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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
As always Paula Brackston keeps me reading, her stories are so deeply human. For all that she writes about magic, she touches on the deepest part of human nature; love, integrity, and perseverance. This story is a little big slow, but I loved it all the way to the end, and reading a book that spans wartime London is always fascinating.
Downton Abbey by way of Anne Rice, THE MIDNIGHT WITCH is a touching period romance, set against a backdrop of a dying class system and a secret magical war over the ability to raise the dead. Though the exact purpose of the Lazarus Coven and their sorcerer rivals, the Sentinels, is vague, Brackston does an excellent job of painting Lilith Montgomery’s classic struggle between her duty to her craft and her heart.
Read the rest of this review at All Things Urban Fantasy.
Read the rest of this review at All Things Urban Fantasy.
I like Paula Brackston's writing style but I wasn't blown away by this book. The Witch's Daughter was much better, in my opinion.
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Ugh. I *loved* The Winter Witch, and was so excited for this. But it had none of the elements that made me love Winter Witch.
I didn’t buy into the love story, it felt rushed and unbelievable to me, and that was the basis for carrying a lot of the plot.
I didn’t like any of the characters. Not one. They didn’t feel real or fully developed in some way that I can’t pinpoint. Maybe just not deep enough? We got their backstory but I just didn’t understand their motivations or something.
Lilith is a spoiled, self centered, and short sighted little girl. She never deserved to be made Head Witch. And just proved time and again she thought that what and who she cared about were more important than anything else. Blah. Do not like. Bram was just a clingy man who was infatuated with someone he couldn’t have and didn’t fully understand. He saw her power somehow and was drawn to that as a moth to a flame. They both should have died and the end would have been better
The jump in time was the best part. For a little bit Bram and Lilith felt more real and grown up, only to revert back at the first opportunity given.
How was Louis the hero of this story? Trying to help Lilith every time she messed up big, even though he didn’t agree with her, but just trying to clean up the messes she kept repeatedly making.
I hope The Silver Witch is better. This was a major disappointment.
I didn’t buy into the love story, it felt rushed and unbelievable to me, and that was the basis for carrying a lot of the plot.
I didn’t like any of the characters. Not one. They didn’t feel real or fully developed in some way that I can’t pinpoint. Maybe just not deep enough? We got their backstory but I just didn’t understand their motivations or something.
The jump in time was the best part. For a little bit Bram and Lilith felt more real and grown up, only to revert back at the first opportunity given.
How was Louis the hero of this story? Trying to help Lilith every time she messed up big, even though he didn’t agree with her, but just trying to clean up the messes she kept repeatedly making.
I hope The Silver Witch is better. This was a major disappointment.
This book had a lot going for itself, but sadly the author had to ruin it all about halfway through with a stupid deus ex machina. Spoiler alert: when the protagonist is about to face off with a {completely predictable} traitor in what should have been an epic magic battle, a miraculously timed German air raid drops a literal bomb on her house, resulting in the death of her opponent and no one else of even remote importance. I'm pretty sure that is the entire reason the story is set in WWI to begin with. LAAAAAAME!
If that scene were removed, I'd probably go 3 stars. If they had bothered to write an epic battle scene, it might even get as much as 4 and a half stars.
If that scene were removed, I'd probably go 3 stars. If they had bothered to write an epic battle scene, it might even get as much as 4 and a half stars.
This story jumped around a bit more. Instead of flowing with the story line, it added more story lines that maybe should have been taken out or put into another book.
I was really looking forward to this book and I feel so let down. I love a good witch story and this one had such potential yet somehow just didn't live up to what t could have been. Overall, I thought it was a nice read with a little adventure, metaphysical effects, and romance, but I never got sucked into it. I was reading words on a page sadly.
3.5 stars. The actual writing in this book was beautiful. It was eloquent and well thought out, but I just couldn’t get into the storyline. I liked the idea of the coven and the sentinels, but the way the story jumped around time-wise was a bit annoying. The romance was a bit of an insta-love situation with no real heat to it, and I found myself skimming over it at points. I also felt like the story dragged on quite a bit, and I had to put the book down at times because I was bored. Overall, a good book and I’d read more from this author if I was in the mood, but it’s not something that grabs and holds my attention.
Disappointed in this book. The beginning grabbed me so much but as the book continued on it just less and less exciting. Lilith wasn't as interesting or compelling of a character as I was hoping. She's attempting to prove herself as new head of the Lazarus Coven of Necromancers but I honestly spent most of the book thinking that no, she really shouldn't be the head. She's making horrifically bad decisions. If those decisions and her growth were the point of the book, showing her failures and her growth from them then that'd be different. But this book spends many pages making the reader try to sympathize and agree with Lilith's decisions, decisions I just thought were ill thought out.
A good portion of this book relies on the strength of the characters and their relationships with each other (Lilith and Bram especially) and that bond didn't come through on the page. I was told that they love each other, that they can't stop thinking about each other, and that was it. I read romance novels, guys. I should be eating up a forbidden romance where one person is a powerful witch and one is a struggling artist besmitten with his new muse. But their emotional range was so incredibly limited and I didn't believe any of their romantic intentions. When you combo that with her love of Bram being a reason Lilith kept making really bad decisions, I grew impatient.
I rarely give out 1 stars and this book definitely didn't fall that flat. But overall it was lukewarm and too weak tea: flavorless and bland and leaving you wishing for the original flavors and heat.
A good portion of this book relies on the strength of the characters and their relationships with each other (Lilith and Bram especially) and that bond didn't come through on the page. I was told that they love each other, that they can't stop thinking about each other, and that was it. I read romance novels, guys. I should be eating up a forbidden romance where one person is a powerful witch and one is a struggling artist besmitten with his new muse. But their emotional range was so incredibly limited and I didn't believe any of their romantic intentions. When you combo that with her love of Bram being a reason Lilith kept making really bad decisions, I grew impatient.
I rarely give out 1 stars and this book definitely didn't fall that flat. But overall it was lukewarm and too weak tea: flavorless and bland and leaving you wishing for the original flavors and heat.
This was pretty cheesy. I enjoyed it well enough — decently entertaining, cute love story, but I didn’t fall in love with the characters, they made some annoying choices, and the plot was pretty basic. The simple, witchy love story that I expect from this author.