Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
This was a book club book I wasn't looking forward to reading. Historical fiction blended with fantasy which made it more likable than expected.
6 / 5 stars, really!
I cannot say enough about how much I really enjoyed this book! It was richly written and contained so much detail in how Bess' life played out over the centuries. I could feel the joy of knowing she had found someone to love and who loved her exactly as she was. The sadness and loneliness of being alone and hunted for over 300 years by an evil being. The simple pleasures of just existing in an old forest: listening to the sounds and feeling the history contained within. The joy of know that you have helped someone be it in a small way... but that their life is better in some way because of your actions.
The story is very powerful and speaks to me always about the choice that we all must make. No matter how we acquire talent, power or abilities... it is not the fact that we possess those things that defines what kind of person we are... but what we choose to do with those abilities.
This is one of the best books I have ever read (listened to)! One of my favorite parts was listening to [a: Marisa Calin|5333638|Marisa Calin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335813470p2/5333638.jpg] narrate with her wonderful British accent and how she brought life to the words. Especially the dialog from the time in the novel set in the 1600's and the 1800's.
I cannot say enough about how much I really enjoyed this book! It was richly written and contained so much detail in how Bess' life played out over the centuries. I could feel the joy of knowing she had found someone to love and who loved her exactly as she was. The sadness and loneliness of being alone and hunted for over 300 years by an evil being. The simple pleasures of just existing in an old forest: listening to the sounds and feeling the history contained within. The joy of know that you have helped someone be it in a small way... but that their life is better in some way because of your actions.
The story is very powerful and speaks to me always about the choice that we all must make. No matter how we acquire talent, power or abilities... it is not the fact that we possess those things that defines what kind of person we are... but what we choose to do with those abilities.
Spoiler
Bess may have been born from dark magic and from evil, but she chose to use her abilities and power to do good, to heal others, to help, to save and to right wrongs. She used the talents bestowed upon her by Gideon to help so many people over hundreds of years. She took another outcast under her care. Guided and taught Tegan, and this I believe is what buoyed he strength so that she knew, finally, how to stop Gideon. Giving him the one thing that he desired above all else, though he did not understand the power that love could bring to bear on him... not a destructive power... but a power to take him away and envelope him in a place where he cannot hurt anyone any moreThis is one of the best books I have ever read (listened to)! One of my favorite parts was listening to [a: Marisa Calin|5333638|Marisa Calin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335813470p2/5333638.jpg] narrate with her wonderful British accent and how she brought life to the words. Especially the dialog from the time in the novel set in the 1600's and the 1800's.
I just couldn't get into this to finish it. and boy did I want to like it.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Gideon is a bit of a caricature bad guy and we don't really know why... which is kinda frustrating.
This is the story of an abusive ex-boyfriend who dons pretty transparent disguises to stalk and terrify a woman. Only that woman is a witch with eternal life, and her ex-boyfriend is a similarly immortal guy causes the 17th century witch hangings in England, is Jack the Ripper, thinks Passchendaele was a good time, and lures naive teenage girls to him with his houseboat, guitar, and gifts of cell phones.
It’s a domestic thriller (only the thrills as predictable and cliche) with an overlay of alternative history. The magic in this book feels cheap and stale, and I don’t know that I need a warlock to be the cause of evil behind burning women at the stake, murdering prostitutes, and World War 1.
Looked good on the surface but the execution just didn’t work for me.
It’s a domestic thriller (only the thrills as predictable and cliche) with an overlay of alternative history. The magic in this book feels cheap and stale, and I don’t know that I need a warlock to be the cause of evil behind burning women at the stake, murdering prostitutes, and World War 1.
Looked good on the surface but the execution just didn’t work for me.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5 stars
I loved the flashback scenes and Bess going to market. Everything else kinda fell flat for me.
Trigger Warnings: absent parent, persecution for witchcraft, term "gypsy", sexual assault, rape, graphic childbirth, graphic blood & gore depiction, body horror, plague, v*miting, death of family, strangulation, imprisonment, medical treatment and procedures, murder, knife violence, graphic animal death, war themes, and WW1
I loved the flashback scenes and Bess going to market. Everything else kinda fell flat for me.
Trigger Warnings: absent parent, persecution for witchcraft, term "gypsy", sexual assault, rape, graphic childbirth, graphic blood & gore depiction, body horror, plague, v*miting, death of family, strangulation, imprisonment, medical treatment and procedures, murder, knife violence, graphic animal death, war themes, and WW1
I found this novel disappointing compared to 'The Winter Witch'. I am glad I didn't read it first because I would not have wanted to pursue reading more of Brackston's works.
Bess, Eliza, Elise, Elizabeth... Whoever she was, was entirely too naive until the very end. Painfully naive. It's one thing for the read to know things the character does not, but it's another thing for the reader to consistently figure things out far before the character and then it be annoying when the character finally gets on track. I don't like thinking 'No duh' often while reading.
Bess, Eliza, Elise, Elizabeth... Whoever she was, was entirely too naive until the very end. Painfully naive. It's one thing for the read to know things the character does not, but it's another thing for the reader to consistently figure things out far before the character and then it be annoying when the character finally gets on track. I don't like thinking 'No duh' often while reading.
Too slow paced, can't get into it in first 23 mins
The book was well written. I did not like some of the dark magic. I know it was intended to show how evil Gideon was. But it made me want to vomit. I didn't like the darkness surrounding her mother before her death either. I don't know how I feel about this book. I made it through it.