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A review by dani_reviews
Halfway Dead by Terry Maggert
4.0
Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Halfway Dead was an unexpected delight, a taste of something a little bit different in what I’ve been reading recently. It was told from the first person perspective of Carlie McEwan, a white witch (as in white magic) who lives in the small town of Halfway, New York, working as a diner cook during the day and fulfilling spell requests at night.
This book was… different. It was not as dramatic as YA and even NA can be, but it was still interesting. It had an easy tone while still adding mystery and intrigue.
On the whole, Maggert has a talent for fleshing out people and worlds. I had such a full sense of the Adirondacks that I almost felt like I was there; in fact, I really want to visit now. I could imagine the diner, Carlie’s house, the woods, Wulfric’s (awesome) cabin and the gradually introduced beasties. The magical creatures were a mix of ones we see frequently (e.g. vampires) and ones that are less common (e.g. wisps, wyrms and wights).
Carlie struck me as a combination of Sookie Stackhouse, Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg. Badass with a cheerful, down-to-earth disposition. I loved that she was confident, and in a settled, sure way, not arrogant. Well, maybe there was a touch of arrogance here and there, but that can’t be helped. She seemed genuinely clever and mature while still retaining youth and relatability. She enjoyed drinking wine and shopping online!
I also loved how she was not a morning person. I CAN RELATE. She was not self-conscious in the slightest, but she hated short jokes. I felt like she was a real person, with positive and relatable negative traits.
The relationships were a bit two steps forward, one step back for me. Forward: there were two lead male characters for Carlie’s one female lead. Other authors may have gone for the love triangle, but it was great to see Maggert exercise restraint in this. Forward: Carlie was not clueless. She noted one guy’s interest, interest which she returned; instead of being all shy and coy, she was brilliantly direct with her “I see you seeing me, so let’s explore this” attitude. Back: The slower pace and build of the story and familiarity between the various characters did not prepare me for the sudden jump in the relationship towards the end. What was a realistic development seemed to take a turn for the insta-love. (Well, not quite love, but still a change in tone and pace.)
Now about that pace. I already mentioned that it was a slower pace. This wasn’t a high-paced, action-filled read. All conjuring the world and people, Maggert had to sacrifice speed. What resulted was a lazy day read, not one that you stay up until 3am reading with your heart beating fast. In fact, they didn’t even go into the woods until around the halfway mark. Then, towards the end, things sped up drastically, and I had to flick back pages here and there because I got a little confused. I also expected a bit more at the end, and I felt a little disappointed.
Another thing that perturbed me a little was the lack of emotional reaction to what I saw as a big loss at the end. Given Carlie’s emotional reactions to nameless people dying peacefully at the beginning, when bad things happened to good people that she actually did know towards the end (and in a rather shocking and confusing manner), I expected her to react a lot more strongly. But no, nothing. And this repeated at the end when a note was left that should have resulted in a lot of anger and panic from a certain someone, but date night was more important?
Overall, I did enjoy this book, and I’ll be reading the next book, Halfway Bitten, soon! This is a great paranormal indie if you like witches and Viking vampires. ;)
Halfway Dead was an unexpected delight, a taste of something a little bit different in what I’ve been reading recently. It was told from the first person perspective of Carlie McEwan, a white witch (as in white magic) who lives in the small town of Halfway, New York, working as a diner cook during the day and fulfilling spell requests at night.
This book was… different. It was not as dramatic as YA and even NA can be, but it was still interesting. It had an easy tone while still adding mystery and intrigue.
On the whole, Maggert has a talent for fleshing out people and worlds. I had such a full sense of the Adirondacks that I almost felt like I was there; in fact, I really want to visit now. I could imagine the diner, Carlie’s house, the woods, Wulfric’s (awesome) cabin and the gradually introduced beasties. The magical creatures were a mix of ones we see frequently (e.g. vampires) and ones that are less common (e.g. wisps, wyrms and wights).
Carlie struck me as a combination of Sookie Stackhouse, Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg. Badass with a cheerful, down-to-earth disposition. I loved that she was confident, and in a settled, sure way, not arrogant. Well, maybe there was a touch of arrogance here and there, but that can’t be helped. She seemed genuinely clever and mature while still retaining youth and relatability. She enjoyed drinking wine and shopping online!
One night a few months ago, after a few glasses of wine, I sat down and scrawled a manifesto defending my choice to shop online whenever possible. It looked something like this: Nearest good store is sixty miles away. Pants are required. Stores don’t serve wine. They don’t serve pizza, either.
I also loved how she was not a morning person. I CAN RELATE. She was not self-conscious in the slightest, but she hated short jokes. I felt like she was a real person, with positive and relatable negative traits.
“Ugh. Could you quit smiling, please? It’s offensive.”
The relationships were a bit two steps forward, one step back for me. Forward: there were two lead male characters for Carlie’s one female lead. Other authors may have gone for the love triangle, but it was great to see Maggert exercise restraint in this. Forward: Carlie was not clueless. She noted one guy’s interest, interest which she returned; instead of being all shy and coy, she was brilliantly direct with her “I see you seeing me, so let’s explore this” attitude. Back: The slower pace and build of the story and familiarity between the various characters did not prepare me for the sudden jump in the relationship towards the end. What was a realistic development seemed to take a turn for the insta-love. (Well, not quite love, but still a change in tone and pace.)
Now about that pace. I already mentioned that it was a slower pace. This wasn’t a high-paced, action-filled read. All conjuring the world and people, Maggert had to sacrifice speed. What resulted was a lazy day read, not one that you stay up until 3am reading with your heart beating fast. In fact, they didn’t even go into the woods until around the halfway mark. Then, towards the end, things sped up drastically, and I had to flick back pages here and there because I got a little confused. I also expected a bit more at the end, and I felt a little disappointed.
Another thing that perturbed me a little was the lack of emotional reaction to what I saw as a big loss at the end. Given Carlie’s emotional reactions to nameless people dying peacefully at the beginning, when bad things happened to good people that she actually did know towards the end (and in a rather shocking and confusing manner), I expected her to react a lot more strongly. But no, nothing. And this repeated at the end when a note was left that should have resulted in a lot of anger and panic from a certain someone, but date night was more important?
Overall, I did enjoy this book, and I’ll be reading the next book, Halfway Bitten, soon! This is a great paranormal indie if you like witches and Viking vampires. ;)
See this review in its natural environment, Dani Reviews Things.