Thursday 18 July 2013

Review: Spellcaster by Claudia Gray

When Nadia’s family moves to Captive’s Sound, she instantly realizes there’s more to it than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia senses a dark and powerful magic at work in her new town. Mateo has lived in Captive’s Sound his entire life, trying to dodge the local legend that his family is cursed - and that curse will cause him to believe he’s seeing the future … until it drives him mad. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl—Nadia—from a car accident come true, he knows he’s doomed. 

Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his family’s terrible curse, and to prevent a disaster that threatens the lives of everyone around them. Shimmering with magic and mystery, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray’s new novel is sure to draw fans of the Hex Hall and Caster Chronicles series, and fans of the hit CW TV show The Secret Circle.


I don't know what it is about me and libraries, but they seem to force me to read the author's worst book. Now, I don't actually know if it's her worst book from personal experience as this is the first time I've read any of Claudia Gray's novels but I've heard from friends that Evernight is a lot better. I don't know. Maybe not. Don't get me wrong, I didn't particularly HATE this novel, but I wasn't a big fan of it. 

Let's start with the good...

THE BEGINNING - I liked the beginning. Lots was happening, information was given. There was action, mystery, suspense; the works. It had a lot of potential.

THE IDEA - The concept of the story was interesting. That an untrained witch defies some laws of magic and there is an evil sorceress in town with big destruction in the future. Seems magical. And I love magic.

The bad?

THE PRESENTATION - Like I said, the idea and the beginning were interesting... but to put it short, it became boring really fast. One reason? THE CHARACTERS WERE WIMPS. Most of the time Nadia simply complained that she wasn't strong enough because she was untrained. Or the sorceress was "too strong". There was really only one big confrontation between Nadia and the sorceress and it was gone in the blink of an eye. Probably because the sorceress didn't see Nadia as a "threat" so she did pretty much nothing to her. Since there was very little action, it was mostly dialogue which is, frankly, boring(unless it's a quick romance novel. Which in this case isn't one).

THE THREATS - I don't know what it is with the antagonist in this novel but she's seems almost stupid. (Despite being a really powerful sorceress) She makes threats early on in the novel about Mateo and Nadia herself, yet she never really does much to them. Other than trying to boil Nadia and electrocuting her friend(which is still nothing close to her threats). After all, if she started to see Nadia's power, crush it before she learns to control it. Or do something. The sorceress likened Nadia to an annoyance(I think it was a fly or something like that) but if it's small, typically you do something to get rid of it right? Nope. Not her. She lets her be!

THE END - 2 spells. Not even directed in combat. And it's over. Nothing is really resolved either. In fact, it seems to HELP the sorceress. Or maybe I'm just confused since I was very confused by a lot in this novel. Particularly how the magic is affecting the town. Basically, it seemed unfinished. Not quite a cliffhanger or a big final ending you expect in any book.

Overall?

Let's just say, this book was... okay. I liked the magic. And how it started out. I loved the beginning. But then it just got boring, the characters acted wimpy, and the enemy never went through with her threats. I still managed to read it fast enough. It wasn't THAT boring but the lack of action and the amount of confusing description was not particularly enjoyed. It still was a decent book though and I'd still recommend it to some people who enjoy reading fantasy; witches and magic in particular. Just don't expect too much.

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