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A review by totcocoa
The Last Witch in Edinburgh by Marielle Thompson
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Oh boy, this one was such a disappointment. I picked this one up for the promise of sapphic witches in the height of the witch trails in Edinburgh. The first half of the book was okay, a bit slow of the read but the plot was interesting and the characters were compelling.
Then, the second half of the book struck. It went from slow to a glacial pace and suddenly, I was being lectured on Feminism 101 every other paragraph. Rather than *showing* me how much the patriarchy sucks, I was Told how much it sucks, often. A lot of it was shoehorned in awkwardly, along with the intersectional elements the author thought to address. There were characters who existed Solely for the purpose of bad things happening to them to demonstrate how bad the patriarchy is. And the ending was just very -- meh? Characterizations for core characters were all over the place and I just found myself annoyed more than I was enjoying reading it. In fact I wished I had been reading something else constantly.
Tldr: it could have been a great book that handles important themes but the execution fell so, so flat. I originally rated this 3 stars but the more I think about this book, the more annoyed I get. It put me in a reading slump afterwards.
Then, the second half of the book struck. It went from slow to a glacial pace and suddenly, I was being lectured on Feminism 101 every other paragraph. Rather than *showing* me how much the patriarchy sucks, I was Told how much it sucks, often. A lot of it was shoehorned in awkwardly, along with the intersectional elements the author thought to address. There were characters who existed Solely for the purpose of bad things happening to them to demonstrate how bad the patriarchy is. And the ending was just very -- meh? Characterizations for core characters were all over the place and I just found myself annoyed more than I was enjoying reading it. In fact I wished I had been reading something else constantly.
Tldr: it could have been a great book that handles important themes but the execution fell so, so flat. I originally rated this 3 stars but the more I think about this book, the more annoyed I get. It put me in a reading slump afterwards.