Customer Reviews

Wicked: Witch & Curse

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I'm not one to normally include spoilers in a review, but I must warn you there are a couple I couldn't avoid because of the impact they had when I read this book. I probably would have thought more about purchasing this book, had I known. Please be aware of this if you read my review.

The first book (Witch) held my attention quite well. The flashbacks were interesting, but didn't answer enough questions. Perhaps this was because we are taken back to the same incident in each flashback. I didn't get to connect to the ancestors, because I never really saw them outside of the "major incident" that caused them to reincarnate. Also, the ancestors who we see the most of, are so in love with each other that nothing else matters. It is nice to have romance, but so far the romance hasn't really led to anything amazing, just some whining. It was a fast-paced book, the storyline continued to move forward, despite the flashbacks lacking. I was disappointed that in the beginning, when Holly's parents die, we see Holly grieving (maybe too much). But then when her cousins' mother dies, there is no grieving. It's explained in a very small paragraph and no one really cares. The ending (mostly) tied together the loose ends, with a bit of an unexpected twist. The guy doesn't get the girl. After reading the 2nd book, I understand this was done ONLY so the story could continue (not because it should).

The second book (Curse) really let me down. First off, Holly's cousin Nicole "disappears" into Europe. She gets "scared" of all the magic (that she initially started messing with). Nicole is a very weak character. She is a drama queen and nothing more. The authors give her moments to try to make her do things for a greater purpose than herself, but it doesn't help. She is weak and selfish.

In most non-christian religions, there is a history of some sort of sacrifice, whether it's human or animal. In books about occult subjects I expect this, and there is plenty of it in this book. However, I find it very unacceptable to drown your missing cousin's familiar (in this case a cat) because some voudun priestess tells you to sacrifice an animal (without giving a reason). Especially when sacrificing this cat serves NO PURPOSE as far as the book is concerned. This animal (who was constantly helping to protect Holly from dark magic) was killed without a thought or emotion from Holly. Worse than not respecting the animal whose life she took, the death of this animal did nothing to "help" the situation the characters were in. There was no motive for this sacrifice. To me, this was a meaningless death and did not help the stereotypes surrounding witchcraft.

Overall, this would have been a much better book if they had rounded out the ending of Witch better and let it end there. By the end of this book it is really starting to lose momentum and the battles do not feel like they are leading up to anything. It was a fast read, and quite fun at the beginning.

...I just couldn't. The story is related in a disjointed manner, skipping from the main present-day storyline to ancient history which could have been incorporated in a much more entertaining way. The lead characters are unsympathetic, having no real depth and only seeming to perform their actions because the authors tell them to do so, not from any aspect of real personality. At times I found myself rooting for the villain, Michael Deveraux, who is unfortunately the most fleshed-out character in the whole series, and the only one who seems to have an idea of what he really wants. As for the lead trio of witches, Holly is what people her age would call "a hot mess", unstable and overly impulsive, hardly leadership material; Nicole metamorphoses from egocentric to whiny, and her fleeing to Europe when she's most needed is a frankly stupid plot device to make the story even more soap-opera, which it hardly needs; and Amanda I can't define, as after reading about 700 pages I still don't know anything about her-- the cats are better characterized. I can't really even enjoy this on the level of soap-opera, as the romance is contrived and has no real basis or tension. I am aware that Holly and Jer are supposed to be instantly attracted to each other as the reincarnations of the long-dead lovers, but their relationship has no personal level at all and feels very much acted out by puppets. While I don't like writing such a relentlessly negative review of anything, I honestly can't think of anything I liked about this book, and haven't disliked a book so much before (especially when I wanted to like it so much, as the subject matter was so appealing) that I had to write about it to get it off my chest. This series had a lot of potential, but all the potential is wasted-- it just feels phoned in. The authors don't even bother to keep their characters in character, and the lack of description as well as the constant juxtaposition of time periods makes the story muddled and difficult to follow. I was disappointed, to say the least-- this series could have been SO much more.

This book started out ok. With many characters and motivations it had a lot of potential. The first book was a good introduction... lots of action, star-crossed lovers, evil bad guys to destroy. But, in the second book (this book is two in one), the story begins to unravel. The main character, Holly, loses momentum in the second book. Her story line just seems to plod along. One of the secondary characters, Nicole, is actually far more interesting in this book.

The second book lost me when Holly did something VERY out of character. ***SPOILER ALERT*** She kills an animal that loves and trusts her with absolutely no emotion and little cause or motivation.*** SPOILER OVER*** It's not the act itself that bothers me as much as the fact that it was way out of character. Nothing led up to her making such a deviation from what she would normally do. The story was ruined for me after that. :( It may pick up and get better, but integrity of characterization is the most important part of a story for me.

I was given the second book in this series Wicked 2. So I looked up the first book too see if I could still buy it, and happened to read some of the reviews of this book. I would like to thank you for your frank reviews concerning the murder of an animal. I would have been very upset to read that kind of cruelty to a helpless animal. I like to read to be entertained and transported to other places and times not to sadden by an unnecessary animal slaughter. So I Thank You Again. I will now be taking the book I was given to a used book store or just use it for firewood.

When you first begin reading this book, you will want to stop. Trust yourself. It seams messy and disorganized, and it is. It seams petty and shallow and it is. Sometimes it takes a while for a book to settle in to itself, so I forced myself to keep reading. For a while I thought it was going somewhere, but it wasn't.

The writing is generally terrible although it does improve in some parts. The story line is all over the place and, really, you don't even care what's going to happen next. The authors employ cheap tricks to try to get the reader to care about characters then randomly kills them off two pages later, or has them do something that is "out of character". Instead of establishing a relationship between the characters and the reader through writing.

About half-way through the second "book", I just gave up. I think the only reason this book even exists is because this genre is so popular right now. This book was on a display with the Twilight books and I think it owes its publication to other, better books that have gotten readers intersted in this subject.

PS. I don't know what wiccan tradition this "coven" is based on, but if someone bastardized a more mainstream beleive system like this, there would be a major outcry.

I say more adult because there are many characters and the book does a lot of jumping around. There is nothing sexual about this book and no real ending to the story. It was interesting to read if you could keep up. But it was a real let down in the end no big finish or anything and a lot of unfinished business. I hope the sequal is better.

I am a very big fan of this genre but this book is awful. The characters don't captivate you, they're not consistent. I didin't get what the heroin was about and her love story didn't make any sense. I already bought the whole series but I'm NOT going to read it.

Badly written, the author mixed so many themes and times that made this book impossible to enjoy. The art cover its the only worthwile quality of the book....i tried to read for the second time and when I was about to stab my eyes i decided to throw it away. I don't get some authors, the have a real chance to inspire readers, to take them away to a far new world while reading, this author just took me for a boring dissapointing ride....

This book is violent, upsetting and not at all appropriate for teens. In particular, I was so disgusted by the animal cruelty in this novel that I had to skim over portions of the book and could barely finish. The scene with the cat is the worst, but there's plenty of other animal sacrifice and cruelty before and after. I will not be finishing the series; in fact, I'll probably trash my copy of this installment. It made me feel sick. These authors should be ashamed of themselves.

Having tired of vampires, I decided to go for something "witchy" and came upon this book. It starts off very well and incredibly detailed: the authors narrate the tragedy that befalls Holly - how she lost her parents and best friend, her subsequent move to Seattle, and her adjustment there. The historical flashbacks are exceptionally written and make the reader understand what went before. All in all, a good start.

Problems arise however towards the latter part of the first book (Witch) and throughout all of the second (Curse). From someone who didn't even know she was a witch, Holly is suddenly "a most powerful witch and leader of her coven" warding off curses and fighting the Devereaux family. Another jarring development is the treatment or lack thereof of the relationship between Holly and Jer -- are they or aren't they? The authors never let us know nor do they give those two characters enough face time in the first book. In the second book, there are introductions of new characters and the quick killing of of some mainstay characters from the first. If all this sounds confusing, it proves how important it is that characters be well-threshed out before introducing or killing them off. This is so that the reader might have some sympathy (or not) for them.

I wanted to like this book, I did, if only because it's a nice change of pace from the glut of vampire novels. But this book leaves me with no sympathy for its characters nor a desire to see what happens to them in books 3 and 4. And you can blame the authors' perfunctory skimming over of their characters' development for that.