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katherinehamilton's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
melanievg's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
burstnwithbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I am very NOT impressed by this book. I went into it knowing nothing about it. I honestly don't know why I bought it. I don't know anything about it, and none of my Goodreads friends have read it. I'm assuming Book Outlet had a sale and I just got a little excited. Whoops? In any case, for whatever reason, I was quite excited to read it. It was magick and witches and I had just finished Uprooted so I was definitely up for that! However, for the entirety of the book the main character is just pining over some boy. Along with half of the girls in the school. And her relationship with her best friend is ridiculous. It's supposed to be a big deal for her to switch from Catholicism to Wicca, but the author must not know much about church because at one point she said her sister was holding a program (it's a bulletin):
"She hid her grin behind her program."
Morgan's parents are portrayed as mean and strict, but only because they're freaked out by her wanting to become a witch? I mean, really! Of course that's upsetting and creepy.
Some of this book seemed so childish and ridiculous, which only made it all the more confusing when there were some "inappropriate" bits. The story fit very strangely and I just felt like shaking the main character most of the time. She definitely needed to get a grip on reality and get her priorities straight.
Irritating as it was, I did rate it two stars instead of one because I thought the idea and premise was interesting, but I just think the author went about it in the wrong way, and I was extremely disappointed in the wealth of pining and lack of MAGICK.
I think I would have appreciated this book at least a little bit more if I had known what to expect, but since I went in blind, I had (strangely) high hopes for it to be a fantastical and magickal story. At least the first half of the book is more of a romance/teen drama, so if you're looking to pick up this book, just keep that in mind!
"She hid her grin behind her program."
Morgan's parents are portrayed as mean and strict, but only because they're freaked out by her wanting to become a witch? I mean, really! Of course that's upsetting and creepy.
Some of this book seemed so childish and ridiculous, which only made it all the more confusing when there were some "inappropriate" bits. The story fit very strangely and I just felt like shaking the main character most of the time. She definitely needed to get a grip on reality and get her priorities straight.
Irritating as it was, I did rate it two stars instead of one because I thought the idea and premise was interesting, but I just think the author went about it in the wrong way, and I was extremely disappointed in the wealth of pining and lack of MAGICK.
I think I would have appreciated this book at least a little bit more if I had known what to expect, but since I went in blind, I had (strangely) high hopes for it to be a fantastical and magickal story. At least the first half of the book is more of a romance/teen drama, so if you're looking to pick up this book, just keep that in mind!
hiiamkye's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Fast paced, captivating and enchanting.
This young adult novel is one that I read while in high school, and upon this re-read, fell in love with it. Being the first in the series, it clearly opens up a blossoming story. The language itself is not extremely complex, and the chapters are quite short so this is a very quick read. It is also so captivating that I read it within a day. The characters are teens, so they do use a lot of teen language but not all of them are over dramatic.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fiction work about modern day witches. It does contain a very basic understanding of Wicca (which is not all accurate), but for the purposes of the story as a piece of fiction, it is fine. I recommend it to teens who have blazed through all of the other supernatural favorites like twilight, vampire diaries, etc. who are looking for something new and a bit different.
This young adult novel is one that I read while in high school, and upon this re-read, fell in love with it. Being the first in the series, it clearly opens up a blossoming story. The language itself is not extremely complex, and the chapters are quite short so this is a very quick read. It is also so captivating that I read it within a day. The characters are teens, so they do use a lot of teen language but not all of them are over dramatic.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fiction work about modern day witches. It does contain a very basic understanding of Wicca (which is not all accurate), but for the purposes of the story as a piece of fiction, it is fine. I recommend it to teens who have blazed through all of the other supernatural favorites like twilight, vampire diaries, etc. who are looking for something new and a bit different.
kimberleyb's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
aquaticintrepid's review against another edition
3.0
the fall-ish weather and nostalgia pulled me back to this series
dragonfriend's review against another edition
3.0
I first read this book back when I was a teenager. A teenager who was already in the middle of leaving Christianity and seeking out information about other religions. So, to my teenage self, this series was wonderful and I identified with Morgan. Re-reading it now though, it is very much like an evangelistic book for Wicca, so it reads kinda like I'm listening to a missionary at the door, lol. I don't want to feel like I'm just politely listening to my book and waiting for it to be satisfied and leave, lmao.
Also... I've got a complaint... There's an inaccuracy that I now know about and am bothered by... the book says that Wicca predates Christianity and acts as if all ancient religions were all part of Wicca and that all people who practiced/practice magic were/are Wiccan. This isn't accurate and erases and appropriates all of the individual religions and cultures that exist/existed, absorbing them all into the faith of Wicca. Wicca is an eclectic religion whose founding was relatively recent. Practitioners draw their deities, beliefs, and practices from multiple origins, mostly from ancient Ireland, Wales, Greece, and the Romans, but also from others, including sometimes practices and beliefs inspired by Native American religions. It's especially problematic when Wiccan practitioners in America incorporate Native American concepts or practices or do rituals in Native American spaces, and that's actually where I've heard most of the complaints from. Wicca follows in the Roman tradition of associating one God or Goddess with the God or Goddess from another culture and treating them as the same Deity (for example, many Wiccans see the many Goddesses from around the world as the many faces of one divine feminine energy, and the same for the Gods). Now... my understanding (from back when I joined Wiccan groups in college) was that the intent here is to bring back old religions and cultures that were lost, even in cases where we don't have much historical information, to create a religion more welcoming and true to women, to connect people back to nature, and to, sort of, attempt to find the ultimate spiritualism by finding commonalities in a diversity of deities. However, the issue here is that a lot of people who practice the cultures and religions (or who are descendants of those who practiced them) that Wicca is drawing from feel that Wicca is appropriation and that it also erases their existence as a unique culture by claiming that all of these Deities and practices belong to (and according to this book have always belonged to) Wiccans.
And yes, this book is a fictionalized version of Wicca, so on the surface, it doesn't seem bad to be saying that all of those different ancient people were all Wiccans (to use the word Wicca as a catch all) and that Wicca predates Christianity, but the thing is this book is also obviously meant to be educating about and spreading the real world religion of Wicca, so it is likely to be used as a source of facts by young readers (and this theme of labeling things from other origins as part of Wicca is exactly the complaint that people have about Wicca)... so yeah, that might be problematic. I feel that practitioners and Wiccan content creators in particular should be more cognizant of this issue. There's my complaint.
But now that I've criticized, let me also give some praise. I think it's a great thing in general to see a teen or children's book featuring characters from minority religions/cultures. Although this book isn't strictly realistic, it still gave a good deal of information about the belief system being practiced by the characters that also applies to the real life version. Also, like I said, this book gives young people who are interested in Wicca, or really any other minority religion that their parents don't support, someone to identify with. It touched on the real life difficulty of being a teenager whose beliefs don't line up with your parents. It didn't quite delve into the difficulty of choosing to leave a previous belief behind, but it did show how a division can begin to form with family members when you grow up to be different than they expected. It also made a point of showing that Wicca is not devil worship (a commonly held fear). And I also remember that while this first book is mostly setting up the story, the plot gets more interesting over time.
Also... I've got a complaint... There's an inaccuracy that I now know about and am bothered by... the book says that Wicca predates Christianity and acts as if all ancient religions were all part of Wicca and that all people who practiced/practice magic were/are Wiccan. This isn't accurate and erases and appropriates all of the individual religions and cultures that exist/existed, absorbing them all into the faith of Wicca. Wicca is an eclectic religion whose founding was relatively recent. Practitioners draw their deities, beliefs, and practices from multiple origins, mostly from ancient Ireland, Wales, Greece, and the Romans, but also from others, including sometimes practices and beliefs inspired by Native American religions. It's especially problematic when Wiccan practitioners in America incorporate Native American concepts or practices or do rituals in Native American spaces, and that's actually where I've heard most of the complaints from. Wicca follows in the Roman tradition of associating one God or Goddess with the God or Goddess from another culture and treating them as the same Deity (for example, many Wiccans see the many Goddesses from around the world as the many faces of one divine feminine energy, and the same for the Gods). Now... my understanding (from back when I joined Wiccan groups in college) was that the intent here is to bring back old religions and cultures that were lost, even in cases where we don't have much historical information, to create a religion more welcoming and true to women, to connect people back to nature, and to, sort of, attempt to find the ultimate spiritualism by finding commonalities in a diversity of deities. However, the issue here is that a lot of people who practice the cultures and religions (or who are descendants of those who practiced them) that Wicca is drawing from feel that Wicca is appropriation and that it also erases their existence as a unique culture by claiming that all of these Deities and practices belong to (and according to this book have always belonged to) Wiccans.
And yes, this book is a fictionalized version of Wicca, so on the surface, it doesn't seem bad to be saying that all of those different ancient people were all Wiccans (to use the word Wicca as a catch all) and that Wicca predates Christianity, but the thing is this book is also obviously meant to be educating about and spreading the real world religion of Wicca, so it is likely to be used as a source of facts by young readers (and this theme of labeling things from other origins as part of Wicca is exactly the complaint that people have about Wicca)... so yeah, that might be problematic. I feel that practitioners and Wiccan content creators in particular should be more cognizant of this issue. There's my complaint.
But now that I've criticized, let me also give some praise. I think it's a great thing in general to see a teen or children's book featuring characters from minority religions/cultures. Although this book isn't strictly realistic, it still gave a good deal of information about the belief system being practiced by the characters that also applies to the real life version. Also, like I said, this book gives young people who are interested in Wicca, or really any other minority religion that their parents don't support, someone to identify with. It touched on the real life difficulty of being a teenager whose beliefs don't line up with your parents. It didn't quite delve into the difficulty of choosing to leave a previous belief behind, but it did show how a division can begin to form with family members when you grow up to be different than they expected. It also made a point of showing that Wicca is not devil worship (a commonly held fear). And I also remember that while this first book is mostly setting up the story, the plot gets more interesting over time.
lunarbugz's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
sera9's review against another edition
3.0
I LOVED this series when I was a teenager. It's fun to revisit.
ehzoterik's review against another edition
3.0
Thankfully this was a very short book. I only had to listen to five hours worth of teenage girls being stupid about boys and their friendship. I could have happily done without all of that.
On the other hand, this book shines a wonderfully positive light on Wicca. It shows the practice as it really is, stripping away the lies about devil worship and orgies. Never mind the bare naked midnight swim. Not so sure about the magickal acne cure and making dead flowers bloom with a touch, though.
The reality of Morgan’s mom losing her mind about finding “witchcraft” books in the house was handled pretty tastefully, too. I would like to see this work of fiction get into the hands of more questioning young people so they can see how it really is, and maybe they will love it enough to go on to read the rest of the books in the series, but not me. I have long outgrown high school drama.
On the other hand, this book shines a wonderfully positive light on Wicca. It shows the practice as it really is, stripping away the lies about devil worship and orgies. Never mind the bare naked midnight swim. Not so sure about the magickal acne cure and making dead flowers bloom with a touch, though.
The reality of Morgan’s mom losing her mind about finding “witchcraft” books in the house was handled pretty tastefully, too. I would like to see this work of fiction get into the hands of more questioning young people so they can see how it really is, and maybe they will love it enough to go on to read the rest of the books in the series, but not me. I have long outgrown high school drama.