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A review by jlynnelseauthor
The Midnight Witch by Paula Brackston
3.0
I started off really liking this book. It quickly establishes Lilith’s coven, her powers, and the fact there is something very amiss happening shortly after her father’s death. So there’s a lot of early plot and setting build up. I really enjoyed delves into the coven and had hoped for so much more exploration of the inner workings of being a witch in a “modern” world. What is their function? How do they put their purpose to good use?
However, the author also narrates through a mortal man who ends up being Lilith’s love interest. While I appreciated the artsy tone the author tried to layer into the storyline, I think it took Lilith too far from the reasons I wanted to read the book. I read this book not because of its historical angle as much as for its “witchy” angle. Sadly, there is very little of the witch coven after Lilith’s initiation as Head Witch, which is strange because you’d think there’d be more of her life involved with the coven activities being its new leader. And while communing with the dead seems an almost every day thing for Lilith, the reader rarely gets the experience.
Lilith’s character also suffers from multiple poor decisions and poor headstrong behavior. She’s been well taught by her father about the costs and balances of leading a coven of witches. However, Lilith quickly abandons all these rules, without consulting anyone either, and constantly puts people in danger. I got extremely annoyed when Lilith decided to resurrect her brother – again without other people’s help. I kept thinking, “hey, guess what, it’s a trap.” For some reason, Lilith never considered that the Sentinels were setting her up. And she’s playing with the most coveted secret known to mankind, without a consideration to the danger she’s placing her fellow witches and her family in. Lilith’s persona as a strong, intelligent women went out the window at that point in the story.
Lilith also has some real jerk moments. She breaks up with her fiancé of 10+ years and who she’s known her entire life a few weeks before their wedding at one of their favorite spots in the local park. Ouch. She also decides to announce to the coven that she’s shared all their secrets with her new fiancé and a non witch at a large party. No forewarning. No softening of the blow. Just a loud announcement to her fiancé “meet the witches!” Secret blown publically. I understand her intentions of changing some of the old rules of their coven to help with their “work-life balance,” but that was definitely not the way to get people to follow her decisions - no chance to discuss it or voice their opinions. Talk about tough leadership.
Brackston is also inconsistent with her own rules. In the very beginning of the book, Lilith struggles to summon a demon, which she has been taught to do, yet she has very little trouble raising someone from the dead later on. And Louis, who has not received any training in raising the dead, is able to do so pretty easily for Lilith. Additionally, Lilith remarks that the person she raised is going to have to take numerous doses of the Elixir to stay alive, but the person Louis raises has no such concern or need? I guess its different when you’re a main character versus a side character.
I liked the historical setting details. The story opens in London 1913 on the eve of the World War I. The book later skips ahead and covers some of the terrifying time during the war and then the events that followed after the completion. I enjoyed learning more about how society changed after the end of the war. Maids and servants and the lifestyle of the wealthy slowly phased out. But we never saw this merge between modern London and “witchy” London.
Overall, I think this novel had potential. However, the main character suffers from extremely selfish behavior that puts numerous lives in danger and threatens to expose their most treasured and ancient secret. She has little regard for the weight of her actions and rarely seemed to suffer the consequences. I did not mind Brackston’s writing style or the coven aspects. I would like to pick up Winter Witch to see how that storyline works as I’ve heard good things. But this book was a bit of a disappointment.
However, the author also narrates through a mortal man who ends up being Lilith’s love interest. While I appreciated the artsy tone the author tried to layer into the storyline, I think it took Lilith too far from the reasons I wanted to read the book. I read this book not because of its historical angle as much as for its “witchy” angle. Sadly, there is very little of the witch coven after Lilith’s initiation as Head Witch, which is strange because you’d think there’d be more of her life involved with the coven activities being its new leader. And while communing with the dead seems an almost every day thing for Lilith, the reader rarely gets the experience.
Lilith’s character also suffers from multiple poor decisions and poor headstrong behavior. She’s been well taught by her father about the costs and balances of leading a coven of witches. However, Lilith quickly abandons all these rules, without consulting anyone either, and constantly puts people in danger. I got extremely annoyed when Lilith decided to resurrect her brother – again without other people’s help. I kept thinking, “hey, guess what, it’s a trap.” For some reason, Lilith never considered that the Sentinels were setting her up. And she’s playing with the most coveted secret known to mankind, without a consideration to the danger she’s placing her fellow witches and her family in. Lilith’s persona as a strong, intelligent women went out the window at that point in the story.
Lilith also has some real jerk moments. She breaks up with her fiancé of 10+ years and who she’s known her entire life a few weeks before their wedding at one of their favorite spots in the local park. Ouch. She also decides to announce to the coven that she’s shared all their secrets with her new fiancé and a non witch at a large party. No forewarning. No softening of the blow. Just a loud announcement to her fiancé “meet the witches!” Secret blown publically. I understand her intentions of changing some of the old rules of their coven to help with their “work-life balance,” but that was definitely not the way to get people to follow her decisions - no chance to discuss it or voice their opinions. Talk about tough leadership.
Brackston is also inconsistent with her own rules. In the very beginning of the book, Lilith struggles to summon a demon, which she has been taught to do, yet she has very little trouble raising someone from the dead later on. And Louis, who has not received any training in raising the dead, is able to do so pretty easily for Lilith. Additionally, Lilith remarks that the person she raised is going to have to take numerous doses of the Elixir to stay alive, but the person Louis raises has no such concern or need? I guess its different when you’re a main character versus a side character.
I liked the historical setting details. The story opens in London 1913 on the eve of the World War I. The book later skips ahead and covers some of the terrifying time during the war and then the events that followed after the completion. I enjoyed learning more about how society changed after the end of the war. Maids and servants and the lifestyle of the wealthy slowly phased out. But we never saw this merge between modern London and “witchy” London.
Overall, I think this novel had potential. However, the main character suffers from extremely selfish behavior that puts numerous lives in danger and threatens to expose their most treasured and ancient secret. She has little regard for the weight of her actions and rarely seemed to suffer the consequences. I did not mind Brackston’s writing style or the coven aspects. I would like to pick up Winter Witch to see how that storyline works as I’ve heard good things. But this book was a bit of a disappointment.