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Wicked: Witch & Curse by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié

Wicked: Witch & CurseFor Holly Cathers, it starts when her parents and best friend are killed in a rafting accident. Against her will, she is forced to move to Seattle to live with her aunt Marie-Claire, a relative Holly hadn’t known she had. It turns out, there’s a lot of things Holly never knew about her family history, long buried secrets that are dredged up when a series of freak accidents start happening to Holly and those around her. Because these are no ordinary occurrences, but the work of something deeper—and darker. These attacks are the result of a family feud originating countless generations ago, a feud that will continue until one of the families is completely obliterated. Unwilling participants, Holly and her newfound family must however uncover the dark legacy of their family’s past and unleash their powers as the witches they are fated to be if there’s any hope of defeating their menacing rival.

Fast paced and intriguing, these first two installments in the Wicked series are just filled with action, magical threats, and dark romance. While this age old magical feud is certainly an interesting premise, the execution of this tale left much to be desired. The quick pace of the plot nearly inundates the reader with a deluge of information, whether it be in flashbacks to the early days of the feud, Holly’s discovery of new spells and magical abilities, or even just the significance of each character’s current plans and actions for the rest of the story. It’s almost too much to keep track of. Aside from the plot, I wasn’t too taken with the characters either. The sheer bloodthirstiness of some of them, and the promise of that quality in others, really put me off. Perhaps I’m just so used to the classic battle between good and evil instead of almost-evil and eviler. In addition, the bond between Jer and Holly was difficult to believe at times. There are well written sections of this book such as Nicole’s character’s development, but overall, I felt it could’ve been much better.

This dark book will appeal to fans of Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough and Revealers by Amanda Marrone.

Rating: 3.5

Review copy from publisher Simon & Schuster UK

1 munch(es) :

Simply_Megan said...

I read this and thought it was just okay. I agree that the characters weren't well-developed.

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