Review: The Witch Hunter

Review:

I got a copy from Netgalley with auto approval from Hatchette Children's Books.

 

I was quite looking forward to this one, so as soon as I saw it pop up on Netgalley I grabbed a copy. The first copy I downloaded had weird spelling errors which may have been a formatting thing. I almost gave up and thought I'd just get a copy when comes out, but I tried re downloading, which thankfully worked and the formatting and spelling and missed words that were confusing me had all been fixed.

 

It took me a while before I really got into this book. At first, it was just okay. The world building was quite interesting and I liked the author's take on magic and witches and wizards. Though I found the main character, Elizabeth to be rather bland and uninteresting. And irritating to boost. She whines when her friend Caleb, who she had known all her life and never shown any romantic interest her, admits he likes and has been spending time with a high born court girl. The girl is "obviously" no good for him. She gets drunk and tries not to cry about it. This girl is supposed to be a tough as nails witch hunter in a time when women aren't meant to do anything but look pretty. She's survived the training and is supposed to be one of the best in the business. Her actions in getting drunk and whining over a boy just don't sound right.

 

Then the next morning she's accused of witchcraft herself and sentenced to death.

 

Her reasons for having the herbs she was found with is understandable, but kind of hypocritical at the same time. She believed magic is wrong and pushing able by death, but it's okay if she can use it when she needs to for self protection. Get over yourself, girl! She is of course, rescued from her terrible fate and finds herself in the hands of the emeny. A rag tag group of witches, healers and a pirate. Who believe she can help them. Who also don't know she's a bad ass witch hunter.

 

It took a while, but the plot does pick up and gets considerably better than I had thought it would be. Elizabeth goes on a journey of self discovery as she gets involved with the band of witches. She grows a pair, and is hit with some pretty hard truths about where she learned how to be a witch hunter. It is a little repetitive in parts, her stomach churns a lot when she has feelings she doesn't understand. She is quite stubborn and makes some monumentally stupid decisions. Her treatment of the only other female character involved, a witch her age, is pretty appalling when she's supposed to be trying to get along with these people. It does improve into something that's not quite friendship but I think in the end there was a common understanding.

 

Elizabeth's loyalities are questioned a lot as the novel progresses and she gets to know the witches and wizards. There's hints of a romance to come which isn't the sole focus. But it does have room for great protential. The use of magic is really interesting, and I like the mix of otherworldly creatures who feature. More about Elizabeth's history is learned and there's a lot of questions about the truth behind her training. That part again, got to be repetitive. She won't accept what she learns about the man who trained her.

 

She also still moons over Caleb, who was supposed to come and save her when she got thrown into prison. That got very annoying. Also, there were a lot of times when the dialogue felt too modern, on more than a few occasions I felt there wasn't much reminder of the fact it's a historical set in the 1500s. It could have almost been at times a dystopia or even at a stretch a modern day paranormal romance if you changed a few things. The effect would have still been the same. It would have worked just as well, in my opinion.

 

Though that did get easier to ignore the more I read. The characters improved, especially Elizabeth herself grew tremendously by the end of the book. It was fast paced and while it had its problems, it was still enjoyable. I look forward to seeing where the next book in the series will go.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1172305/review-the-witch-hunter