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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
The voice was very dull in this book. I also disliked the company Mayans switching from 1st to 3rd person.
Just because a story is set in a different historical period doesn't make it Historical Fiction. Even so, I wanted to like the characters and the story but it never held my attention. I skipped through portions because even when I don't particularly like a book, I want to know the ending. It wasn't time well spent.
The 3/4 or so of the book are delightful, then suddenly it's as if the author realizes she better get the show on the road and the story abruptly jumps around, almost incoherently, and loses the magic that had been building. Good ending, though.
I have completely loved every novel that Paula Brackston has put out. I devoured The Witch's Daughter and absolutely adored The Winter Witch. While reading "The Midnight Witch" I felt as if a completely different author than Ms. Brackston wrote this.
This novel is about Lady Lilith Montgomery. Lilith lives in London in the Regency era it appears. She is beautiful and comes from a wealthy family. She is also a witch. Her recently deceased father was the Head Witch of the Lazarus Coven which practices necromancy. After her father's death Lilith is preparing to become Head Witch even though a new threat starts to move against her coven. Additionally, though Lilith is engaged to a fellow witch she finds herself being drawn to Bram who is a painted recently moved to London.
The plot of this novel really did sound interesting but I just think something fell apart in the final execution.
First, all of the parts of the novel dealing with Lilith's brother Freddie were just boring to me. I know why we needed that details due to events later in the book, but he was a strictly one dimensional character throughout the entire novel.
Second, the threat from the Sentinels was not scary at all to me. I needed to feel more fear for Lilith. I remember reading "The Winter Witch and being totally afraid for Morgana. The final scene with her fighting for her life was so well done. I don't know why I was not caught up in fear for Lilith while reading this. Instead I found myself just counting page until I could put the book away. Quick aside, I don't know why but every time I read Sentinels I started cracking up thinking about the Sentinels that tried to kill the mutants in the X-Men comic books. I doubt that Ms. Brackston was trying to call up that image for readers but that kept popping up in my head.
Third, I also think that having the novel told from the first person point of view for Lilith and then shifting back to third person points of view for Bram and another character in this novel did not work at all. I honestly think the book would have been stronger to have it told from first person the whole way through and completely cut out the other passages.
Fourth, there was way too much detail in this novel. You would be reading about Lilith preparing herself for going out and it would take two paragraphs due to the describing of what she had on and what she had to take off and her hair and undergarments and it just got to be too much information for me to process in a sitting.
I would definitely recommend "The Winter Witch" and "The Witches Daughter" but I would suggest readers pass on this novel if this is their first foray into Ms. Brackston's writing.
Please note that I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program.
This novel is about Lady Lilith Montgomery. Lilith lives in London in the Regency era it appears. She is beautiful and comes from a wealthy family. She is also a witch. Her recently deceased father was the Head Witch of the Lazarus Coven which practices necromancy. After her father's death Lilith is preparing to become Head Witch even though a new threat starts to move against her coven. Additionally, though Lilith is engaged to a fellow witch she finds herself being drawn to Bram who is a painted recently moved to London.
The plot of this novel really did sound interesting but I just think something fell apart in the final execution.
First, all of the parts of the novel dealing with Lilith's brother Freddie were just boring to me. I know why we needed that details due to events later in the book, but he was a strictly one dimensional character throughout the entire novel.
Second, the threat from the Sentinels was not scary at all to me. I needed to feel more fear for Lilith. I remember reading "The Winter Witch and being totally afraid for Morgana. The final scene with her fighting for her life was so well done. I don't know why I was not caught up in fear for Lilith while reading this. Instead I found myself just counting page until I could put the book away. Quick aside, I don't know why but every time I read Sentinels I started cracking up thinking about the Sentinels that tried to kill the mutants in the X-Men comic books. I doubt that Ms. Brackston was trying to call up that image for readers but that kept popping up in my head.
Third, I also think that having the novel told from the first person point of view for Lilith and then shifting back to third person points of view for Bram and another character in this novel did not work at all. I honestly think the book would have been stronger to have it told from first person the whole way through and completely cut out the other passages.
Fourth, there was way too much detail in this novel. You would be reading about Lilith preparing herself for going out and it would take two paragraphs due to the describing of what she had on and what she had to take off and her hair and undergarments and it just got to be too much information for me to process in a sitting.
I would definitely recommend "The Winter Witch" and "The Witches Daughter" but I would suggest readers pass on this novel if this is their first foray into Ms. Brackston's writing.
Please note that I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first half was kinda boring but it did pick up eventually. I didn't feel like I got to know any of the characters so I don't have any deep connection to this story. Lilith annoyed me most of the time to be honest. The love story didn't really develop until the end of the book which was disappointing. I think a lot more could have been done to jazz up that relationship (I'm trying not to spoil this for everyone lol). The most memorable parts if the story were the darkest moments and I wish there had been more of them. This book is more of a romance than anything else and even that fell flat. I need a bit more witchery to hold my full attention I guess. It wasn't a bad story but it wasn't the best either...... Very forgettable.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t love this one. I found it be a hard read. I didn’t like Lillian and found the book frustrating and hard although I did find the Edwardian time to be an interesting setting.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes