A review by mapscitiesandsongs
Waking the Witch by Rachel Burge

3.0

I had the feeling this book couldn't decide what it should be. The beginning feels like the start of a gothic horror novel but around the 60% mark it starts to feel like a YA fantasy. 

The elements and the idea behind the story were actually pretty good. It's just that the execution was bad. During the first 60% of the book there is not much development. Around 60ish% the Arthurian elements start to pop up out of nowhere. It was way too late in my opinion. In turn the ending felt rushed and unsatisfactory. I also missed this gloomy island atmosphere I would have expected from a novel about the Arthurian legend, Wales and witches. 

I can't really say much about the characters since they weren't that fleshed out. Ivy was getting on my nerves, but since she is a teenager it was also kind of realistic. Her treatment of Tom later on in the book was so unnecessary. He reacted like every normal human being would and in turn Ivy gets pissed at him. I also found the villain quite cartoonish and one-dimensional. 

All in all not bad, but the author bit off more than she could chew.