A review by breekeeler
The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I loved the premise of this book, and the opening few chapters were phenomenal. I was immediately hooked and so excited to explore the world and magic system. Sadly, I didn't get much development of any of that. Because the book is written from the perspective of someone who is also completely uninformed about the magical universe she finds herself in, we are given very little information as readers as the story progresses. I would have loved so much more about the world and the way magic works in it. I also desperately wanted any of the side characters to be meaningfully developed. Maxine and Leena are intriguing characters, and I wanted to know more about them. There was potential here, but the focus on Florence and the murder mystery really hampered the story's ability to explore the richness of the world or to make interesting plot choices.

The middle of the book dragged so much that I almost didn't make it through. Florence, the main character, is incredibly obnoxious, and the middle third of the book is just her wandering around complaining about everything with no real purpose or agency. She has some emotional justification for her attitude since she's still grieving, but I would have liked to see so much more in that regard. Because all of her motivations are selfish (until the very end of the book) and don't actually acknowledge the circumstances of her arrival at the school, her annoyance with the school is grating.

The ending is dramatic, but entirely unearned since there is zero character development for Florence and we have very limited information about the other characters in the book. And any twists it contains could be seen a mile off. It also involves a last minute attempt to shift Florence's actions from selfish to community-oriented, but that just didn't feel believable at all. Throughout the book she repeatedly demonstrates that she does not care about anyone else, and by the point in the story that we are supposed to believe everyone at the school stands behind her, she has
caused her classmates to lose the stipends going to their families, accused several people at the school of murdering people, literally killed the headmistress, and, admittedly unintentionally, created the circumstances for a coup, a massacre, and attacks on all of her fellow students. Yet everyone just shrugs as if that's fine and pledges their love and support.
It felt like none of the consequences of her actions or choices were treated with any seriousness, even though they often were incredibly serious for everyone around her.
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