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A review by elenajohansen
The Witches of New York by Ami McKay
Did not finish book. Stopped at 59%.
I thought this had a promising start, but when more than two weeks had gone by and I was still barely halfway through, I decided to stop forcing myself to keep going; I was more determined to finish the book for the sake of marking it done, than I was to actually find out how the story ended, so I knew it was time to give up.
At first I found the many POVs intriguing, and when the writing was at its best I was reminded of Neil Gaiman's work in tone and style: mysterious and even portentous without being heavy-handed, supernatural while still being grounded in the day-to-day life of the real world.
But somehow, no matter how much I seemed to think I liked it while I was reading it, after half an hour at most I would find myself putting it down and finding something else to do. The incredibly short length of some "chapters" felt abrupt, and even frustrating when the snippet was from a POV that hadn't appeared for a while. I would tell myself "I'll sit down and read for a whole hour, I don't have anywhere to be right now" and still get bored and stop reading. I'm not against slow-paced books as a rule, but the constant stop-start of POV changes (and some annoying head-hopping within scenes) made me feel like I was on a jerky train car, never able to settle comfortably in for the long ride.
The world was interesting, but I never found myself terribly invested in the characters, and even the hint of budding romance couldn't keep me going, as it was so minor it doesn't even justify calling it a subplot.
At first I found the many POVs intriguing, and when the writing was at its best I was reminded of Neil Gaiman's work in tone and style: mysterious and even portentous without being heavy-handed, supernatural while still being grounded in the day-to-day life of the real world.
But somehow, no matter how much I seemed to think I liked it while I was reading it, after half an hour at most I would find myself putting it down and finding something else to do. The incredibly short length of some "chapters" felt abrupt, and even frustrating when the snippet was from a POV that hadn't appeared for a while. I would tell myself "I'll sit down and read for a whole hour, I don't have anywhere to be right now" and still get bored and stop reading. I'm not against slow-paced books as a rule, but the constant stop-start of POV changes (and some annoying head-hopping within scenes) made me feel like I was on a jerky train car, never able to settle comfortably in for the long ride.
The world was interesting, but I never found myself terribly invested in the characters, and even the hint of budding romance couldn't keep me going, as it was so minor it doesn't even justify calling it a subplot.