Actual Rating: 2.5
‘We all want to see the ugly grub become a thing of beauty. We all want the fairy tale.’
Initially I was hooked by ‘Waking The Witch’, the premise intriguing me from the start and a deep sense of unease growing as I read further. The way that the potential danger is shared and the different myths of Bardsey Island brought up fascinated me to no end. Learning eerie mythology and hearing about chilling past events always seem to build up an uneasy atmosphere rapidly. This really felt as if it was going to be an unsettling YA horror novel brimming with myths, legends and folklore. Yet somewhere around the midway mark this novel sadly started falling apart for me and ultimately it didn’t ever redeem itself.
Firstly I just want to warn readers that there may not be as much of the Arthurian legend as they’d expect. Some of the characters from the mythology feature heavily but others, including Arthur, barely warrant a mention. This didn’t bother me as I picked this novel up for its witchy promises and potential but I wanted to give other readers a heads up, just so they don’t feel disappointed by this factor.
I’m not entirely sure exactly what it was that put me off this novel, just that I started having to push myself to persevere with it eventually. There were moments when I was gripped, once more, but others when the story bothered me truthfully. Initially the balance of contemporary elements and the mythological felt spot on. Yet later the ‘impossible’ seemed to be accepted too swiftly for me to find the tale entirely believable. Something about the magic almost made me want to roll my eyes at times and things just started to feel a little bit cliché almost. I don’t know why I found the magic involved grating as I love the premise behind it; something about the execution sadly did not work for me however.
On the positive side of things I can see what the author was trying to do with the story and love the ideas of the fiery feminist vibes, potential of the romance involved and sense of sisterhood. The last of these, in my opinion, needed a lot more development however. There were glimmers of sisterly vibes but with eight individuals introduced I really feel like the surface was only ever brushed with a handful of them; the majority only ever receiving a brief mention.
Sadly ‘Waking The Witch’ ultimately wasn’t what I expected. I can see the promise within the bones of the story but after the strong start everything started to flag for me. The ending also didn’t tie things up nearly enough in my opinion and the final conflict felt rather rushed. Saying this I still hope to read the authors earlier books eventually given both the praise that they’ve received and the promising start of this novel.
‘We all want to see the ugly grub become a thing of beauty. We all want the fairy tale.’
Initially I was hooked by ‘Waking The Witch’, the premise intriguing me from the start and a deep sense of unease growing as I read further. The way that the potential danger is shared and the different myths of Bardsey Island brought up fascinated me to no end. Learning eerie mythology and hearing about chilling past events always seem to build up an uneasy atmosphere rapidly. This really felt as if it was going to be an unsettling YA horror novel brimming with myths, legends and folklore. Yet somewhere around the midway mark this novel sadly started falling apart for me and ultimately it didn’t ever redeem itself.
Firstly I just want to warn readers that there may not be as much of the Arthurian legend as they’d expect. Some of the characters from the mythology feature heavily but others, including Arthur, barely warrant a mention. This didn’t bother me as I picked this novel up for its witchy promises and potential but I wanted to give other readers a heads up, just so they don’t feel disappointed by this factor.
I’m not entirely sure exactly what it was that put me off this novel, just that I started having to push myself to persevere with it eventually. There were moments when I was gripped, once more, but others when the story bothered me truthfully. Initially the balance of contemporary elements and the mythological felt spot on. Yet later the ‘impossible’ seemed to be accepted too swiftly for me to find the tale entirely believable. Something about the magic almost made me want to roll my eyes at times and things just started to feel a little bit cliché almost. I don’t know why I found the magic involved grating as I love the premise behind it; something about the execution sadly did not work for me however.
On the positive side of things I can see what the author was trying to do with the story and love the ideas of the fiery feminist vibes, potential of the romance involved and sense of sisterhood. The last of these, in my opinion, needed a lot more development however. There were glimmers of sisterly vibes but with eight individuals introduced I really feel like the surface was only ever brushed with a handful of them; the majority only ever receiving a brief mention.
Sadly ‘Waking The Witch’ ultimately wasn’t what I expected. I can see the promise within the bones of the story but after the strong start everything started to flag for me. The ending also didn’t tie things up nearly enough in my opinion and the final conflict felt rather rushed. Saying this I still hope to read the authors earlier books eventually given both the praise that they’ve received and the promising start of this novel.