Customer Reviews

A Nameless Witch

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I did enjoy this book, but the ending let me down and with such a great beginning I expected more from the book. Not a keeper but a fairly interesting read.

Our heroine has no name, she is a cursed sixth child. Her many times great grand defeated a great wizard, with his last breath he cursed the sixth child of each generation. Not many had six children until our couple who either didn't believe in the curse or just wanted to see what would happen. So our unfortunate heroine is born and raised in a cellar for 18 yrs. Then Ghastley Edna, a witch, comes by to buy her for an apprentice. Our heroine is cursed to be beautiful and undead with a hunger for human flesh. Edna helps her overcome these tendencies.

When Edna is slain Our heroine sets out with her familiar on a quest. This brings her into touch with other people, includeing a White Knight, a sentient broom, our demon duck familiar, and a troll.

They have to defeat an army of goblings and then find and defeat the powerful force behind the army.

We have a few chuckles, and maybe one or two belly laughs along the way. However, the ending sucks and ruined the story for me. But if you like urban fantasy with a twist this one is for you.

I hope people disregard the negative reviews about this book. It certainly isn't (and wasn't intended to be) an epic, but it is a creative and engaging read. The author's magical world is unique and well developed and the characters' interactions made me laugh out loud. I highly recommend this for those days when you just need something fun and easy.

In A Nameless Witch, the titled (but untitled) heroine is a beautiful undead witch who embarks on a journey to avenge her teacher's death. Joining her are her demonic duck familiar, a friendly troll, and a handsome but celibate knight. The interactions among the characters is where you see Martinez's strengths shine the brightest. His quirky characters are never too silly and his dialog rolls off the page.

If there's one weakness to the story, it's that the vengeance tale is more of a McGuffin than a strong plot; not that following the fantastic characters around is any real chore.

It's not often a writer has the talent to create a sympathetic and likable heroine with a predisposition for the taste of human flesh, but Mr. Martinez has succeeded admirably. This is an excellent read for any fan of humorous fantasy.

First, and foremost, consider this review 3.5 stars. I liked it a bit more than three stars, but not enough to shoot it up to four star status.

It's been about two months since I've read this story, and already it is mostly slipping from my mind. This is not altogether a horrible thing -- there's plenty of horrid, badly-written stories I can't forget, but would like to. I remember the basic plot outline of A Nameless Witch, I remember laughing at it, and I remember ripping through it, but I can't remember details or lines that would make the book something more than just a 'humorous fantasy adventure'. The author tries to make this book something more and there are hints that a great novel lies within reach of this author. In fact, I will check out more work by A. Lee Martinez in the hope that these hints are realized in past or future novels.

Good points: the description of magic is interesting, the main character likeable, the familar is entertainingly bloodthirsty. The Bad: the author seems obsessed with the looks of the main character, the love interest isn't intersting, and the book tap dances all over the line between humorous and wacky.

Pick up this novel if you already like A. Lee Martinez, you like humorous fantasy, or you want a good fantasy beach read.

This light-hearted fantasy follows the adventures of a girl who is born with a terrible curse. She is not a vampire but is very similar in many ways. She hates sunlight, eats raw meat and will never age. Her parents, afraid of her, keep her locked in the cellar her whole life until one day a witch called Ghastly Edna comes by looking for an apprentice. She takes the nameless girl with her but soon discovers some unforeseen side-effects of the curse. The girl is stunningly beautiful and nothing she does can hide it. She tries wearing lots of padding and walking with a limp but it's still obvious to anyone who looks, that she simply doesn't look like a witch. She starts her apprenticeship though and discovers that she is a very good at her work even if she doesn't look the part.

However, one day some men come round and kill Ghastly Edna while the hero is out taking a bath. Horrified, she reanimates Edna's corpse only to discover that Edna knew she was going to die for some time. She gives the witch a choice: either travel north and live a life of peace and solitude, or head east and make the first step towards avenging Edna's death.

The witch sets off east (surprise, surprise) with her familiar, Newt (a very disgruntled demon trapped in the body of a duck). It isn't long before she comes across a fortified settlement filled with soldiers pulled back from the front lines. With nothing else to do, she decides to set up a trade healing the sick. It's at this point that she discovers she has a hunger for human flesh - a hunger she is able to keep at bay by telling herself that the men she meets are either too fat or too oily or too young. However, when a great white knight rides into the village with news of an impending invasion, she finds herself smitten for the first time in her life. Battling between her conflicting interests of eating or making love to him, she decides to take on the invasion force alone instead, thus removing the man from the village - and her life - forever.

As you can probably tell, this is a fairly innocuous romp through traditional fairy tale ideas - kind of a Brothers Grimm for the Terry Pratchett generation. It's a road trip novel, filled with interesting characters and irreverent humour that's easy to read and funny to boot. It's got a lot of nice touches too. I particularly liked the way the witch is always battling with her desire to eat anyone she likes. The fact that her great beauty is seen as a disability is also carried off well, although I did find it hard to believe that locked in a basement for 18 years with no exercise and a terrible diet, she could come out looking so perfect. I mean, sure, magic's good and everything but come on! The best character by far, however, is her familiar, Newt. Being a demon, Newt wants nothing more than to wreck havoc across the land but he's chained up inside the body of a harmless duck. He's very bitter about this fact too and does very little other than complain and act as a voice of reason against the witch's wilder fancies.

However, despite all of these positives, there are a lot of problems in this. Chief amongst them is a rather annoying penchant for repetition. For example, "All that changed with the arrival of Ghastly Edna" (Page 4) followed, one paragraph later by, "The day I met Ghastly Edna changed everything" - just one of the many cases of sloppy writing that abounds. It's a fun read with lots of amusing detours and characters to gaze over but right up until the end, I never actually felt it was going anywhere. It's all gloss and polish with very little meat to keep us turning those pages and I found myself quite disappointed at the lack of anything beneath the, at times, excellent surface detail.

Overall, an amusing diversion, but not a must read. Buy it if you fancy a light chuckle, but don't expect to find the next Terry Pratchett hiding within these pages.

ninety pages in and there was almost no conflict. the main character spends too much time complaining about how no matter what she does she's always beautiful. Overall, the book was too simple.

I'm sorry but I do not understand the reviews about this book. I read the first two books this author wrote and was pleasantly surprised by how different the stories were. I almost didn't buy this book because of the reviews on this page. They were so wrong. I loved the story. I very much enjoyed the characters and their dialog. It was entertaining and original. This book was a nice diversion, and I read it on a Saturday afternoon when I needed to lose myself in a story. Very original. Loved the duck! Also I have read every Terry Pratchett book. I seriously do not see the comparison. At all! If anything this author is so different from any other. And believe me when I say I have read EVERYBODY!