The Witch In Winter by Ruth Warburton

A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Having just finished two really exceptional books, this book suffered a bit by comparison. It's not a bad book, and is fairly well written, but it didn't possess that spark that separates the awesome from the pretty good.

There are things that I liked about this book. I liked the characters, especially Maya. I am a bit of a sucker for witch stories, especially where the story incorporates historical witchcraft elements. I also really enjoy stories set in England, and written by English authors.

Overall, though, I would say that the book had a lot of weaknesses. First, I found Anna's untrained ability to manipulate her power to be completely unconvincing. There was not an adequate explanation of how her power could be so latent, yet when she started using it, was so substantial. It is also absolutely inconceivable to me that she would've been able to fly under the radar for as long as she did. Perhaps some of these questions are answered in the second book.

In addition, I always have a problem with romances that develop too quickly and unrealistically. Infatuation, and even too rapid professions of love, are all well and good, but they don't convince me that the love is genuine or deep. The relationship between Seth and Anna felt like it developed far too quickly without anything genuine behind it. Hopefully, this will also be remedied in the second book.

The final conflict was resolved far too easily, and the idea that Anna could've tapped that latent power and overcome witches and warlocks who far outstrip her in training and resources is simple unbelievable. While I am prepared to suspend my belief to some degree - this is a story about witchcraft, after all - this is sort of the equivalent of the girl from my local raquet club managing to win Wimbledon after receiving a couple of tennis lessons. I don't care how good of an athlete you are - the untrained prodigy doesn't beat the well-trained expert.

If I had to sum up this book, it is an acceptable first effort by a new author. It felt very shallow, and I could see it being developed as a television show for the Disney Channel or Nickleodeon. It was a bit too "Witches of Waverly Place" for my taste, without enough convincing conflict to keep me satisfied. Having said that, I liked it enough that I think that I will read the sequel and see where Ms. Warburton takes the story next.

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the second book in the Bess Crawford series by Charles Todd, which I read directly on the heels of the first.

***Plot Summary***

Once again, Bess Crawford finds herself at the center of a mystery when she sees the wife of a burn patient, whom she recognizes from the photograph that her patient carries with him always, saying farewell to a man at a train station as she boards her train to return to the war front. She can see that the goodbye is emotionally draining for the woman, and that she appears fraught and upset, while the man is cold and uncaring. It isn't long after her return to the front that she receives a newspaper that contains news of the woman's murder on that same day, obviously shortly after Bess has seen her at the station.

When Bess learns that her patient has committed suicide after learning of his wife's murder, she takes it upon herself to try to find out who has committed the murder, and why.

***Review***

Once again, this book successfully immersed me in the life of WWI England. Bess Crawford is a warmly likeable character, a nurse, who moves between civilian life and military life in a way that seems very natural. I am a bit skeptical that movement between the war front and England was quite so easy as these books make it out to be, given that all of the characters seem to flit back and forth between London and the French front with about as much as difficulty as I have driving my car to my local grocery store for a gallon of milk. This is a small thing, though, and is a necessary plot device given that most of the primary characters are, in some way, associated with the war effort.

I am enjoying the ongoing character development of Bess, Simon, and her parents. I don't know if we are moving in the direction of a romance developing between Bess and Simon, but that is definitely one possible narrative arc for the books.

As for the mystery in this case, it was rather easily solved when it came right down to it. With any mystery novel, though, the investigation is more of the point than the solution, and the authors did a good job of moving the story along and maintaining interest. Bess is, perhaps, not as quick as some of the amateur sleuths, as she seems, sometimes, to fail to make connections that seem fairly obvious to the reader.

One of the things that I really liked about this book, though, is the focus on the war wives, and how difficult it was to serve your country by keeping the homefires burning. Often, the focus is on the hardships suffered by the soldiers, and make no mistake about it - their hardships were the greater. However, I think that acknowledging that it isn't easy to be the one left behind made for an interesting story in this novel.

Once again, I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to historical mystery readers. It's well-written and well-edited and a solid, if slightly uninspired, example of the genre.