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sherwoodreads's review
Copy provided by NetGalley
It took me some time to read this book. I think the author has a strong storytelling instinct, and there were some sprightly lines and quick pacing, but for an older reader, unfortunately, a predictable plot placed over generic world building. Terms from England's Tudor period are sprinkled without any explanation or sense of development over a pre-industrial society which contains not only modern language, but the heroine may as well have been born in Y2K--she uses words like "kid" and "okay," she asks a boy to dance, she goes out drinking, she's a wild child with special talents that she must discover after a very long time of willfully misunderstanding everyone and everything.
At crucial turning points in the plot "something" makes her do the expected thing, and that includes her feelings toward the two love interests. (Yes, a love triangle, one a bad boy, one a good boy.)
Because of the fun modern tone and the quick pacing during the action sequences, I think the perfect audience for this book is the young reader it is marketed for--one for whom the predictable plot is still new, who knows nothing about history except that it had pirates (who hang out in inland taverns for some reason) and castles and kings.
It took me some time to read this book. I think the author has a strong storytelling instinct, and there were some sprightly lines and quick pacing, but for an older reader, unfortunately, a predictable plot placed over generic world building. Terms from England's Tudor period are sprinkled without any explanation or sense of development over a pre-industrial society which contains not only modern language, but the heroine may as well have been born in Y2K--she uses words like "kid" and "okay," she asks a boy to dance, she goes out drinking, she's a wild child with special talents that she must discover after a very long time of willfully misunderstanding everyone and everything.
At crucial turning points in the plot "something" makes her do the expected thing, and that includes her feelings toward the two love interests. (Yes, a love triangle, one a bad boy, one a good boy.)
Because of the fun modern tone and the quick pacing during the action sequences, I think the perfect audience for this book is the young reader it is marketed for--one for whom the predictable plot is still new, who knows nothing about history except that it had pirates (who hang out in inland taverns for some reason) and castles and kings.
emleemay's review
2.0
[b:The Witch Hunter|18190208|The Witch Hunter|Virginia Boecker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1417954350s/18190208.jpg|25592624] is a historical fantasy set around the time of witch trials and burnings in England. The main character - Elizabeth Grey - is one of the titular witch hunters, going about murdering and capturing those who practice magic, until she is accused of being a witch herself and needs to be rescued by the kingdom's most-wanted wizard - Nicholas Perevil.
Well... kind of. Except here's what really happens.
As with all mediocre fantasy novels, there's an unexplained ban on magic that leads to hatred of all witches/wizards and their subsequent death sentence. Unlike the historical reality, this ban does not seem to be motivated by religion. None of these witches/wizards appear to be doing anything sinister or evil with the magic, but let's kill them anyway.
Elizabeth's stomach flips on page 4 when the first hot guy in this book kisses her hand. From that moment on, she barely stops talking about Caleb - even when he promises to return and help her but doesn't. We are constantly treated to her little anecdotes about the two of them and how wonderful he is.
Elizabeth Grey is, frankly, really annoying. She is a witch hunter, hates witches/wizards, and believes all magic to be wrong; she also delivers the witches/wizards to Blackwell so they can be burned alive. BUT she is rightly accused of witchcraft - she is found to be using contraceptive magic herbs. What a bloody hypocrite.
Then, when she is rescued by Nicholas Perevil and his group of witches/wizards, instead of being grateful that they rescued her from being burned alive, she bides her time until she can turn them over to the guy who sentenced her to death. Because a) she somehow still believes all wizards and witches must be evil, and b) she's selfish, disloyal and OHMYGOD... Caleb.
But, of course, things are not that simple because - wait for it - there's a hot guy #2 amongst Nicholas' group. Yes... John. Even when Elizabeth is passed out from a fever this becomes an opportunity for John to examine herwounds body. Everything that happens in this book feels orchestrated around either Elizabeth's crush on Caleb or her crush on John.
Also: Do you guys all remember the evil sentence? The "I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding" that appeared in almost every single YA novel? Well, I've found another one. It seems like it's in every YA and NA book with a romance (so 99% of them). It goes like this:
“I feel a mixture of _____, _______ and something else that I can’t put my finger on.”
Or
“I feel a mixture of _____, _______ and another feeling I'm not familiar with.”
Jeez, I'll tell you what it is: you have the hots for that guy! It's lust, it's a crush, it's unbelievable that you've made it to this stage in your life without recognizing what that feeling is! In other words, this is the author's way of trying to subtly allude to romantic feelings, whilst actually making the reader feel like they're being smacked around the head with romantic subtext.
Loose fantasy world-building, irritating heroine and two love interests. This only got two stars because there was some funny and entertaining dialogue.
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Well... kind of. Except here's what really happens.
As with all mediocre fantasy novels, there's an unexplained ban on magic that leads to hatred of all witches/wizards and their subsequent death sentence. Unlike the historical reality, this ban does not seem to be motivated by religion. None of these witches/wizards appear to be doing anything sinister or evil with the magic, but let's kill them anyway.
Elizabeth's stomach flips on page 4 when the first hot guy in this book kisses her hand. From that moment on, she barely stops talking about Caleb - even when he promises to return and help her but doesn't. We are constantly treated to her little anecdotes about the two of them and how wonderful he is.
Elizabeth Grey is, frankly, really annoying. She is a witch hunter, hates witches/wizards, and believes all magic to be wrong; she also delivers the witches/wizards to Blackwell so they can be burned alive. BUT she is rightly accused of witchcraft - she is found to be using contraceptive magic herbs. What a bloody hypocrite.
Then, when she is rescued by Nicholas Perevil and his group of witches/wizards, instead of being grateful that they rescued her from being burned alive, she bides her time until she can turn them over to the guy who sentenced her to death. Because a) she somehow still believes all wizards and witches must be evil, and b) she's selfish, disloyal and OHMYGOD... Caleb.
But, of course, things are not that simple because - wait for it - there's a hot guy #2 amongst Nicholas' group. Yes... John. Even when Elizabeth is passed out from a fever this becomes an opportunity for John to examine her
Also: Do you guys all remember the evil sentence? The "I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding" that appeared in almost every single YA novel? Well, I've found another one. It seems like it's in every YA and NA book with a romance (so 99% of them). It goes like this:
“I feel a mixture of _____, _______ and something else that I can’t put my finger on.”
Or
“I feel a mixture of _____, _______ and another feeling I'm not familiar with.”
Jeez, I'll tell you what it is: you have the hots for that guy! It's lust, it's a crush, it's unbelievable that you've made it to this stage in your life without recognizing what that feeling is! In other words, this is the author's way of trying to subtly allude to romantic feelings, whilst actually making the reader feel like they're being smacked around the head with romantic subtext.
Loose fantasy world-building, irritating heroine and two love interests. This only got two stars because there was some funny and entertaining dialogue.
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narteest's review
3.0
3.5
I think I put this on hold on whim. I don't even remember why I put it on hold lol, but it was definitely a book on my tbr list.
First, this book is being promoted as, on the back cover:
In a way, it does have a Graceling feel to it, but unlike when I first read Graceling (which was oh so many years ago, and at the time I'd loved it so much, now, I don't know how much I would love it, but I'd still at least like it.) with The Witch Hunter, I had issues with it. One, isn't this supposed to be some kind of historical fiction?? Two, why, oh why, does Elizabeth have to do so many things and yet I almost hate her for it?
P L O T
Firstly, I'll say I don't hate this book. On the whole, it was very easy to read and it was fun as well as packed with action. WELL, it's probably more accurate to say that it's more packed with action than fun things. Lots of action scenes, hints of romance here and there, more here than there. And yeah....if I was to talk about the plot, there were twists, and it was interesting, but I didn't find the story overly engaging overall. It just coasted a lot, and was pretty predictable for the most part. You know who the bad guy is right from the start, and you know why he's so fishy to begin with. It doesn't really require much brainwork to figure it out.
C H A R A C T E R S
Elizabeth Grey. I really don't like Elizabeth. Well I don't hate her, but I don't love her. I think, if I wasn't reading the story from her perspective, I might have liked her better. My problem with Elizabeth is that there's a lot of talking about her witch hunter skills, and not enough showing of it. We glimpse it once at the start (failure), and once near the end (sort of successful, but again, sort of a failure). She is also the kind of character I couldn't really engage with on any level. Not on the level of intelligence. Nor an emotive level. Or even on the pathetic level. She wasn't boring. She wasn't interesting. She wasn't twisted. She wasn't a puritan. She was everything, and at the same time, wasn't much of anything. And as the main character of the story, she kind of ruined the story. I suppose the only thing I liked about her was the fact that she does try and get facts first. But otherwise, I just can't sympathise with her. I mean, really, Elizabeth was having a marital affair with the King (this wasn't entirely her fault but it was both a necessary and also unnecessary addition to the plotline I felt?), was one of the 'best' Witch Hunters, was framed and thrown into prison, had some kind of unrequited feelings for her best friend who eventually didn't help her, is capable of drinking a heavy load, and is the only one who can help the rogue dying wizard, Nicholas. Oh and did I mention, there's another guy in love with her! But although I categorised this as love triangles, there isn't much of a love triangle going on. But yeah.......as probably the only most developed character, Elizabeth wasn't really that well developed. Too much telling, not enough showing.
And I wouldn't compare this book to the Game of Thrones either.
Other Characters. Other characters only really play a minor role. They don't stand out as much, but they do have unique characters. I think I liked Fifer, mostly because she doesn't trust Elizabeth at all and put Schuyler in the middle between her and Elizabeth......again I don't feel like I can say much about the other characters here because I just didn't feel it as much. But there were a great variety of characters, witches and wizards, and witch hunters as well as ordinary people. The young witches and wizards, Fifer, George, and John, were a nice little tightknit group of youngsters who stayed together. George is a nice guy. And I think he's one of Elizabeth's first witch friends. But I don't remember much of him to comment otherwise. John is well, a sweet guy, sort of, kind of a pretty generic love interest. Healer witch (man I didn't know what kind of witches we were talking about in this book until it was made clearer later on). Eh.
S E T T I N G
Some historical setting. I think. It's a little hard to tell. I think it would be safer to say 'fantasy' than to specify it as a historical fantasy or even historical because of the way the book is written. There isn't enough 'historical' feeling to the story, nor is there enough detail in the setting for it to really come alive. Not to mention, although the use of 'witch' for this kind of setting was pretty accurate (well as accurate as it seems based on what I perceive of the setting), what kind of system Boecker is going on isn't really clarified until later. I mean like, were the witches like Sabrina the Teenage Witch witches? or Charmed witches? Or witches that are more associated with the superhero image? (that only possess one kind of paranormal ability, rather than the ability to mix potions.) I would have liked to see the worldbuilding built up a bit more.
W R I T I N G
Boecker's writing is very plain. The story is told in first person. Because of the style of writing, a lot of the flavour is lost. The flavour of description. Not to mention that the language of the characters and of the narrative reads very contemporary and colloquial, and while yeah, sure this is a good thing, means we don't have to strain our minds so hard in order to understand, it also, results in a novel that's supposed to or seems like it's a historical fantasy, that doesn't really read like that. So I didn't like the style of writing much. It's not that it isn't great, it's just not really my style. Too plain.
O V E R A L L
This was a pretty quick read (don't just go by my reading time, I was asunder by a tonne of work) and I didn't hate it. I did enjoy reading it right til the end. But it didn't give me the extreme highs that while I wasn't expecting, I was hoping for. It coasted a lot. But unlike some books that coast in an endless state of boring, the Witch Hunter makes up for it with it's large amount of action scenes, masquerades, and I suppose, light romance subplot. I think this would have been a lot more fun for me to read if I was younger, maybe in my mid teens rather than slowly inching closer to my mid-twenties.
I think I put this on hold on whim. I don't even remember why I put it on hold lol, but it was definitely a book on my tbr list.
First, this book is being promoted as, on the back cover:
The magic and suspense of Graceling meet the political intrigue and unrest of Game of Thrones in this riveting fantasy debut.
In a way, it does have a Graceling feel to it, but unlike when I first read Graceling (which was oh so many years ago, and at the time I'd loved it so much, now, I don't know how much I would love it, but I'd still at least like it.) with The Witch Hunter, I had issues with it. One, isn't this supposed to be some kind of historical fiction?? Two, why, oh why, does Elizabeth have to do so many things and yet I almost hate her for it?
P L O T
Firstly, I'll say I don't hate this book. On the whole, it was very easy to read and it was fun as well as packed with action. WELL, it's probably more accurate to say that it's more packed with action than fun things. Lots of action scenes, hints of romance here and there, more here than there. And yeah....if I was to talk about the plot, there were twists, and it was interesting, but I didn't find the story overly engaging overall. It just coasted a lot, and was pretty predictable for the most part. You know who the bad guy is right from the start, and you know why he's so fishy to begin with. It doesn't really require much brainwork to figure it out.
C H A R A C T E R S
Elizabeth Grey. I really don't like Elizabeth. Well I don't hate her, but I don't love her. I think, if I wasn't reading the story from her perspective, I might have liked her better. My problem with Elizabeth is that there's a lot of talking about her witch hunter skills, and not enough showing of it. We glimpse it once at the start (failure), and once near the end (sort of successful, but again, sort of a failure). She is also the kind of character I couldn't really engage with on any level. Not on the level of intelligence. Nor an emotive level. Or even on the pathetic level. She wasn't boring. She wasn't interesting. She wasn't twisted. She wasn't a puritan. She was everything, and at the same time, wasn't much of anything. And as the main character of the story, she kind of ruined the story. I suppose the only thing I liked about her was the fact that she does try and get facts first. But otherwise, I just can't sympathise with her. I mean, really, Elizabeth was having a marital affair with the King (this wasn't entirely her fault but it was both a necessary and also unnecessary addition to the plotline I felt?), was one of the 'best' Witch Hunters, was framed and thrown into prison, had some kind of unrequited feelings for her best friend who eventually didn't help her, is capable of drinking a heavy load, and is the only one who can help the rogue dying wizard, Nicholas. Oh and did I mention, there's another guy in love with her! But although I categorised this as love triangles, there isn't much of a love triangle going on. But yeah.......as probably the only most developed character, Elizabeth wasn't really that well developed. Too much telling, not enough showing.
And I wouldn't compare this book to the Game of Thrones either.
Other Characters. Other characters only really play a minor role. They don't stand out as much, but they do have unique characters. I think I liked Fifer, mostly because she doesn't trust Elizabeth at all and put Schuyler in the middle between her and Elizabeth......again I don't feel like I can say much about the other characters here because I just didn't feel it as much. But there were a great variety of characters, witches and wizards, and witch hunters as well as ordinary people. The young witches and wizards, Fifer, George, and John, were a nice little tightknit group of youngsters who stayed together. George is a nice guy. And I think he's one of Elizabeth's first witch friends. But I don't remember much of him to comment otherwise. John is well, a sweet guy, sort of, kind of a pretty generic love interest. Healer witch (man I didn't know what kind of witches we were talking about in this book until it was made clearer later on). Eh.
S E T T I N G
Some historical setting. I think. It's a little hard to tell. I think it would be safer to say 'fantasy' than to specify it as a historical fantasy or even historical because of the way the book is written. There isn't enough 'historical' feeling to the story, nor is there enough detail in the setting for it to really come alive. Not to mention, although the use of 'witch' for this kind of setting was pretty accurate (well as accurate as it seems based on what I perceive of the setting), what kind of system Boecker is going on isn't really clarified until later. I mean like, were the witches like Sabrina the Teenage Witch witches? or Charmed witches? Or witches that are more associated with the superhero image? (that only possess one kind of paranormal ability, rather than the ability to mix potions.) I would have liked to see the worldbuilding built up a bit more.
W R I T I N G
Boecker's writing is very plain. The story is told in first person. Because of the style of writing, a lot of the flavour is lost. The flavour of description. Not to mention that the language of the characters and of the narrative reads very contemporary and colloquial, and while yeah, sure this is a good thing, means we don't have to strain our minds so hard in order to understand, it also, results in a novel that's supposed to or seems like it's a historical fantasy, that doesn't really read like that. So I didn't like the style of writing much. It's not that it isn't great, it's just not really my style. Too plain.
O V E R A L L
This was a pretty quick read (don't just go by my reading time, I was asunder by a tonne of work) and I didn't hate it. I did enjoy reading it right til the end. But it didn't give me the extreme highs that while I wasn't expecting, I was hoping for. It coasted a lot. But unlike some books that coast in an endless state of boring, the Witch Hunter makes up for it with it's large amount of action scenes, masquerades, and I suppose, light romance subplot. I think this would have been a lot more fun for me to read if I was younger, maybe in my mid teens rather than slowly inching closer to my mid-twenties.
ashurq's review against another edition
3.0
This is the second book in the series and it was pretty similar to the first book. I liked the characters pretty good and their reactions to things (even if I thought Elizabeth did some not-very-well-thought-out things…). I liked the additional characters that we got to meet and the conflict between Elizabeth and John was interesting. But again, the pacing of the plot was kind of weird. All of the sudden they were in battle and then the actual battle lasts like two chapters. I felt like since the whole book was leading up to this huge event, it should have taken more time and had more weight in the book. In the end it felt like the battle really didn’t even matter. The actual conclusion of the book was also pretty strange and I didn’t really understand exactly what happened. It seemed like the author maybe needed the book to end a certain way so she just kind of made it happen even if it left the readers a little confused. In the end it was just a little anticlimactic because of how confused I was.
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
ashurq's review
3.0
Elizabeth Grey is one of the king’s best witch hunters. But when she’s accused of being a witch herself, she finds no mercy. She’s forced to escape with Nicholas Perevil, one of the most powerful wizards in the kingdom. It’s only a matter of time before he and his friends find out that she’s a witch hunter and when they do, she’s sure that they’ll kill her. She can’t stay with Nicholas, but there’s also a bounty on her head if she tries to return home. As she bides her time to form a plan, Elizabeth finds she isn’t so sure that magic users are as evil as she’s been told they are.
It’s been a little while since I’ve read this book so I’m trying to remember everything that I thought about it…I know a lot of people have really liked this book and there’s been a lot of hype surrounding it. First of all, I thought the main character was actually a convincingly strong female. She cries (don’t they all?) but it actually makes sense when she does. She doesn’t cry too much–she’s tough–but enough that the reader knows she’s human and actually does have normal emotions. Also, I really liked all of the secondary characters. They were well fleshed out and felt like individuals as opposed to the stereotypes that some authors rely on.
I didn’t really like the pacing of the plot though. It takes a while to find out why Nicholas saved her from the dungeon and then once we do find out, Elizabeth figures out the prophecy really fast. A little too fast for my taste. I kind of wanted it to be a little more scavenger hunty. I think the author could have drawn out the solving of the prophecy a little longer than she did and cut out or sped up some other plot points. Half of the time I just felt like I wasn’t sure what was going on. Nobody was telling Elizabeth anything and as a result, the reader was being kept in the dark as well. I think if the main character is going to be kept in the dark for a while, then the book should maybe be written in third person or from more than one perspective. Just so the reader knows what’s going on even if the main character doesn’t (an acceptable exception to this would be with mysteries/thrillers, which this was not.)
Overall, I thought the books was pretty good, but nothing too special. It didn’t make me want to review it right away like some books have. I wish that this wasn’t going to turn into a series. I didn’t like how this book so obviously set up the second book. Gee…wonder what the next book’s going to be about? You know? But overall, it was pretty good and I might end up reading the next one.
Overall Rating: 3
Language: None
Violence: Heavy
Sexual Content: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It’s been a little while since I’ve read this book so I’m trying to remember everything that I thought about it…I know a lot of people have really liked this book and there’s been a lot of hype surrounding it. First of all, I thought the main character was actually a convincingly strong female. She cries (don’t they all?) but it actually makes sense when she does. She doesn’t cry too much–she’s tough–but enough that the reader knows she’s human and actually does have normal emotions. Also, I really liked all of the secondary characters. They were well fleshed out and felt like individuals as opposed to the stereotypes that some authors rely on.
I didn’t really like the pacing of the plot though. It takes a while to find out why Nicholas saved her from the dungeon and then once we do find out, Elizabeth figures out the prophecy really fast. A little too fast for my taste. I kind of wanted it to be a little more scavenger hunty. I think the author could have drawn out the solving of the prophecy a little longer than she did and cut out or sped up some other plot points. Half of the time I just felt like I wasn’t sure what was going on. Nobody was telling Elizabeth anything and as a result, the reader was being kept in the dark as well. I think if the main character is going to be kept in the dark for a while, then the book should maybe be written in third person or from more than one perspective. Just so the reader knows what’s going on even if the main character doesn’t (an acceptable exception to this would be with mysteries/thrillers, which this was not.)
Overall, I thought the books was pretty good, but nothing too special. It didn’t make me want to review it right away like some books have. I wish that this wasn’t going to turn into a series. I didn’t like how this book so obviously set up the second book. Gee…wonder what the next book’s going to be about? You know? But overall, it was pretty good and I might end up reading the next one.
Overall Rating: 3
Language: None
Violence: Heavy
Sexual Content: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
desertlover's review
4.0
"....magic isn't inherently good or bad; it's what people do with that makes it that way."
This book is a perfect example of why you shouldn't listen to critics and reviews. While it wasn't as awesome as some of the other Fantasy books of 2015, I found it to be quite enjoyable. There is non-stop action from the first page and I easily devoured it one day. The supporting cast is outstanding, especially George. I loved the quick whit and underlying humor that isn't found often in this genre.
I can't wait to read the next book in the series!
This book is a perfect example of why you shouldn't listen to critics and reviews. While it wasn't as awesome as some of the other Fantasy books of 2015, I found it to be quite enjoyable. There is non-stop action from the first page and I easily devoured it one day. The supporting cast is outstanding, especially George. I loved the quick whit and underlying humor that isn't found often in this genre.
I can't wait to read the next book in the series!
desertlover's review against another edition
3.0
This wasn't a bad book, but I didn't enjoy nearly as much as The Witch Hunter. It only adds to my book 2 plague of 2016.
mhuang's review
5.0
Rating: 4.5 stars
I feel like I'm in a major minority, when I say that I LOVED this book XD
I feel like I'm in a major minority, when I say that I LOVED this book XD
n_gul's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
patekita's review against another edition
3.0
3’5⭐️
Me encanta que el libro empiece con la comida de coco que le meten a la gente de Anglia contra todos los tipos de magia, incluidas unas pocas hierbas.
Los personajes me parece que están bastante desarrollados y me encantan todos, sobre todo Fifer con sus dramas jajaja aunque me hubiera gustado saber un poco más de George y de Nicholas, pero supongo que eso se quedará para la continuación en Asesina de Reyes.
Me encanta que el libro empiece con la comida de coco que le meten a la gente de Anglia contra todos los tipos de magia, incluidas unas pocas hierbas.
Los personajes me parece que están bastante desarrollados y me encantan todos, sobre todo Fifer con sus dramas jajaja aunque me hubiera gustado saber un poco más de George y de Nicholas, pero supongo que eso se quedará para la continuación en Asesina de Reyes.