anapthine's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 Thank you Net Galley and Bookouture for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I thought this book was brilliantly written, it certainly was a thrilling fantasy novel. A lot of people said that the excitement drops after about halfway in the book, but I didn’t find that to be the case. The characters were easily lovable and any book about Atlantis is definitely a book I will enjoy. 

This novel follows the grief of Ariadne after the death of her fiancé Simon when she has to return to the place where he died and carry on with what he failed to do. Here she unexpectedly finds Rafael who helps her move on and find what she came out to do. 

Parts are heartbreaking, exciting and sad, whilst others are you wanting to scream at the characters who seem to go towards danger even though that is clearly not a good idea. This book was so easy to read and Jessica Thorne’s writing style makes me want to read more by this author. 

I would recommend this to anyone who loves underwater fantasy, magical realism, thrillers and mysteries - it is such a great book. 

 

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Water Witch is a gripping and mysterious adventure about mythical lost cities, love and loss. If you have any interest in French culture, particularly folklore - I think you will enjoy this book - or if you have any interest in treasure hunts, or underwater archeology.

I really have no connection to French culture, and I really enjoyed reading about the Celtic folklore and myths of Brittany that make up the basis of this story. They were fascinating to read about and the way they are weaved into this book was well done. I did think, with the title being "The Water Witch", there would be more 'witchy-ness' to the book, but it was really more mythical folklore. There are other paranormal/kind of magical realism elements that are central to the storyline. 

I did not enjoy the romance aspect of the book, and felt it was lacking, very insta-lovey. There wasn't enough build up of tension, or believability as to why Ari and Rafael are into each other (beyond a physical attraction). I would've gladly read another 50 pages to build up their connection and intimacy with each other to make the romance more realistic.


Overall this is a fun, relatively quick read! I would classify it more as an adventure/mystery than romance.

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