Friday 8 February 2013

Book Review- Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey


Title: Witch Eyes
 Author: Scott Tracey
Series:  Witch Eyes #1
Published:  8 September 2011 by Flux
Length: 322 pages
Source: bought
Summary : Braden was born with witch eyes: the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but at the cost of horrible pain.
After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden retreats to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. As rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe desperately try to use Braden's powers to unlock Belle Dam's secrets, Braden vows never to become their sacrificial pawn. But everything changes when Braden learns that Jason is his father--and Trey, the enigmatic guy he's falling for, is Catherine's son.
To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming the town, Braden must master his gift—and risk losing the one he loves.


Review: Braden has Witch Eyes-he is able to see all the magic, feelings, and generally everything in the world. After hearing Uncle John talk about Belle Dam, he is drawn there, to find out about the family he's not known. There, he finds two feuding families, the Lansings and the Thorpes, who both want him.
I've heard lots about this, and I probably got a bit hyped up over it. I like LGBT fantasy because then, sexuality isn't the focus of the story. There's some references to homophobia, but Braden and Trey are both comfortable with being gay, so there's more focus on the story.
It's a very Romeo and Juliet-y set up, with two young people from separate sides falling in love (though happily without the same ending). The romance is quite rushed, and I didn't understand the conenction between Trey and Braden. Braden should go for someone else.
The characters on their own, are good. Braden is on the very long list of characters who really needs hugs. Trey, he is very moodswingy. And quite annoying at times. Jade and Riley are really cool. Lucien, you can tell he's hiding something and  it comes to a good end. Catherine and Jason, I'd like to get to know a bit more. I didn't understand Gregory.
Plotwise, it was a bit too jumpy for me to get into it. Lots of things happen, but they don't seem to connect. It's also quite open ended, finishing off the bit with Lucien but leaving a lot of questions unanswered, and a lot of areas with more to explore.
The magic. The idea of the eyes is really cool, and quite original. This leads to some beautiful passages where we get the description of what Braden sees without his eyes being shielded. There's a lot of rich history and mystery in Belle Dam, to do with Grace, and her legacy.
Aside from the whole Romeo Juliet family feud fall in love  thing, it's definitely  original.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a book that I was expecting more for, but I enjoyed what I could get out of it. I'll read the sequel.

2 comments:

  1. Great honest review---I've often been curious about this one. It sounds pretty good, not sure I'd like the characters and that is a big thing with me. And the plotlines that don't connect, that would bother me, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It definitely seems like this book has a ton of potential but not everything was developed really well. Like, the romance idea seems neat, however, I really do dislike insta-love. The characters seem ok in general, but some of them seem pretty annoying. And the plot jumping I think would confuse me, since I like everything to be threaded together.

    Fantastic review, Nina! <3

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking time to read this!
Comments are much loved.
Nina xxx

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger... Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...