“I think, in time, you’ll either be my greatest mistake or my greatest victory.”
Former witch hunter Elizabeth Grey is hiding within the magically protected village of Harrow, evading the price put on her head by Lord Blackwell, the usurper king of Anglia. Their last encounter left Blackwell ruined, but his thirst for power grows stronger every day. He’s readying for a war against those who would resist his rule—namely Elizabeth and the witches and wizards she now calls her allies.
Having lost her stigma, a magical source of protection and healing, Elizabeth’s strength is tested both physically and emotionally. War always means sacrifice, and as the lines between good and evil blur once more, Elizabeth must decide just how far she’ll go to save those she loves.
This is the sequel to "The Witch Hunter," so if you haven't read that one, I suggest not reading this review. SPOILERS WILL BE ABOUND!! Like seriously. Go and read the first book.
In fact, I had the pleasure of meeting this lovely woman FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE RELEASE OF THE FIRST BOOK at the wonderful Books of Wonder (18 West 18th Street in NYC for those who want to know... like go and support them. They are absolutely fabulous) and you know what she did? She released it FOUR DAYS EARLY TO SIGN IT FOR US. It was magical.
And I devoured the first book. The second book...?
Well.
Although I did devour it, I feel like it wasn't as good as the first.
I feel that way about a lot of things actually.
But this is a bit different. Because it had nothing to do with story line and EVERYTHING to do with character.
(Honestly this will be a short review, considering that it is a sequel and everything I had to say about this series is in my review of the first book, which I'm sure is up on Goodreads somewhere. Actually it is not. I guess I didn't have much to say about it.)
This book is a low 4 Stars.
There.
That's all you get.
The reason why?
There's not much I can say without spoiling ANYTHING.
So read the blurb above and know my rating and then, after reading it and thinking about it yourself, you can come back and read the rest of this review.
______________________________________________________________________
Okay. The reason this review is short is because, like I stated above, there isn't much for me to gripe about except for character development.
Yup.
That's about it.
So what was it about the characters that I didn't like?
1 - Elizabeth was just SO WHINY. That's right, I said it. The strong witch hunter of the first book just goes bleh. Like one minute she's beating people up, she loses her stigma and then BAM. All of her badass qualities go along with it. Even the final battle at the end is kind of flat because I had expected her to act that way since the beginning. Like come on already!
Ugh.
2 - John REALLY pissed me off. Like SUPER pissed me off. Like jump-off-a-bridge-and-kill-yourself pissed me off. (Don't do that though, because we need you.) I was so annoyed with him by the end that even HE didn't redeem himself.
3 - Fifer and Schulyer were so much more assertive in the first book and they kind of fell flat in this one. They ended up being wall characters, where they are there but not important. Schulyer had ONE MAJOR SCENE. THAT WAS IT. Like WTH?! And Fifer I felt like wasn't important at all!
That's my only problem, honestly.
I enjoyed the plot, because, well, Blackwell NEEDED to just go away already. I hated that dude. And I guess I felt bad for Malcolm. A little.
The writing was gorgeous like it was in the first book, with a world that was definitely unique. Although I still don't understand how magic works in this book and who's got it, it's okay because I accepted it. It worked for the people who actually had it.
I also thought that the way it progressed made sense, although I REALLY wanted to slap Elizabeth across the face to wake her up from her pining and self-pity.
Throughout the entire book.
But whatever.
I enjoyed this ending to this series, a duology. I want another book, just to see what happens next, but it's okay. I enjoyed where it ended.
BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO CHIME??? That little witch. Maybe she fell into the river and went away. Hopefully.
Anyway, that's about it.
Told you it would be short.
I just can't think of anything else to say.
Like I said, a low four stars for this book. I can't exactly rate it like I would other books properly, because if this was a stand-alone it would've gotten three and a half stars, but since the first book was worth the five stars I gave it, I have to bring this down a star.
My next read is "The Young Elites" by Marie Lu. I loved her other series that had begun with "Legend" and can't wait to read this one. I can't wait to see you then for that review!!
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