Book Review: The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston

The Witch's Daughter 
by Paula Brackston 
Release Date: January 18, 2011
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 304
Received: Library
Rating 1 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page
  

This is an ADULT book!
Some scenes may not be suitable for younger readers. 

Summary

From Goodreads: 

In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate: the Warlock Gideon Masters. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers and making her immortal. She couldn’t have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he will be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life. 

In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life. Her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl named Tegan starts hanging around. Against her instincts, Elizabeth teaches Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories—and demons—long thought forgotten. 

Part historical romance, part modern fantasy, The Witch’s Daughter is a fresh, compelling take on the magical, yet dangerous world of witches. Readers will long remember the fiercely independent heroine who survives plagues, wars, and the heartbreak of immortality to stay true to herself, and protect the protégé she comes to love.

Review

I was suckered into this book, despite the negative reviews, because the description sounded interesting and the cover caught my eye. Ugh, I should have listened to the reviews. Or, I wish the reviews had been more detailed as to why people didn’t like the book. I’m going to try to be detailed.

First things first, don’t believe that description. It’s sort of accurate, kinda, but it gave me the complete wrong impression. I was expecting to start out with her mother dead and then follow her as she learned magic from a sexy bad boy warlock. They’d have a falling out of some sort and she would start running and he’d chase her through the centuries. Sounds good, right? Yeah, that’s so not what happens.

It takes forever for her mother to die and then we don’t watch Bess learn anything. All of her magic lessons are disappointingly glossed over. The part before her mother dies isn’t so bad, though it is a lot longer than I was expecting. You learn about Bess and her family living in the dark ages (literally) and dealing with plague and poverty. Ok historical fiction, but nothing that particularly stood out for me. I really tried to work up sympathy for Bess, but I never connected with any of the characters well enough to feel more than an objective recognition of her horrible situation. 

The two other historical sections interested me less and had fewer historical details. I don’t really understand why those two parts of her life were highlighted. What was so special about them? The scenes mentioned but never shown sounded more interesting than the ones that were actually described. These flashbacks were all written in the third person. I felt very disconnected to the main character. I think this would have worked better for me if it had been written in the first person.

These historical flashbacks alternate with journal entries written by Bess in modern times. She talks about her growing relationship with Tegan. Tegan annoyed me. She didn’t feel like a genuine teenager. Instead she felt more like an adult’s forced and over the top attempt at sounding like a teenager. I also thought Bess was especially boring and pathetic in these parts. She was like a shadow of a person. All of her talk about not getting close to anyone kind of contradicted all of her flashbacks, too.

Bess was a likable enough character in the beginning. As the story went on though, I found myself getting more and more frustrated with her. She turned into the type of character I spend most of my time screaming at and wishing she’d stop being such an idiot. In the final 100 pages of the book I just wanted Gideon to kill everyone, Bess included.

There was one scene in the final flashback where I said to myself, “If she does X, I swear I’m not going to finish this book.” It was such a stupid thing that was completely unnecessary. Well, she did it, but I did finish the book. I had only about 50 pages more to go. I couldn’t stand not finishing the book after all that, so I skimmed the rest.

And the promised romance? Ugh, no. The warlock is creepy. Not creepy like a good ghost story, but creepy like a rapist. Which is what he is. Bess observes him raping a girl in a crude and unnecessary scene. This should have been a big warning for her, and while she is repulsed, a few chapters later she’s lusting after him herself. Um, yeah, I totally wasn’t getting on board with that.

Then there’s another creepy Satan/demon/ew sex scene that leads to Bess running from Gideon. Ok, so rape didn’t scare her off but demon Satan sex did it? Whatever. Then Bess is raped in a really unnecessary and awkward scene. Did you see anything about this in the blurb? Because I sure didn’t! All of these creepy sex scenes just served to remind me why I prefer reading YA fiction even though I’m no longer a YA myself. Adults look at me strangely for reading “below my age” but, uh, multiple rape scenes and creepy Satan sex? I’ll stick with my YA “eccentricities” thank you very much.

There are more reasons I didn’t like this book, but do you really need any more? I don't like to so thoroughly pan a book, but I think my negative experience here is in large part because this isn't my genre. I prefer young adult books to adult books. I don't mind reading about sex in a book, but the way it was done here isn't my thing. I also think my inaccurate expectations may have affected my enjoyment. There's also a lot of the "rah rah female sisterhood" thing going on here, and I don't tend to like that.

 Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

This book satisfies the following challenges: 

• Library Reading Challenge

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