kameo9's review
2.0
I tend to gravitate toward YA novels. Great YA novels. I do however like adult novels as well. Good adult novels. I received Mark of the Witch, which is not a YA novel, at BEA, and the premise sounded promising. And the fact that Shayne has many books published and is an author I have heard of, piqued my interest at reading this book.
It has taken me forever to read. I just couldn't get into it. The characters didn't keep my interest, and the storyline was a bit predictable for me.
It has taken me forever to read. I just couldn't get into it. The characters didn't keep my interest, and the storyline was a bit predictable for me.
booksandinternalstruggle's review
4.0
“It stared at me. A shapeless, formless being whose only clear feature was its eyes. And they were eyes I’d seen before, but I was damned if I knew where. Human eyes, though. Very human. Very…beautiful. And roiling with pain.”
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed this book. Enough to give it four stars, even.
Let’s talk about Indira. Or Indy. She’s a former Wiccan who renounced her faith in magic and the goddess at a time in her life when magic didn’t seem to be in her favor. She lives a normal, albeit lonely life, with faith in nothing aside from the organic and one more cigarette. However, magic reenters Indira’s life, violent and uninvited; first in dreams of a woman that was her but wasn’t, from which she would awaken with mysterious injuries. Then, Indy is afflicted with visions, inexplicable injuries, and what seem to be boughs of possession during the day and with witnesses. Frightened and left with few options, Indy decides it’s time to call an old friend and high priestess from her Wiccan days in hope of finding answers. She hasn’t seen anything like this before, but knows someone that might be able to help, and his name is Tomas.
Meanwhile, Father Dom comes from a line of gnostic priests charged with preventing the return of a demon vanished to the underworld thousands of years ago in Babylonia. He has just one chance to find and destroy the amulet before the demon’s servants can bring it to the portal and release him from his prison. Luckily, he has trained and indoctrinated a young priest named Tomas to complete this task. But will Tomas be able to go through with his task and save the world if it means he has to kill a witch whom he has sworn to protect. Can she really be evil when she seems so innocent? Are the feelings that he has begun to feel real, or is the long-ago past that has come back to haunt him merely a manipulation by a witch whose sole purpose is to release a demon that will destroy all of mankind?
Filled with tests of faith, challenges in ideology, romance, and mystery, Mark of the Witch does the whole past life/magic thing the right way. And I think we’ve all seen it done improperly before. Both parallel storylines are excellent, and the romance doesn’t feel rushed or forced with ‘why is this happening’ drama. Also, the witch and priest struggling with his belief system is hot, and Indira’s struggle with her faith and embracing her abilities and who she is empowering. The character’s played their parts perfectly; where the whole ‘world-building’ thing was lacking, they made up for it. Father Dom is the perfect old crazy religious zealot, hell-bent on getting what he wants in the name of ‘God’ and not really caring who he has to hurt…or kill…to get it. Rayne is the perfect combination of whimsical and confident, modern woman and I’d believe anything she told me to be true.
My only real criticism was that I wanted more information about Indira’s past life earlier on. If you’re like me and you like to have all the facts laid out for you, I’d suggest reading Legacy of the Witch (The Portal #0.5) before embarking on Mark of the Witch. I didn’t, and it isn’t necessary to get the whole story, but it is $1.99 and only like fifty pages. Thus, it may be worth checking out to see if the series is for you or not.
Or you can watch this cheesy video from when Mark of the Witch was nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award in 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-znVZOQwiI
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed this book. Enough to give it four stars, even.
Let’s talk about Indira. Or Indy. She’s a former Wiccan who renounced her faith in magic and the goddess at a time in her life when magic didn’t seem to be in her favor. She lives a normal, albeit lonely life, with faith in nothing aside from the organic and one more cigarette. However, magic reenters Indira’s life, violent and uninvited; first in dreams of a woman that was her but wasn’t, from which she would awaken with mysterious injuries. Then, Indy is afflicted with visions, inexplicable injuries, and what seem to be boughs of possession during the day and with witnesses. Frightened and left with few options, Indy decides it’s time to call an old friend and high priestess from her Wiccan days in hope of finding answers. She hasn’t seen anything like this before, but knows someone that might be able to help, and his name is Tomas.
Meanwhile, Father Dom comes from a line of gnostic priests charged with preventing the return of a demon vanished to the underworld thousands of years ago in Babylonia. He has just one chance to find and destroy the amulet before the demon’s servants can bring it to the portal and release him from his prison. Luckily, he has trained and indoctrinated a young priest named Tomas to complete this task. But will Tomas be able to go through with his task and save the world if it means he has to kill a witch whom he has sworn to protect. Can she really be evil when she seems so innocent? Are the feelings that he has begun to feel real, or is the long-ago past that has come back to haunt him merely a manipulation by a witch whose sole purpose is to release a demon that will destroy all of mankind?
Filled with tests of faith, challenges in ideology, romance, and mystery, Mark of the Witch does the whole past life/magic thing the right way. And I think we’ve all seen it done improperly before. Both parallel storylines are excellent, and the romance doesn’t feel rushed or forced with ‘why is this happening’ drama. Also, the witch and priest struggling with his belief system is hot, and Indira’s struggle with her faith and embracing her abilities and who she is empowering. The character’s played their parts perfectly; where the whole ‘world-building’ thing was lacking, they made up for it. Father Dom is the perfect old crazy religious zealot, hell-bent on getting what he wants in the name of ‘God’ and not really caring who he has to hurt…or kill…to get it. Rayne is the perfect combination of whimsical and confident, modern woman and I’d believe anything she told me to be true.
My only real criticism was that I wanted more information about Indira’s past life earlier on. If you’re like me and you like to have all the facts laid out for you, I’d suggest reading Legacy of the Witch (The Portal #0.5) before embarking on Mark of the Witch. I didn’t, and it isn’t necessary to get the whole story, but it is $1.99 and only like fifty pages. Thus, it may be worth checking out to see if the series is for you or not.
Or you can watch this cheesy video from when Mark of the Witch was nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award in 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-znVZOQwiI
fallenprincess's review
4.0
A quite good urban fantasy (3.5 rounded up because I've never even read an urban fantasy about a wiccan before) that deals with an ex wiccan that is getting her faith back as she keeps dreaming of being sacrificed and it seems like this dream is close to reality. The romance is decent and it has a good plot
slaylerchibimoon's review
4.0
Really interesting love story that obviously had a lot of research or personal knowledge of the craft involved.
I found myself thinking that the main character was too forward but then I had to stop and say to myself, "Why not?! If a man were saying those things most would find it attractive" It changed my mindset from "Whoa girl!" to "Hell yeah!!"
I read it in one sitting and really enjoyed it. I anticipate that I will enjoy the rest of the series as well.
That being said if you are squeamish about witchcraft, demons, or Christianity being portrayed as the antithesis I would shy away from this series.
I found myself thinking that the main character was too forward but then I had to stop and say to myself, "Why not?! If a man were saying those things most would find it attractive" It changed my mindset from "Whoa girl!" to "Hell yeah!!"
I read it in one sitting and really enjoyed it. I anticipate that I will enjoy the rest of the series as well.
That being said if you are squeamish about witchcraft, demons, or Christianity being portrayed as the antithesis I would shy away from this series.
lnzlou55's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book and I'm glad that I happened to pick it up. Although there were some parts of the story that seemed to drag a bit the rest of the story more then made up for it. I thought that it was really interesting that up until the end you never really knew who was working for the good side or the bad side. I already ordered the other books in the series because now I can't wait to find out what happens next.
drowninginthewords_jessica's review
3.0
This novel has a good premise and should have been an easy quick read but the beginning was so slow I could not get into it until the midway point. Indy, or Indira (I had a hard time remembering the name), was a heroine I could not connect with. She was sarcastic, she was rude, and she had all these supernatural things happening around her and her first instinct is to deny it all. It almost gets her killed. Not that she did not make me laugh a time or two but those were her main characteristics. Tomas, the hero, on the other hand was the complete opposite: he was a priest, kind, intellectual, and very handsome. Yet he was twisted around the finger of a mad, old priest. Then there was Rayne, sister to the priest and sister-witch to Indy who was too perfect to be real. She really did not make an impression on me. The old goat, ahem I mean priest Dom on the other hand was easy to hate from the get-go.
What I liked: the premise, it sets it up for a nice series, the settings (very beautiful and well designed)
what I did not like: characters need more work more depth, slow beginning, conclusion was a little unfulfilling for me.
All in all it was an enjoyable read. I give it: 3/5 stars!!!!!
ORIGINAL REVIEW CAN BE FOUND ON MY BLOG HERE: http://jesiwriter.tumblr.com/
What I liked: the premise, it sets it up for a nice series, the settings (very beautiful and well designed)
what I did not like: characters need more work more depth, slow beginning, conclusion was a little unfulfilling for me.
All in all it was an enjoyable read. I give it: 3/5 stars!!!!!
ORIGINAL REVIEW CAN BE FOUND ON MY BLOG HERE: http://jesiwriter.tumblr.com/
annastarlight's review
4.0
The Mark of the Witch is a delightful soft paranormal romance. Unlike many books in the genre, Mark features two human protagonists in a recognisable contemporary world with just the perfect amount of magic sprinkled in.
Indira is having strange dreams of a former life. Though she is a lapsed Wiccan, she turns to a witch friend to make sense of what is happening to her. Father Tomas, on the other hand, has been trained his entire life to stop a witch from summoning a demon – but whatever he was expecting that witch to be, it wasn’t someone like Indira.
The central conflict in The Mark of the Witch is that Indira has no idea what is happening to her, while Tomas has more information about the situation and is charged to stop her. Perhaps even to kill her, if all else fails. While this premise could have been pretty horrifying (I’m honestly kind of tired of people falling in love with their murderer-to-be), both Indira and Tomas are down-to-earth, grounded people. The threat of violence never materialises, and though there is plenty of conflict to be navigated, they’re pretty great together from the get-go.
Since this is a (paranormal) romance, the plot is a vehicle to develop the relationship of the hero and heroine. There was a good balance between plot and character development, keeping up the suspense through blurred loyalties and slow reveals of Indira’s past life. Though mythology doesn’t feature heavily in the book, it does provide a sensitive and positive portrayal of pagan religion. I especially liked that faith is never an issue in the book – even though Indy is a (former) witch and Tomas is Christian, they fully respect and appreciate each other’s views. Even reading this as an atheist with a low tolerance for strong religious overtones in fiction, The Mark of the Witch never gets preachy.
I don’t often read romance, and while reading The Mark of the Witch I realised why. Especially within the paranormal subgenre, the alpha male is the stereotype. Stern, overbearing, macho – the muscular alpha male will grunt and brawl his way into the heart of the heroine, usually by physically threatening anything in her vicinity. The Mark of the Witch features the complete opposite: Father Tomas is a gentle, steadfast man. He wants to help Indira, not intimidate her. He is supportive, sweet, and though he is conflicted about the whole she-might-summon-a-demon thing, he never lashes out in anger or fear. There is an element of forbidden romance which was resolved neatly, and though the ending of the book was rather abrupt, the characters development was satisfactory. The book deserves some final extra brownie points for featuring a female friendship that passes the Bechdel test.
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Trigger warnings:
Indira is having strange dreams of a former life. Though she is a lapsed Wiccan, she turns to a witch friend to make sense of what is happening to her. Father Tomas, on the other hand, has been trained his entire life to stop a witch from summoning a demon – but whatever he was expecting that witch to be, it wasn’t someone like Indira.
The central conflict in The Mark of the Witch is that Indira has no idea what is happening to her, while Tomas has more information about the situation and is charged to stop her. Perhaps even to kill her, if all else fails. While this premise could have been pretty horrifying (I’m honestly kind of tired of people falling in love with their murderer-to-be), both Indira and Tomas are down-to-earth, grounded people. The threat of violence never materialises, and though there is plenty of conflict to be navigated, they’re pretty great together from the get-go.
Since this is a (paranormal) romance, the plot is a vehicle to develop the relationship of the hero and heroine. There was a good balance between plot and character development, keeping up the suspense through blurred loyalties and slow reveals of Indira’s past life. Though mythology doesn’t feature heavily in the book, it does provide a sensitive and positive portrayal of pagan religion. I especially liked that faith is never an issue in the book – even though Indy is a (former) witch and Tomas is Christian, they fully respect and appreciate each other’s views. Even reading this as an atheist with a low tolerance for strong religious overtones in fiction, The Mark of the Witch never gets preachy.
I don’t often read romance, and while reading The Mark of the Witch I realised why. Especially within the paranormal subgenre, the alpha male is the stereotype. Stern, overbearing, macho – the muscular alpha male will grunt and brawl his way into the heart of the heroine, usually by physically threatening anything in her vicinity. The Mark of the Witch features the complete opposite: Father Tomas is a gentle, steadfast man. He wants to help Indira, not intimidate her. He is supportive, sweet, and though he is conflicted about the whole she-might-summon-a-demon thing, he never lashes out in anger or fear. There is an element of forbidden romance which was resolved neatly, and though the ending of the book was rather abrupt, the characters development was satisfactory. The book deserves some final extra brownie points for featuring a female friendship that passes the Bechdel test.
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Trigger warnings:
Spoiler
the heroine is mutilated by a spirit in her dreams - the bloody markings on her body can be a trigger for self-harm. Mild violence. Heroine in a past life has committed suicide so her partner didn't have to kill her.littlemainelibrarian's review
5.0
**FABULOUS!!! *** I cannot believe I have to wait months for the next book! I'm going to die!!! LOL! I love this book and sincerely hope the others will be as good! Bravo Miss Shayne! Well done! :-)