Comment

Mar 16, 2013
1. After the first few chapters, the protagonist became limp and silly. Howe seemed to be describing more of a teenager than an independent adult, which threw me a little. 2. Plus, the romance between Sam and Connie is not at all compelling. 3. In many spots, the dialogue was repetitive and weak. 4. The book is VERY long and several details could have been left out to make it more concise and appealing. 5. The best part about the book was when it flashed back in time to Salem and the witch trials (Howe could have written an entire narative on the Trials themselves! I hoped there would be more of the Trials than the present day in the novel and was sadly disappointed). 6. The novel resolved in a hurry, as if Howe knew that it was getting far too long or she just got bored with the plot line. 7. Very good vocabulary. 8. Lots of interesting details were dropped (I hoped Howe would link the doll from the bookcase to the poppet in "The Crucible" somehow and that Connie would find out that she and Deliverance are related). 9. The inclusion of actual magic made the book a whole lot less compelling. The fact that history itself whispers that there could have been more sinister forces at work in Salem is interesting enough. 10. I thought Katherine Howe's relationship to Elizabeth Proctor and Elizabeth Howe was very compelling and gave the book a tad more interest. In conclusion: The book is the kind that you read when you have a lot of time to kill. It's the kind where you don't care if the storyline is pointless and fluffy. If you're looking for good Witch Trials fiction, try Aruthur Miller's "The Crucible". Both the play text and the movie are extremely good :)