The Blue Witch (The Witches of Orkney #1) by Alane Adams
Release: October 23rd 2018
Format: Ebook
Publisher: SparkPress
Source: Netgalley
Synopsis:
Before Sam Baron broke Odin’s curse on the witches to become the first son born to a witch and the hero of the Legends of Orkney series, his mother was a young witchling growing up in the Tarkana Witch Academy. In this first book of the prequel series, the Witches of Orkney, nine-year-old Abigail Tarkana is determined to grow up to be the greatest witch of all, even greater than her evil ancestor Catriona. Unfortunately, she is about to fail Spectacular Spells class because her witch magic hasn’t come in yet. Even worse, her nemesis, Endera, is making life miserable by trying to get her kicked out.
When her new friend Hugo’s life is put in danger by a stampeding sneevil, a desperate Abigail manages to call up her magic―only to find out it’s unlike any other witchling’s at the Tarkana Witch Academy! As mysteries deepen around her magic and just who her true parents are, Abigail becomes trapped in a race against time to undo one of her spells before she is kicked out of the coven forever!
Rich in Norse mythology, The Blue Witch is the first of a fast-paced young reader series filled with magical spells, mysterious beasts, and witch-hungry spiders!
The Blue Witch Review:
A big thank you to NetGalley and SparkPress for providing me an advanced reader’s copy of “The Blue Witch“.
I enjoyed reading this book for the most part, mainly for its adventure! The pacing is fast and does not contain a dull moment. There is always a grand adventure taking place, and I loved the way the author maintained this momentum. The main highlights of the story is when they battle with Queen Octonia, and their adventure with the Omera. I also liked the mysterious way in which Abigail meets some characters like her father, and Baba Nana.
In fact, I liked the plot more than the characters. There characters are mediocre for the most part. Apart from Hugo, I really did not love any of the other characters including Abigail. I hated that she never stood up to Endera. I didn’t like Calla either because she appears in the middle of the story and seems self-centered.
However, my main problem with this book was with how mean the villains act towards Abigail. The story is always fun with dastardly villains, but here, it was a bit too much. The tricks Endera and Melistra pull on Abigail were beyond devious and did not gel with the story. Surprisingly, the villains are highly abusive for a middle grade novel. I have not witnessed this kind of bullying in any other middle grade novel. Secondly, as this book is a prequel to the Legends of Orkney trilogy, there are quite a lot of references to the previous series which I could not comprehend, as I have not read the series.
Overall, I did enjoy The Blue Witch, but would have probably liked it better if the author toned down on the bullying. I am keen on continuing the series to see how it turns out.
