Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsI wanted to like it - but I just couldn't
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2017
I tried - I really did. I *genuinely* wanted to like this book - it even passed my personal "75 Page Test" - if it holds me for the first 75 pages I stick with it. The reviews were largely glowing. As a Modern Pagan Witch I was roped in by descriptions of the author weaving in contemporary concepts of the Wheel of the Year, the Goddess and references to tie-ins with Dion Fortune's The Magical Battle for Britain. The sample rhymed spells calling on the Goddess included in promotional material sounded fabulous. But after an initially intriguing and filled-with-possibilities start, this was ultimately plodding, painful to read and the characters were flat and one-dimensional. I found many of the main characters difficult to like and some even unlikable - Ursule the Second made me want to jump off a Cornish sea-cliff! The "mother-daughter" relationship sales-pitch by many reviewers left me scratching my head - if this is what the "love between mothers and daughters" is all about, I'm thankful I missed all the dysfunction in real life! I can't say the same after having read A Secret History of Witches. Trust your intuition if you're on the fence about whether to read this book or not - there's more genuine magic in that than in Grandmere Ursule's crystal.
