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littlelotto's review against another edition
1.0
An old favorite of mine in middleschool. After several months of searching, found it for a dollar!
I was a stupid kid. This book is terrible.
I was a stupid kid. This book is terrible.
pipernme's review against another edition
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
curtiswastaken's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
the most absolutely unhinged point horror book i've ever read. what if a teenage witch as also 90's era Bruce Willis? so much gun violence, it's incredible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Car accident, and Murder
cherithe's review against another edition
3.0
I reread this as part of the preparation for the podcast Steph and I did for GA. This one did not hold up as well as I think some of the others do so many years later. I liked it, honestly I didn't really remember most of it, so it was like reading it for the first time. But, I didn't think the story was super strong.
crystalturner2's review against another edition
5.0
Why is this cover to terrible? My copy had a beautiful cover. (Edit: found it. Not as beautiful as i remember, but close lol). Another one of those books that has stuck with me over the years, and I wonder what it would be like to read now, 20ish years later.
apoppyinthewind's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
fast-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
3.5
This was one of the first Pike books' I read when I was a pre-teen and nostalgia feelings are strong with this one. Julia, the main character, is a seventeen year old witch with two abilities: she can heal with a touch and she can remote view using water. Her mother had always warned Julia to never practice her scrying on water under moonlight, the one rule Julia breaks a few months after her mother's passing. Doing this gives Julia a glimpse into a future she becomes desperate to prevent but her attempt to change the future only leads to more danger for her and her friends.
Re-reading this as an adult, Julia's actions are pretty batshit but it also makes sense that she goes off the rails so quickly. She's clearly still in the early stages of grief after losing her mom and driven to her breaking point by the trauma she experiences which leads to those awful decisions. It's one of the better non-trilogy books but I would have loved to have seen more about Julia's aunt & coven. All we know is that the coven is after Julia for meddling but we have no sense of what they're planning on doing to Julia so they end up as just a one dimensional plot element chasing Julia around & being foiled by Randy & Amy.
Re-reading this as an adult, Julia's actions are pretty batshit but it also makes sense that she goes off the rails so quickly. She's clearly still in the early stages of grief after losing her mom and driven to her breaking point by the trauma she experiences which leads to those awful decisions. It's one of the better non-trilogy books but I would have loved to have seen more about Julia's aunt & coven. All we know is that the coven is after Julia for meddling but we have no sense of what they're planning on doing to Julia so they end up as just a one dimensional plot element chasing Julia around & being foiled by Randy & Amy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Infidelity, and Car accident
clementinecandy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
impybelle's review against another edition
2.0
Witch is one of the Pike books I know I read back in the day but have no real memory of beyond the cover and Julia and the pond. Which is also on the cover so not all that helpful. I have vague memories of liking it but that's about it.
A few months ago I got the brilliant idea to re-read it and since my copy was stolen back in HS along with a bunch of other Pike books, I had to hunt it down again.
Ehhhh. Without any real nostalgia to cling to, I found myself wondering why so many people cite this in their top five (and a lot usually put it in top 3) Pike books. We get a split story with Julia and Amy both getting chapters of action, but after Scott gets hurt we don't really spend enough time with Julia for it to truly feel like her story. And Julia and Amy both have massive blindspots that enable the story to happen.
Amy knows there's something special, magical even, about Julia and her mother, but it never occurs to her that the healing touch she brags about Julia having is literal. Which is dumb as hell because she encourages Julia to touch Scott after he's been hurt, so on some very close to the surface level she realizes what Julia can do and immediately after Julia says she can't do it again or she'll die. Pretty sure even back then Amy would've been able to assemble those clues and finish the puzzle.
On the flipside, Julia is so consumed with wanting revenge that she doesn't even entertain the notion of calling the liquor store that's about to be robbed and telling them so. I mean the cover would be obvious: pretend to be the idiot's gf who just found out what knucklehead was up to and wanted to save everyone from a big mistake. FFS, Jim has to mention the idea of calling and Julia's like nope, revenge is better. Which sure, sure she's being consumed with rage/hatred and that's bad, kids but also Julia? Honey? You know what happens to a nice white jacket when you get shot? It's gonna turn red... just like that vision you've been running from.
Overall, this felt like a short story that was fleshed out some but not enough to justify a book. The Julia Amy is friends with is rarely on screen and even taking into consideration the late 80's and early 90's of it all, Scott doesn't seem worth dying for and Jim's a cute cardboard cutout of a character.
My biggest issue is Julia's unnamed aunt telling Amy that Julia was the best of them all... how? In what way? We never see this.
It wasn't bad but it also wasn't good. That said, if one were to assemble a team of Pike's characters for a ragtag crew to save the world, Julia would make a decent addition considering how powerful she is when she's mad. Her healing properties could use a little work.
A few months ago I got the brilliant idea to re-read it and since my copy was stolen back in HS along with a bunch of other Pike books, I had to hunt it down again.
Ehhhh. Without any real nostalgia to cling to, I found myself wondering why so many people cite this in their top five (and a lot usually put it in top 3) Pike books. We get a split story with Julia and Amy both getting chapters of action, but after Scott gets hurt we don't really spend enough time with Julia for it to truly feel like her story. And Julia and Amy both have massive blindspots that enable the story to happen.
Amy knows there's something special, magical even, about Julia and her mother, but it never occurs to her that the healing touch she brags about Julia having is literal. Which is dumb as hell because she encourages Julia to touch Scott after he's been hurt, so on some very close to the surface level she realizes what Julia can do and immediately after Julia says she can't do it again or she'll die. Pretty sure even back then Amy would've been able to assemble those clues and finish the puzzle.
On the flipside, Julia is so consumed with wanting revenge that she doesn't even entertain the notion of calling the liquor store that's about to be robbed and telling them so. I mean the cover would be obvious: pretend to be the idiot's gf who just found out what knucklehead was up to and wanted to save everyone from a big mistake. FFS, Jim has to mention the idea of calling and Julia's like nope, revenge is better. Which sure, sure she's being consumed with rage/hatred and that's bad, kids but also Julia? Honey? You know what happens to a nice white jacket when you get shot? It's gonna turn red... just like that vision you've been running from.
Overall, this felt like a short story that was fleshed out some but not enough to justify a book. The Julia Amy is friends with is rarely on screen and even taking into consideration the late 80's and early 90's of it all, Scott doesn't seem worth dying for and Jim's a cute cardboard cutout of a character.
My biggest issue is Julia's unnamed aunt telling Amy that Julia was the best of them all... how? In what way? We never see this.
It wasn't bad but it also wasn't good. That said, if one were to assemble a team of Pike's characters for a ragtag crew to save the world, Julia would make a decent addition considering how powerful she is when she's mad. Her healing properties could use a little work.
brk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0