booksthatburn's review
Random misogyny towards someone the protagonist has barely interacted with.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Misogyny, and Violence
Minor: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
ashreads10k's review
5.0
If you're looking for something different, exciting, and very well written in a YA paranormal novel, then Witch Eyes is it.
I blew through Witch Eyes in one night! Once I started it, I just couldn't stop. It's a relatively short novel, but it packs quite a punch. From the very beginning, the action is non-stop, and it never once lets up.
Normally, when we think of witches, our mind immediately jumps the conclusion that it's a girl. The great part about Witch Eyes is that it's a male protagonist. I haven't read many books where the narrator is male, so it was fun to read something out of the box. I liked Braden, although I felt like in the beginning he made a stupid decision. But he makes up for it as the novel unfolds and the mystery gets murkier.
Even happens pretty quickly, which is both a good and bad thing. Good because, well, it's action-y. Bad because I wanted more of Braden and Trey! I wouldn't call them an official couple quite yet, but they have strong feelings for each other, and I wanted to see more of the build up. Still, the ending killed me. They need to be together! Trey is a great guy, his heritage aside. I hope they can find a way to make it work!
I whole-heartedly recommend Witch Eyes! Loved it! 5 out of 5 stars.
I blew through Witch Eyes in one night! Once I started it, I just couldn't stop. It's a relatively short novel, but it packs quite a punch. From the very beginning, the action is non-stop, and it never once lets up.
Normally, when we think of witches, our mind immediately jumps the conclusion that it's a girl. The great part about Witch Eyes is that it's a male protagonist. I haven't read many books where the narrator is male, so it was fun to read something out of the box. I liked Braden, although I felt like in the beginning he made a stupid decision. But he makes up for it as the novel unfolds and the mystery gets murkier.
Even happens pretty quickly, which is both a good and bad thing. Good because, well, it's action-y. Bad because I wanted more of Braden and Trey! I wouldn't call them an official couple quite yet, but they have strong feelings for each other, and I wanted to see more of the build up. Still, the ending killed me. They need to be together! Trey is a great guy, his heritage aside. I hope they can find a way to make it work!
I whole-heartedly recommend Witch Eyes! Loved it! 5 out of 5 stars.
feelsnotbrains's review against another edition
1.0
There are too many problems with this books and I don't want to list them because it would be less of a review and more of a brutal dissection of how not to write a book. So the positives are: I like the name Gentry, and albeit a dismal execution, the concept was decent.
cestdanielle's review against another edition
3.0
I actually really liked this book, but I didn't want to give it four stars because I was really confused for a majority of it. I felt like the plot bounced around a LOT, and I couldn't really keep up sometimes. I read a lot, too, yet I haven't encountered a book within my memory that got me as confused as this one did.
That being said, what I could follow was really good. The fact that [spoiler] Braden is gay and Lucien, whom I never really suspected, ended up being the bad guy [/spoiler] were both delightful plot twists. I really love it when an author can catch me off-guard like that. I mean, I knew there was something up with Lucien and that he was shady, but I never suspected that.
I don't have much else to say other than I look forward to reading Demon Eyes.
That being said, what I could follow was really good. The fact that [spoiler] Braden is gay and Lucien, whom I never really suspected, ended up being the bad guy [/spoiler] were both delightful plot twists. I really love it when an author can catch me off-guard like that. I mean, I knew there was something up with Lucien and that he was shady, but I never suspected that.
I don't have much else to say other than I look forward to reading Demon Eyes.
meghanreadsmm's review against another edition
3.0
Well, this story starts off with a pretty good beginning. But towards the middle of the plot, when it really gets going, I pretty much wanted to strangle the MC because he didn't develop his thinking. When he learned new information about characters, he did not seem to adjust his judgements of their moral characteristics (trustworthiness, bravery, cowardice, loyalties) from the new input. Because of that, it felt like almost every critical choice he made was really obviously stupid, and this happened over and over. I think if there had been a brief description of the MC's logic for why the MC would disregard the most obvious choices, it might have alleviated my frustration. But that also would have lengthened the book quite a bit. A couple of other issues I had were that parts of it really seemed like they were forced in to the story so sometimes the pacing seemed off or the scene transitions were a tiny bit abrupt. Also and the version I read was a 2nd or 3rd edition and there were a few blatant editing mistakes. It really was a small number but they still caused some stumbling in my reading.
meira_elena's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing! I loved it so much! That feeling of not belonging, like on an alien planet and then finding people like you for you and all the while keeping these secrets and trying to save everyone- delicious! (And Braden has his own hero-complex!) Estranged father, forbidden love, old/hidden magic and legends threatening to tear everyone apart. Its right up there with Harry Potter and Ranger's Apprentice and anything by Tamora Pierce...Can't wait to find out what happens next!
demonsreadtoo's review
4.0
It goes to show what not reading blurbs can do to you. Based on the cover alone I was expecting something heavy in fantasy, but instead found a book full of teen drama, town-wide family feuds and an underbelly of magic. That’s a good thing, though. It was exactly the kind of book I felt like reading. It was actually lucky that I skipped the blurb, too. The last few lines of it have some of the twists detailed. I loved that I managed to fly through this one, staying up til 4am because the chapter endings just wouldn’t let me put it down. With a fun collection of characters including new friends, new boyfriends and frustratingly power-crazy adults, Witch Eyes is one series I’ll definitely be coming back for.
Read full review at Demons Read Too
Read full review at Demons Read Too
taleisin's review
2.0
This book started out with promise. It had some interesting concepts, a male witch (not a wizard) who is gay and has been raised by an uncle. He finds out he is the child of the two most important families who (you guessed it) have been at war for years. There was some mystery around the death of his mother.
A young adult novel, it focused a lot on relationships and the main character's attempts to navigate high school. I would have appreciated more time on the mystical and mysterious aspects.
A young adult novel, it focused a lot on relationships and the main character's attempts to navigate high school. I would have appreciated more time on the mystical and mysterious aspects.
kiiouex's review against another edition
DNF
It wasn't the strongest book, and then it got very high-schools-and-cliques and I just glazed totally over.
I might come back and give it another go later though, since the main character wasn't bad and I'm always up for queer fantasy.
It wasn't the strongest book, and then it got very high-schools-and-cliques and I just glazed totally over.
I might come back and give it another go later though, since the main character wasn't bad and I'm always up for queer fantasy.
althechaosbisexual's review against another edition
1.0
This was originally going to be a two-star. Nothing kept me interested. The characters were flat, the plot was flat, the romance was flat, but I didn't despise reading it. I was more bored than anything.
Then the misogyny hit me in the face. Somebody explain to me what the hell Candy did to Braden for him to talk about her in the way he did? Context, Candy's like a secretary or something.
Now, I know that there's always going to be one person that's like ' What misogyny? I didn't see any misogyny! ' Well, that's why I marked down pages for the first time.
'Fake hair, fake lips. Fake everything. I didn't believe that any parent would willingly name their daughter Candy. She was a Playboy Playmate dressed up as a secretary. This had to be some kind of joke.' (Page 75 in my version of the book). All this character has done in the story is say 'Mr. Fallon will see you now.' Now, that might be me being overly sensitive. So I was willing to throw it under the bus.
Then on page 132 it says, ''Just be sure to water your skank,' I said as I passed him, 'She's looking a little shallow.'' Same fucking character. I'd like to point out that the character hasn't even shown up again from page 75 and I don't even think she shows up again in the book. Who the hell uses the word skank? I have only heard the word 'skank' used in After and you don't want to be like that book.
This has early 2000's level of bad plot, bad characters, bad everything. First of all, nothing really made sense? Braden runs away from home and his uncle doesn't know a thing about it. But when Braden calls him up, the uncle doesn't question shit and is like 'what's up?' Braden willingly gets into a car with Trey after barely talking to him despite the fact he knows about the whole Lansing versus whatever the hell the other dude's name is. I can't remember any of the side character's names because literally, the two other girls' only personality traits were shit-talking each other. There was even a line where one of them asked Braden 'does this dress make me look fat?' cause that's not stereotypical at all.
This book was very disappointing and I would not recommend it.
Then the misogyny hit me in the face. Somebody explain to me what the hell Candy did to Braden for him to talk about her in the way he did? Context, Candy's like a secretary or something.
Now, I know that there's always going to be one person that's like ' What misogyny? I didn't see any misogyny! ' Well, that's why I marked down pages for the first time.
'Fake hair, fake lips. Fake everything. I didn't believe that any parent would willingly name their daughter Candy. She was a Playboy Playmate dressed up as a secretary. This had to be some kind of joke.' (Page 75 in my version of the book). All this character has done in the story is say 'Mr. Fallon will see you now.' Now, that might be me being overly sensitive. So I was willing to throw it under the bus.
Then on page 132 it says, ''Just be sure to water your skank,' I said as I passed him, 'She's looking a little shallow.'' Same fucking character. I'd like to point out that the character hasn't even shown up again from page 75 and I don't even think she shows up again in the book. Who the hell uses the word skank? I have only heard the word 'skank' used in After and you don't want to be like that book.
This has early 2000's level of bad plot, bad characters, bad everything. First of all, nothing really made sense? Braden runs away from home and his uncle doesn't know a thing about it. But when Braden calls him up, the uncle doesn't question shit and is like 'what's up?' Braden willingly gets into a car with Trey after barely talking to him despite the fact he knows about the whole Lansing versus whatever the hell the other dude's name is. I can't remember any of the side character's names because literally, the two other girls' only personality traits were shit-talking each other. There was even a line where one of them asked Braden 'does this dress make me look fat?' cause that's not stereotypical at all.
This book was very disappointing and I would not recommend it.