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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
I loved this book. I mean, I really loved it. It is so easy to like Bess, to feel sorry for the fate she and her mother were given. And while her 300+ year existence could have been drawn out and overdone, Brackston didn't do that at all. Admittedly, I did cringe when events moved to Whitechapel but not enough for me to put the book down in annoyance. [b:The Witch's Daughter|8694522|The Witch's Daughter|Paula Brackston|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1312012132s/8694522.jpg|13567100] kept me interested and the pacing meant it was never dull.
The central story of this book is about a woman’s life being ruined by a rapist stalker murdering anyone who ever becomes close and dear to her.
The stalking plot takes place over several centuries as part of a phantasy of immortality, taking in historic events such as the witchcraft trials in England and crucial battles of WW1.
And herein lies the problem:
There is a consensus amongst historians that the people convicted of witchcraft during the middle-ages had no supernatural powers. They were regular citizens who were either scapegoated for disasters such as crop failure, deaths or diseases nobody could scientifically explain at the time, were simply in the way of someone who wanted their property, or were accused of witchcraft for even more nefarious personal reasons by fellow citizens.
It is accepted none of them ever performed any of the “witchcraft” they were accused of.
A lot of countries have formally declared their trials as unsafe and void and erected memorials to those killed.
Except in Paula Brackston’s novel. Here the witches in the middle-ages really do have supernatural powers which they acquire by dancing and copulating with daemons during full moon ceremonies around a fire. One even suckles daemonic creatures with her own body in front of 16th century witchcraft trial investigators!
None of this would be quite as bad if this novel was set firmly in the fantasy genre, with the magic happening in a world that’s recognisably a phantasy construct.
But the problem is, this book is set in historic England and Flanders, full of historic details.
In addition, in the sections set in England in 2007, the protagonist calls herself Wicca (a religion founded in the 20th century by Gerald Gardner), yet performs a mash-up of Harry Potter style magic and powers based on ideas that seem to come straight out of the Malleus Maleficarum.
Some of this comes up so unexpectedly, in what feels like a historic novel, that it borders on the ridiculous. I would have laughed it off as tosh, if it did not carry the risk of real-life consequences:
We live in a world where people are still accused and killed for witchcraft in many countries. Even in the USA, certain Christian groups still believe that witches exist and will inflict reprisals on fellow citizens who they accuse of witchcraft or suspect of following a neo-pagan path.
And let’s not forget the well-known case of 8-year-old Victoria Climbie who was tortured to death in London in 2000, accused of being possessed by the devil.
To write a story that claims both historic ‘witches’, as well as those following the Wiccan path today, do after all have evil supernatural powers and copulate with daemons, just as accused in the Malleus Maleficarum, is a downright dangerous slur.
It is hard to imagine that it would be possible to publish these type of allegations against any other marginalised, persecuted, tortured and murdered group of people in a novel and get away with it without causing an outcry.
The stalking plot takes place over several centuries as part of a phantasy of immortality, taking in historic events such as the witchcraft trials in England and crucial battles of WW1.
And herein lies the problem:
There is a consensus amongst historians that the people convicted of witchcraft during the middle-ages had no supernatural powers. They were regular citizens who were either scapegoated for disasters such as crop failure, deaths or diseases nobody could scientifically explain at the time, were simply in the way of someone who wanted their property, or were accused of witchcraft for even more nefarious personal reasons by fellow citizens.
It is accepted none of them ever performed any of the “witchcraft” they were accused of.
A lot of countries have formally declared their trials as unsafe and void and erected memorials to those killed.
Except in Paula Brackston’s novel. Here the witches in the middle-ages really do have supernatural powers which they acquire by dancing and copulating with daemons during full moon ceremonies around a fire. One even suckles daemonic creatures with her own body in front of 16th century witchcraft trial investigators!
None of this would be quite as bad if this novel was set firmly in the fantasy genre, with the magic happening in a world that’s recognisably a phantasy construct.
But the problem is, this book is set in historic England and Flanders, full of historic details.
In addition, in the sections set in England in 2007, the protagonist calls herself Wicca (a religion founded in the 20th century by Gerald Gardner), yet performs a mash-up of Harry Potter style magic and powers based on ideas that seem to come straight out of the Malleus Maleficarum.
Some of this comes up so unexpectedly, in what feels like a historic novel, that it borders on the ridiculous. I would have laughed it off as tosh, if it did not carry the risk of real-life consequences:
We live in a world where people are still accused and killed for witchcraft in many countries. Even in the USA, certain Christian groups still believe that witches exist and will inflict reprisals on fellow citizens who they accuse of witchcraft or suspect of following a neo-pagan path.
And let’s not forget the well-known case of 8-year-old Victoria Climbie who was tortured to death in London in 2000, accused of being possessed by the devil.
To write a story that claims both historic ‘witches’, as well as those following the Wiccan path today, do after all have evil supernatural powers and copulate with daemons, just as accused in the Malleus Maleficarum, is a downright dangerous slur.
It is hard to imagine that it would be possible to publish these type of allegations against any other marginalised, persecuted, tortured and murdered group of people in a novel and get away with it without causing an outcry.
@ P.S. I love that book!
EXPECTATIONS: I have been going into witches books kinda blindly as long as it says it is about witches. I guess I am desperate to find something good.
THE WORLD: There are two time periods in this book, one is more or less today and other one which we see through the main characters memories is 17th century. Basically this story is about a woman who lived in days when witches were hanged and who ended up being turned into a witch herself. Ever since the demon made her into a witch she has been sorta promised to him and he has been following her through the time. I know it sounds a bit complicated and old fashioned but it is actually cool because of the memories you get to experience a lot of the past which makes this book ultimately a historical witch fantasy.
CHARACTERS: Our main character is called Elizabeth and she is a witch. Now most of the witchcraft in this book is very traditional but on top of that there are things like immortality too, I guess that isn't very foreign to witches when you really think about it. Anyways, so Elizabeth is just a child when her mother is accused of being a witch and hanged. It is a matter of time till Elizabeth gets accused too so her mother order her to go to this demon who well basically turns her into a witch. Elizabeth is able to escape and continues practicing witchcraft till this day. Frankly, I liked Elizabeth, if I was a witch I would love to have a teacher as her, she is patient and understand and really cares about her student. And the student in mind is Tegan. Elizabeth meets her a child at first but then with time Tegan spends more and more time with Elizabeth and when she is a teenager she starts learning witchcraft. The idea is that you do not have to be born a witch, you can become one when a witch chooses to teach you and sorta introduce you to the spiritual world. However, Tegan as a student I could not stand. It might be because I was dead jealous or because often she was not taking things serious but I really hated her. She had this boyfriend who she always chose over magic. I mean OVER magic, how dumb one must be? And the third character in this book is the already mentioned demon, well he is not really a demon as more of a warlock which is only partially demon but to be honest he did not sound like a warlock to me. So I will just go on thinking of him as demon because he was acting like one.
ROMANCE: Nothing serious and not the center of the book. Basically Elizabeth was promised to the demon and then on the side we have Tegan being all obsessed with her much older boyfriend. But that is really part of the plot so no stupid high school bullshit.
GOOD: I really like witchcraft descriptions and Elizabeth. What I loved even more is the idea that you don't have to be born a witch to do witchcraft. Witch is something you become when you are chosen. How cool is that?
BAD: Sometimes it was slow. And I didn't like the demon part much. I normally love warlocks but in this book the warlock was really not the warlock I am used to.
OVERALL: I think as for witch books it was pretty good one, I am definitely continuing with the series, this author is very promising!
@ P.S. I love that book!
EXPECTATIONS: I have been going into witches books kinda blindly as long as it says it is about witches. I guess I am desperate to find something good.
THE WORLD: There are two time periods in this book, one is more or less today and other one which we see through the main characters memories is 17th century. Basically this story is about a woman who lived in days when witches were hanged and who ended up being turned into a witch herself. Ever since the demon made her into a witch she has been sorta promised to him and he has been following her through the time. I know it sounds a bit complicated and old fashioned but it is actually cool because of the memories you get to experience a lot of the past which makes this book ultimately a historical witch fantasy.
CHARACTERS: Our main character is called Elizabeth and she is a witch. Now most of the witchcraft in this book is very traditional but on top of that there are things like immortality too, I guess that isn't very foreign to witches when you really think about it. Anyways, so Elizabeth is just a child when her mother is accused of being a witch and hanged. It is a matter of time till Elizabeth gets accused too so her mother order her to go to this demon who well basically turns her into a witch. Elizabeth is able to escape and continues practicing witchcraft till this day. Frankly, I liked Elizabeth, if I was a witch I would love to have a teacher as her, she is patient and understand and really cares about her student. And the student in mind is Tegan. Elizabeth meets her a child at first but then with time Tegan spends more and more time with Elizabeth and when she is a teenager she starts learning witchcraft. The idea is that you do not have to be born a witch, you can become one when a witch chooses to teach you and sorta introduce you to the spiritual world. However, Tegan as a student I could not stand. It might be because I was dead jealous or because often she was not taking things serious but I really hated her. She had this boyfriend who she always chose over magic. I mean OVER magic, how dumb one must be? And the third character in this book is the already mentioned demon, well he is not really a demon as more of a warlock which is only partially demon but to be honest he did not sound like a warlock to me. So I will just go on thinking of him as demon because he was acting like one.
ROMANCE: Nothing serious and not the center of the book. Basically Elizabeth was promised to the demon and then on the side we have Tegan being all obsessed with her much older boyfriend. But that is really part of the plot so no stupid high school bullshit.
GOOD: I really like witchcraft descriptions and Elizabeth. What I loved even more is the idea that you don't have to be born a witch to do witchcraft. Witch is something you become when you are chosen. How cool is that?
BAD: Sometimes it was slow. And I didn't like the demon part much. I normally love warlocks but in this book the warlock was really not the warlock I am used to.
OVERALL: I think as for witch books it was pretty good one, I am definitely continuing with the series, this author is very promising!
@ P.S. I love that book!
Starting out I figured I would enjoy this book, but not particularly love it. However, by the time I finished it I was left feeling emotional and empty (in that good way only a book can do). I truly cared about the characters and the way that Brackston was able to shift between styles of writing and voices was intriguing. I just wish that a few aspects of the story had been more believable, but the book still worked despite that.
What a perfect book for the weekend of Halloween!! While there were some echoes for Addie LaRue and her immortal (dark and twisted) love tale across centuries, The Witch’s Daughter holds its own and delves into witchcraft. I listened to this on audible and it was a treat for my ears. Book #70 in 2022
While the story was entertaining, I thought this book to be fairly predictable. Each story-wthin-the-story seemed to follow the same formula: girl changes scenery, girl gets involved with a cast of characters to include someone rather stand-offish and sketchy, girl realizes it's the same guy hunting her. Repeat. It was ok, but not a favorite.
I got it as a Christmas gift and I absolutely loved it. It kept me interested for the entire story, I liked the way it’s written and told, however the ending was kind of too rushed for me.
My husband's stepmother gave this to me, but I really couldn't get into it. The writing style was really tedious and dry. Just not my bag.
4 stars - I enjoyed this one. It was more grim and eerie than I expected…. But once I got used to the tone I enjoyed it. I found Bess’s naïveté to be a little bit unbelievable for someone who has been alive for so long, though.
Loved this story. Great twist on the typical "witch" story!