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twstdtink 's review for:
Curse of the Night Witch
by Alex Aster
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I bought this book after seeing it was nominated for the SSYRA (Sunshine State Young Readers Award) in 2022. The SSYRA list rarely disappoints! To start, I want to state that it is a middle-grade book and reads as such. I would put it in the same league as The Land of Stories.
Things I loved:
- The chapters of the main story are intersected by chapters from a fairy tale book the characters grew up with.
- You get to explore many diverse cities and meet many interesting characters.
- This story does not take place in our reality, but on an island (Emblem Island) where magic is real. Most babies are born with an emblem/gift that gives them special abilities. Your station in life can be determined by this mark.
- This is a fast-paced book that could easily be read in a couple days if you're motivated.
- It was really fun and one I might read outloud to my 9 and 12-year-old.
Things I disliked:
- Heavy use of metaphors that don't always make sense.
- Poor descriptive writing. The one that made me stop reading and groan was when the teenage girl was walking down a dark creepy hallway, a stranger called out and she "bit her knuckle" in fear. Who actually does that?
- Lots of forecasting of events. Someone tells the main characters not to do something because a very specific consequence will happen, and you can bet that character will do it in the very next chapter.
- This was written to be part of a series and you can feel the author setting up for the next book through the entire thing.
Things I loved:
- The chapters of the main story are intersected by chapters from a fairy tale book the characters grew up with.
- You get to explore many diverse cities and meet many interesting characters.
- This story does not take place in our reality, but on an island (Emblem Island) where magic is real. Most babies are born with an emblem/gift that gives them special abilities. Your station in life can be determined by this mark.
- This is a fast-paced book that could easily be read in a couple days if you're motivated.
- It was really fun and one I might read outloud to my 9 and 12-year-old.
Things I disliked:
- Heavy use of metaphors that don't always make sense.
- Poor descriptive writing. The one that made me stop reading and groan was when the teenage girl was walking down a dark creepy hallway, a stranger called out and she "bit her knuckle" in fear. Who actually does that?
- Lots of forecasting of events. Someone tells the main characters not to do something because a very specific consequence will happen, and you can bet that character will do it in the very next chapter.
- This was written to be part of a series and you can feel the author setting up for the next book through the entire thing.