[1][4][5] When Elloren leaves for college at the magical and multicultural Verpax University, she makes friends with classmates of different races and begins to question her own prejudices and beliefs about the society of her birth.

"[4] Another starred review in Publishers Weekly called the book an "intoxicating tale of rebellion and star-crossed romance" that "argues passionately against fascism and xenophobia.

[6] Despite the protests, The Black Witch was published on schedule in May 2017, reaching number 1 in Amazon's "Teen & Young Adult Wizards Fantasy" book category.

"[1] The social media controversy surrounding The Black Witch was extensively covered in Kat Rosenfield's Vulture article "The Toxic Drama on YA Twitter."

Rosenfield connected the incident to "a growing dysfunction" in young adult book publishing, with an online atmosphere of constant harassment, threats, and fears of voicing one's opinion.

She interviewed a number of writers and publishing professionals concerned that outrages on social media would have a chilling effect on the industry, including which topics authors would choose to write about.

[10] An editorial for The Globe and Mail by librarian Shannon Ozirny argued that Rosenfield's reporting did not give a full picture of the climate in young adult publishing, since it was "framed and executed as an exposé rather than a discussion."

Ozirny claimed that Rosenfield's article only touched on "far larger debates" about issues such as book censorship, herd mentality on social media, and the most effective ways to protest potentially harmful works.

[10] In a 2019 Reason article, journalist Jesse Singal linked the uproar over The Black Witch to more recent controversies in young adult fiction, such as Blood Heir and A Place for Wolves, in which the author decided to cancel or postpone the book's publication.