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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasant writing with no original plotting, July 20, 2007
As another reviewer said, consider it 3 and a half stars, but not up to 4. It's a very pleasantly written book, nice easy reading, but the plot is almost nonexistent - a series of warmed-over Terry Pratchett style cliches but without Terry Pratchett's dark and mordant thought. There's humor, but it's light. There are a couple of minor original touches, but not enough to say that the book isn't mostly cliches.
So. Our nameless witch. Her backstory is a bit different from most cliches; I wouldn't have minded hearing more about that, but instead, it's done with in a couple of pages, far too little to explain why we have the very firm-minded, talented character that we have. She becomes an apprentice to a witch, then inherits the witch's familiar, who is a very funny demon duck named Newt. (It's even fun writing that - "demon duck named Newt!") If your local newspaper has the comic strip "Pearls Before Swine" then you might be familiar with the little guard duck there, who is always wanting to machine-gun the neighbors; this is that duck, in a different setting. Next we have a troll, who is a very nice person, really, with a good sense of humor. And a broom named Penelope. And a prostitute with a heart of gold. And a White Knight.
What can I say? Good wins over evil. There's nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing really original about the way it's done, either. I liked it, it didn't take long to read, but it also didn't have anything in it that would make me want to keep it and re-read it, thinking I'd get more to think about. Worth reading once for the demon duck named Newt (I had to get that phrase in again) and for the clever fox, who is a copy of many other such forest animals, but also nicely done. Then donate it to your public library.
Family reading alert: there's a little bit of extremely discreet sex, almost unnoticeable; safe for any teenager. In fact, probably more enjoyable reading for a teenager who isn't already knowledgeable of all the fantasy cliches and stereotypes, than for the experienced fantasy reader.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining read, but missing something, November 1, 2009
I bought this because it was recommended at Powell's book store in Portland and I thought it looked fun and interesting. While at times it was really creative-and amusing- it just never took that next step to be an amazing memorable story.
The witch never really developed into a full character. Yes, she was confused and trying to find her path- she didn't understand the body she had been given or her cannibalistic tendencies-and because of that she never really developed into something you could either love or hate. She had cravings for human meat, but she never gave in to that craving. If she had, the story would have become something of a more dramatic nature, and I can understand that that was not what the author was going for. But that would have given the character more substance. Instead, all she tries to do is pass off as a witch, and make friends (troll, sunshine, fox, white knight). If she had embraced her curse more, you would have felt more intrigued by her. Instead, when she gives up and tries to let her uncursed self win, you kind of just get the impression that she's weak- and doesn't really deserve to be the heroine of a story.
Throughout, I just felt like this story was missing something. It could have benefited from more thorough description to create more engaging characters and plot.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
OK third book for author, September 7, 2007
3.5 or 4 was on my mind for this review. Personally I am still going to go with the four on this one but just barely.
The Amazon summary is pretty much the entire book so I wont bore with the details.
Overall as you get into the book the plot is barely tenable with some fairly flimsy character development along the way which was surprising considering how I enjoyed the previous two works by the same author.
Still if you have some free time and need to kick back with some light reading this one is pretty good with the ability to put it down and come back to every so often.
My only hope is that the author can get back into the swing of the things with a fourth and not keep going down in quality.
Still... I'm glad I bought it.
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