road, Alexus binds Raina to him via runes. Raina reaches for Alexus through their magical bond and then conjures fire to wound the prince. Colden sacrifices himself to free Raina and Nephele. Alexus feels Raina’s return as their magical connection is renewed.

At Winterhold, Raina awakens healed in Alexus’s arms. She learns that his immortality is bound to Colden’s life—if Colden dies, so will he. At a war meeting, Alexus proposes going to the Summerlands for help. Though he tries to exclude Raina and Nephele, they choose to join. Raina now wants to fight for Tiressia, Colden, and Alexus, the man she once vowed to kill.

Later, Raina tells Alexus she’ll keep the rune that bonds them but protect her heart. Alexus challenges her to embrace what they share. Their intimacy deepens in both magic and emotion. Before leaving, Helena asks Raina to scry for her father, and they see that some of her family, including Finn, is alive. Raina choses Alexus over Finn. With over 20 Witch Walkers, the group departs for the Summerlands, prepared to face whatever the Prince of the East brings next.