4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Even in the darkest times a little light can be found...but, not here!, February 4, 2009
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Wicked 2 disappointed me terribly because the premise is good and the writing isn't too bad. But, Holder & Vigueie imbued the story with so much despair and angst, that it was torture for me to read. And I never connected with the characters at all. Holly and Jer, the two principals, should have been an excellent contrast of yin and yang, both containing seeds of that which rules the other. But, neither character shared enough of himself or herself for me to really care. Also, there is zero humor in this book which was the breaking point. This surprised me because Holder was co-writer of many of the Angel & Buffy shows. Where was the dynamic word play between the characters that we saw in those shows? Horror becomes more exciting when juxtaposed with wit. And in real life, there is always somebody in the group throwing out sarcastic remarks at the worst possible times. But, this sadly was just blood, gore, and death with absolutely no relief.
What really irks me is that it is marketed for young adults... Teens don't need this sort of despair! They have enough angst on their own!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Better Half, February 17, 2008
The first two novels of this series, Witch and Curse, were very slow to get to the heart of the story. But here, in Legacy and Spellbound, we finally see why.
The action is picking up, for one. Everyone's on the move, running for their lives, or scrambling to save themselves, or hurrying to kill someone else before they themselves are killed.
For another, you finally love the characters. You love Holly for sacrificing so much of herself, even as it turns her Covenmates against her--you love her because she does it for the greater good OF both those Covenmates and her love, Jer. You love (and are frustrated with!) Jer for his suffering and his constant turning away Holly. You even start to find good attributes about Kari.
The flashback scenes make much, much more sense now. Every single one ties into the story, but you don't fully realize it until these two stories.
What threw me off was that, from the advertisement, I thought this would be the end of the series... but the end of Spellbound throws such a curve ball that it would be shameful of both the writers and publishers to NOT continue this series. As a reader, I need my closure, and I can only sit on edge and hope it comes someday.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
This SHOULD Have Been So Much More..., February 17, 2009
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I love stories like The Dresden Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, etc. WICKED 2: LEGACY & SPELLBOUND seemed like a perfect choice for me. And it should have been. However, there are several issues with this volume of two books that I just could not get passed.
First of all, WICKED 2: LEGACY & SPELLBOUND is the second volume of the WICKED series. WICKED: WITCH & CURSE is the first volume. Each volume contains 2 complete books of about 350 pages each, making each volume approximately 700 pages. WICKED 2 should not be read without reading the first WICKED volume. I have not read the first WICKED, and WICKED 2 simply does not stand alone. I was quite confused throughout most of the book. Tons of back story, people, events, are thrown at you in the opening chapters, at a breakneck speed, with very little detail. I had a very difficult time sorting out names, characters, relationships, and events past and present. To add to the difficulty, the time frame keeps jumping around. Intermixed within the current story are chapters devoted to the family history of the main characters. This family history is supposed to further develop the events that are happening in present day; however, the present storyline is so poorly grounded that the past events just confuse things even more.
Secondly, the entire WICKED series is marketed as YA (Young Adult). As the mother of a tween, I would not allow my daughter or anyone under the age of about 16 to read these books. The graphic and gruesome sacrifices, murder, death, torture, demonic possession, and even alluded rape are really not suitable for the younger side of YA. Even though her middle school friends are all reading this series, my child will not be. The subject matter is too adult.
Third, WICKED 2 had so much potential, and its failure to live up to that potential really disappointed me. WICKED 2 is the continuing story of witches verses warlocks, good verses evil, and, of course, true love verses hate. I really wanted to like this book. I tried to like this book. But aside from the book's inability to stand alone and the plot issues listed above, the writing itself is just not up to par. It is written at a very juvenile level, so much so that even older YA's might be hard pressed to enjoy this story. The writing is very basic, lacking adjectives, adverbs, or variety. While the hurried pacing hides this somewhat, after awhile, speed just isn't enough. The more adult subject matter combined with the very immature writing level makes me wonder if the authors even know who their audience is. I certainly don't.
And lastly, there is no resolution to any thread, any storyline at the end of WICKED 2. Clearly, we must read the next and supposedly final volume of the series. Which normally would be okay with me, except that EVERYTHING is left hanging. A good book, even one that is part of a series, should give the reader SOME sense of completeness at the end. In WICKED 2, there was none.
I do have to admit that I am sorely tempted to go back and read WICKED, to see if it makes anymore sense to me than WICKED 2, and also to read the last volume so that I can finally get the resolution to the story. Hopefully, once I have read all three, the entire WICKED series will make sense to me. But I am not counting on it. And I still will not let my tween-aged daughter read it until she is much older.
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