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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
I've really enjoyed other books by Brackston, however I found this one to be very hard to get into. while I did finish the book I still found it very hard to get into and very boring. I'm really hoping that the next book is much like the first couple that I read and very intriguing and interesting and easy to stay entertained.
I started off really liking this book. It quickly establishes Lilith’s coven, her powers, and the fact there is something very amiss happening shortly after her father’s death. So there’s a lot of early plot and setting build up. I really enjoyed delves into the coven and had hoped for so much more exploration of the inner workings of being a witch in a “modern” world. What is their function? How do they put their purpose to good use?
However, the author also narrates through a mortal man who ends up being Lilith’s love interest. While I appreciated the artsy tone the author tried to layer into the storyline, I think it took Lilith too far from the reasons I wanted to read the book. I read this book not because of its historical angle as much as for its “witchy” angle. Sadly, there is very little of the witch coven after Lilith’s initiation as Head Witch, which is strange because you’d think there’d be more of her life involved with the coven activities being its new leader. And while communing with the dead seems an almost every day thing for Lilith, the reader rarely gets the experience.
Lilith’s character also suffers from multiple poor decisions and poor headstrong behavior. She’s been well taught by her father about the costs and balances of leading a coven of witches. However, Lilith quickly abandons all these rules, without consulting anyone either, and constantly puts people in danger. I got extremely annoyed when Lilith decided to resurrect her brother – again without other people’s help. I kept thinking, “hey, guess what, it’s a trap.” For some reason, Lilith never considered that the Sentinels were setting her up. And she’s playing with the most coveted secret known to mankind, without a consideration to the danger she’s placing her fellow witches and her family in. Lilith’s persona as a strong, intelligent women went out the window at that point in the story.
Lilith also has some real jerk moments. She breaks up with her fiancé of 10+ years and who she’s known her entire life a few weeks before their wedding at one of their favorite spots in the local park. Ouch. She also decides to announce to the coven that she’s shared all their secrets with her new fiancé and a non witch at a large party. No forewarning. No softening of the blow. Just a loud announcement to her fiancé “meet the witches!” Secret blown publically. I understand her intentions of changing some of the old rules of their coven to help with their “work-life balance,” but that was definitely not the way to get people to follow her decisions - no chance to discuss it or voice their opinions. Talk about tough leadership.
Brackston is also inconsistent with her own rules. In the very beginning of the book, Lilith struggles to summon a demon, which she has been taught to do, yet she has very little trouble raising someone from the dead later on. And Louis, who has not received any training in raising the dead, is able to do so pretty easily for Lilith. Additionally, Lilith remarks that the person she raised is going to have to take numerous doses of the Elixir to stay alive, but the person Louis raises has no such concern or need? I guess its different when you’re a main character versus a side character.
I liked the historical setting details. The story opens in London 1913 on the eve of the World War I. The book later skips ahead and covers some of the terrifying time during the war and then the events that followed after the completion. I enjoyed learning more about how society changed after the end of the war. Maids and servants and the lifestyle of the wealthy slowly phased out. But we never saw this merge between modern London and “witchy” London.
Overall, I think this novel had potential. However, the main character suffers from extremely selfish behavior that puts numerous lives in danger and threatens to expose their most treasured and ancient secret. She has little regard for the weight of her actions and rarely seemed to suffer the consequences. I did not mind Brackston’s writing style or the coven aspects. I would like to pick up Winter Witch to see how that storyline works as I’ve heard good things. But this book was a bit of a disappointment.
However, the author also narrates through a mortal man who ends up being Lilith’s love interest. While I appreciated the artsy tone the author tried to layer into the storyline, I think it took Lilith too far from the reasons I wanted to read the book. I read this book not because of its historical angle as much as for its “witchy” angle. Sadly, there is very little of the witch coven after Lilith’s initiation as Head Witch, which is strange because you’d think there’d be more of her life involved with the coven activities being its new leader. And while communing with the dead seems an almost every day thing for Lilith, the reader rarely gets the experience.
Lilith’s character also suffers from multiple poor decisions and poor headstrong behavior. She’s been well taught by her father about the costs and balances of leading a coven of witches. However, Lilith quickly abandons all these rules, without consulting anyone either, and constantly puts people in danger. I got extremely annoyed when Lilith decided to resurrect her brother – again without other people’s help. I kept thinking, “hey, guess what, it’s a trap.” For some reason, Lilith never considered that the Sentinels were setting her up. And she’s playing with the most coveted secret known to mankind, without a consideration to the danger she’s placing her fellow witches and her family in. Lilith’s persona as a strong, intelligent women went out the window at that point in the story.
Lilith also has some real jerk moments. She breaks up with her fiancé of 10+ years and who she’s known her entire life a few weeks before their wedding at one of their favorite spots in the local park. Ouch. She also decides to announce to the coven that she’s shared all their secrets with her new fiancé and a non witch at a large party. No forewarning. No softening of the blow. Just a loud announcement to her fiancé “meet the witches!” Secret blown publically. I understand her intentions of changing some of the old rules of their coven to help with their “work-life balance,” but that was definitely not the way to get people to follow her decisions - no chance to discuss it or voice their opinions. Talk about tough leadership.
Brackston is also inconsistent with her own rules. In the very beginning of the book, Lilith struggles to summon a demon, which she has been taught to do, yet she has very little trouble raising someone from the dead later on. And Louis, who has not received any training in raising the dead, is able to do so pretty easily for Lilith. Additionally, Lilith remarks that the person she raised is going to have to take numerous doses of the Elixir to stay alive, but the person Louis raises has no such concern or need? I guess its different when you’re a main character versus a side character.
I liked the historical setting details. The story opens in London 1913 on the eve of the World War I. The book later skips ahead and covers some of the terrifying time during the war and then the events that followed after the completion. I enjoyed learning more about how society changed after the end of the war. Maids and servants and the lifestyle of the wealthy slowly phased out. But we never saw this merge between modern London and “witchy” London.
Overall, I think this novel had potential. However, the main character suffers from extremely selfish behavior that puts numerous lives in danger and threatens to expose their most treasured and ancient secret. She has little regard for the weight of her actions and rarely seemed to suffer the consequences. I did not mind Brackston’s writing style or the coven aspects. I would like to pick up Winter Witch to see how that storyline works as I’ve heard good things. But this book was a bit of a disappointment.
Forced myself to finish it in the hopes that it would get better but...here we are. The ending was too easy, and yet the story had dragged on the entire time. Years passed and yet almost nothing happened?? By the end, even the romance seemed ridiculous, with Lilith and Bram acting all lovey in front of Louis right after breaking his heart. And I grew weary of her dilemmas throughout.
What melodramatic bull$#@%. 'Darling!' this and 'darling' that. But that's in the middle.
Most of this book feels contrived, and I'm beginning to think modern, non-genre fiction authors have serious issues understanding what believable supernatural characters sound like (Harkness from Discovery of Witches fame comes to mind). Every other god damned sentence is BY THE WAY DID YOU KNOW I'M A WITCH? Really cuts down on the suspension of disbelief when the protagonist constantly tries to remind the reader they're *insert supernatural being here*. This author spends the first 8th or so of the book doing just that, and it drives me crazy.
A further pet peeve is the bloody, dead horse of repeating dialogue for dramatic emphasis. Eg "So do I, Lilith. So do I." Such gimmicky, trite dialogue is used in nearly every crappy drama show or...you guessed it, poorly written novel.
Most of this book feels contrived, and I'm beginning to think modern, non-genre fiction authors have serious issues understanding what believable supernatural characters sound like (Harkness from Discovery of Witches fame comes to mind). Every other god damned sentence is BY THE WAY DID YOU KNOW I'M A WITCH? Really cuts down on the suspension of disbelief when the protagonist constantly tries to remind the reader they're *insert supernatural being here*. This author spends the first 8th or so of the book doing just that, and it drives me crazy.
A further pet peeve is the bloody, dead horse of repeating dialogue for dramatic emphasis. Eg "So do I, Lilith. So do I." Such gimmicky, trite dialogue is used in nearly every crappy drama show or...you guessed it, poorly written novel.
Perhaps if I had not previously read The Witch's Daughter series by Brackston I would have enjoyed this book more. This book reminded me a bit too much, plot-wise, of that series for it to feel truly original to me. Basically: witch has secrets she needs to protect, she comes to love someone, she reveals secrets against her better judgement, and bad things happen that are eventually resolved rather anticlimactically.
The main character is also a bit all over the place. She says one thing, but then turns around and goes against it. She is Head Witch, but goes against pretty much everything she is supposed to stand for. Her poor decisions kill or nearly kill people, and yet she still continues to make poor ones while barely consulting others who are older and wiser than her. She falls in love with someone she hardly knows and proceeds to endanger the clan and who knows how many non-magical people because she simply must reveal the clan's existence and it's Great Secret to him. Ridiculous.
It seems like Brackston is a hit-or-miss author with me. I'm a bit wary of reading more by her. If she continues with unoriginal plots or poor characters, then I'm afraid I shall take her off my list.
Review also available on my blog.
The main character is also a bit all over the place. She says one thing, but then turns around and goes against it. She is Head Witch, but goes against pretty much everything she is supposed to stand for. Her poor decisions kill or nearly kill people, and yet she still continues to make poor ones while barely consulting others who are older and wiser than her. She falls in love with someone she hardly knows and proceeds to endanger the clan and who knows how many non-magical people because she simply must reveal the clan's existence and it's Great Secret to him. Ridiculous.
It seems like Brackston is a hit-or-miss author with me. I'm a bit wary of reading more by her. If she continues with unoriginal plots or poor characters, then I'm afraid I shall take her off my list.
Review also available on my blog.
So close to a 1 star, but it had a solid beginning and ending, so I gave it 2. I personally feel the romance was too central to the plot and it was a cliché storyline. I was hoping more fantasy less romance. There are also two timeline jumps that i feel were transitioned poorly. I liked the idea of using the time jumps to move the story along, but i don't think they were written well enough in the instances that they were used.
I got this book as a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
I shouldn't even mark this book as read. I liked the premise of the book but as im reading it,I just became so bored. I couldnt finish it just because I couldn't relate to the writing style and the era or the characters. This book just wasn't for me.
I shouldn't even mark this book as read. I liked the premise of the book but as im reading it,I just became so bored. I couldnt finish it just because I couldn't relate to the writing style and the era or the characters. This book just wasn't for me.