Wednesday 10 August 2011

Review: Witch Song

Title: Witch Song
Author: Amber Argyle
Publication date: September 1st 2011
Ebook edition: 321 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Young Adult
Source: Received from publisher
My Rating: 8/10

Summary:
The world is changing. Once, Witch Song controlled everything from the winds to the shifting of the seasons-but not anymore. All the Witches are gone, taken captive by a traitor. All but Brusenna. As the echo of their songs fades, the traitor grows stronger. Now she is coming for Brusenna. Her guardian has sworn to protect her, but even he can't stop the Dark Witch. Somehow, Brusenna has to succeed where every other Witch has failed. Find the traitor. Fight her. Defeat her. Because if Brusenna doesn't, there won't be anything left to save.
My Review:
This story did have a bit of a slow start when compared to the rest of the novel. However, when it got started a ton of things seemed to happen right after each other. That's all very well, but there was no balance in that respect for me. There was no time in the story where things were just left to settle and characters were able to reflect or interact - it doesn't seem right when characters are going through a moment of reflection whilst being fired at or dealing with being in the middle of a battle or whatever, no matter how relevant the said moment of reflection is to the story.
Now that the criticism is out of the way, other than that I really loved this story. It was really new and original and had great characters.
The protagonist of the story, Brusenna, was flawed in that she saw everything as up to her and that she was alone, with her being the last witch. I love that in characters. Especially when surrounding characters are there to point it out and try and help. Brusenna developed a lot throughout Witch Song and even though everything seemed to be up to her, when everybody else got involved and maybe didn't seem to be so grateful to her, she didn't react like a spoilt little brat. She took it in her stride and kept her mouth shut when she should have and spoke out when the opportunity arose. My point is, it just goes to show that not every successful heroine has to be loudmouthed just to get her opinions heard or refuse to accept a man's help for fear of being seen as inferior. Brusenna was none of that and as a result she was probably the most realistic heroine ever!
Other than the characters the plot was really original. Witches who's power lies in their voice? So cool to read about!
I really recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of YA or otherwise. Pick it up, you won't regret it!
Great quotes:
A Witch with a weak song is barely a Witch at all.

1 comment:

Denise Z said...

Thank you for sharing today!