Thursday, September 18, 2014

Spellcaster, by Claudia Gray

(3/5 stars)

When Nadia’s family moves to Captive’s Sound, she instantly realizes there’s more to it than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia senses a dark and powerful magic at work in her new town. Mateo has lived in Captive’s Sound his entire life, trying to dodge the local legend that his family is cursed - and that curse will cause him to believe he’s seeing the future … until it drives him mad. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl—Nadia—from a car accident come true, he knows he’s doomed. 

Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his family’s terrible curse, and to prevent a disaster that threatens the lives of everyone around them. Shimmering with magic and mystery, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray’s new novel is sure to draw fans of the Hex Hall and Caster Chronicles series, and fans of the hit CW TV show The Secret Circle.

I've always been a big fan of Claudia Gray's ever since I first read the Evernight series, so when I found out she was writing a series about witches, the books instantly went on my 'to be read' list. And I was not disappointed; for the few problems I had with this book, there was a lot about it that I thoroughly enjoyed.

What I liked: Really, anything with witches and magic. I loved the witch mythology and history in this book. I also liked the fact that curses were involved--curses that drove people to insanity. Yes, please. The small town feel only added to the mysticism and conflict of the book which I appreciated. So besides the plot and subject matter, I really liked the characters. Mateo and Nadia are precious, but my all time favorite was Verlaine. She was just weird enough, but desperately wanted to fit in, to steal my heart. And she has a mysterious backstory that I am desperately curious about.

What I didn't like: Nobody gives Verlaine the credit she deserves, and if there's a reason for that (which I highly suspect there is) I wanted to know by the end of this book at least. I also didn't like all the point of views jumping from one person to another. Mostly, it was the random time when the POV was from the perspective of a crow and from Nadia's father. They lasted two or so pages and broke the flow of the story in my opinion. I also found myself a little befuddled at the end, the final climax was kind of jumbled and I didn't have a clear picture of what actually went down.

All that being said, I'll definitely read the rest of the series. I have a lot of unsolved questions (in a good way) and I've become emotionally invested in what happens to the characters and town.

-Annie

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