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aurora4847's review against another edition
The cultural appropriation got to be too much for me. This book is filled with white savior narratives and all the negatives surrounding modern white witchcraft. Very disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Cultural appropriation, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Colonisation, Homophobia, Alcohol, Bullying, and Misogyny
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Drug use
antidietleah's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Bullying, Murder, Death, Homophobia, and Death of parent
chronicacademia's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Colonisation, and Sexual content
martamae77's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, and Bullying
Minor: Alcoholism
illy_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I absolutely love this author but this book just wasn't it for me. It was hard to push through and felt like the end went nowhere. Jax was my favorite character but any possibility for his storyline felt like it was left untouched
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Violence
rachaelarsenault's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
You can find my in-depth review of this book over on Medium (https://medium.com/@rachaellawrites/buzzword-feminism-and-a-legacy-of-white-saviours-an-in-depth-review-of-spells-trouble-64c563d12a38), but for now I'll offer a quick pros and cons list.
<b>Pros</b>
-The confrontation/chase in chapter 31 was decent.
-The concept of gate trees is fascinating and has a lot of potential.
-The concept of a cat turning into a person could be really fun.
<b>Cons</b>
-Mystification and dehumanization of indigenous people without them ever actually being present.
-White savior narrative is the backbone of the world-building.
-Cultural appropriation with gate trees in the American Midwest being of Japanese, Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, and Norse mythology.
-The only two recurring characters of colour are ambiguously brown and described with fetishizing/exotifying language compared to white characters.
-Contains both misandry and internalized misogyny, as well as sprinklings of slut shaming for good measure.
-Needlessly graphic and inappropriate-for-genre depiction of sex between minors, including descriptions of a 16 year old boy's penis.
-Misery porn of the only confirmed queer character, constantly tying all of her personal conflicts and hardships back to her queerness.
-Excessively long sentences, misused words (pixilate vs. pixelate), choppy and disjointed prose, jarringly absurd metaphors and descriptions, out-of-voice word choice, and laughably try-hard attempts at teen speak.
-Nonsensical exclamations/expletives based on the girls' deity of choice, such as "Freya's cloak!" and "Athena's shield!"
-Hunter's tarot cards are inconsistent with how every other instance of magic has been portrayed.
-Inconsistent about what Xena does and doesn't know as a cat person (calls it a "phone device", but used a cell phone during the climax without issue), and is written in an obnoxiously heavy-handed and repetitive manner.
If it wasn't already obvious by the low rating and long list of flaws, I really don't recommend this book.
<b>Pros</b>
-The confrontation/chase in chapter 31 was decent.
-The concept of gate trees is fascinating and has a lot of potential.
-The concept of a cat turning into a person could be really fun.
<b>Cons</b>
-Mystification and dehumanization of indigenous people without them ever actually being present.
-White savior narrative is the backbone of the world-building.
-Cultural appropriation with gate trees in the American Midwest being of Japanese, Hindu, Egyptian, Greek, and Norse mythology.
-The only two recurring characters of colour are ambiguously brown and described with fetishizing/exotifying language compared to white characters.
-Contains both misandry and internalized misogyny, as well as sprinklings of slut shaming for good measure.
-Needlessly graphic and inappropriate-for-genre depiction of sex between minors, including descriptions of a 16 year old boy's penis.
-Misery porn of the only confirmed queer character, constantly tying all of her personal conflicts and hardships back to her queerness.
-Excessively long sentences, misused words (pixilate vs. pixelate), choppy and disjointed prose, jarringly absurd metaphors and descriptions, out-of-voice word choice, and laughably try-hard attempts at teen speak.
-Nonsensical exclamations/expletives based on the girls' deity of choice, such as "Freya's cloak!" and "Athena's shield!"
-Hunter's tarot cards are inconsistent with how every other instance of magic has been portrayed.
-Inconsistent about what Xena does and doesn't know as a cat person (calls it a "phone device", but used a cell phone during the climax without issue), and is written in an obnoxiously heavy-handed and repetitive manner.
If it wasn't already obvious by the low rating and long list of flaws, I really don't recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia
foreverinastory's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
QUEER WITCH!! THANK YOU!!
Rep: white lesbian cis female MC, white cishet female MC, various cishet side characters.
CWs: Death of parent, death, murder, sexual content, grief, bullying, slut shaming, toxic relationship (romantic), blood, gore, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, cursing. Moderate: cannibalism, homophobia/homomisia. Minor: alcohol consumption, alcoholism.
Rep: white lesbian cis female MC, white cishet female MC, various cishet side characters.
CWs: Death of parent, death, murder, sexual content, grief, bullying, slut shaming, toxic relationship (romantic), blood, gore, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, cursing. Moderate: cannibalism, homophobia/homomisia. Minor: alcohol consumption, alcoholism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Grief, Toxic relationship, Gore, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Homophobia and Cannibalism
Minor: Alcohol and Alcoholism
ashleereadsbooks692's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Murder
Minor: Alcohol, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
cgphoenix79's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-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
3.5
“Spells Trouble” by: PC and Kristen Cast
In this first book of the Sisters of Salem series we find our identical heroines, Mercy and Hunter Goode, at a crossroads. Their world is crumbling, figuratively and literally. Murder abounds in their tiny town of Goodeville, named after their ancestor, Sarah Goode. The gates are splintering allowing Demi-gods and demons to depart their realms and enter their town. Will the twins be Goode enough to banish the Demi-gods, close the gates, and save their town? Tune in next book as this one ended on a cliffhanger.
My rating? Meh. The Casts are good authors. They have solid writing styles, great plot development and I loved the inclusion of a lesbian witch as one of the protagonists. Where it lost me was some misconceptions re mythology and witchcraft practices. Nitpicky I know, but that’s me. I don’t feel a driving urge to finish the series but if there was nothing else to read I’d read the next book.
In this first book of the Sisters of Salem series we find our identical heroines, Mercy and Hunter Goode, at a crossroads. Their world is crumbling, figuratively and literally. Murder abounds in their tiny town of Goodeville, named after their ancestor, Sarah Goode. The gates are splintering allowing Demi-gods and demons to depart their realms and enter their town. Will the twins be Goode enough to banish the Demi-gods, close the gates, and save their town? Tune in next book as this one ended on a cliffhanger.
My rating? Meh. The Casts are good authors. They have solid writing styles, great plot development and I loved the inclusion of a lesbian witch as one of the protagonists. Where it lost me was some misconceptions re mythology and witchcraft practices. Nitpicky I know, but that’s me. I don’t feel a driving urge to finish the series but if there was nothing else to read I’d read the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Lesbophobia
misslisag's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Sexual content