Season of the Witch: Netflix tie-in novel (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, #1)

by Sarah Rees Brennan

From the creator of RIVERDALE comes the Chilling Adventures
of Sabrina, a new NETFLIX series based on the classic Archie
comic series. This prequel YA novel tells an all-new, original story.



It's the summer before her sixteenth birthday, and Sabrina Spellman
knows her world is about to change. She's always studied magic
and spells with her aunts, Hilda and Zelda. But she's also lived
a normal mortal life - attending Baxter High, hanging out with
her friends Susie and Roz, and going to the movies with her boyfriend,
Harvey Kinkle.


Now time is running out on her every day, normal world, and leaving
behind Roz and Susie and Harvey is a lot harder than she thought
it would be. Especially because Sabrina isn't sure how Harvey
feels about her. Her cousin Ambrose suggests performing a spell
to discover Harvey's true feelings. But when a mysterious wood
spirit interferes, the spell backfires in a big way.


Sabrina has always been attracted to the power of being a witch.
But now she can't help wondering if that power is leading her
down the wrong path. Will she choose to forsake the path of lightand
follow the path of night?


Our exclusive prequel novel will reveal a side of Sabrina not
seen on the new NETFLIX show. What choice will Sabrina make and
will it be the right one?

• ISBN13: 9781338326048
• Publish Date: 9 July 2019 (first published 4 July 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 23 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Scholastic US
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[leahrosereads]

The characters here matched the show perfectly, and for that, I applaud Sarah Rees Brennan. I imagine that was incredibly hard to do. I particularly loved the other characters chapters. They were the highlight of this book for me, and I think that's just because we see so much of Sabrina in the TV show. It was great to see outside of her story. I loved the formatting of this book, but the black pages (with white letters) had my eyes straining a bit.

This did take me a bit to get into, and I think it's because I didn't love the plot here. Other than that though, I'm interested to see what the next book brings.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from BookCon 2019 and Scholastic Inc. in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Nope, nope, nope.

Let’s be honest here, media tie-ins are always a risk. First of all, most the time they make the assumption that you’re already a big fan and that’s why you’re reading the book. I personally believe they’d be a more effective resource if the two could stand alone, and make you want to seek out the other. Season of the Witch made me want to avoid The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

I think it’s in part because of the complications of this story. Season of the Witch is being marketed as YA because Sabrina is fifteen and the subject matter is too mature for middle grade, but the characters are too immature for adult. In this, it’s fair to say that Sabrina is probably a true YA heroine because she acts like a kid. Unfortunately, YA as a genre is saturated with flowery writing and mature characters probably better suited for the New Adult genre which still (somehow) does not exist. Therefore, reading Season of the Witch left a weird taste, as though it were oversimplified and not quite right.

The simplicity of the writing wasn’t all that bothered me. The book is written in pieces. Every other chapter is Sabrina’s, written in first-person past-tense on white pages with black text. The chapters in between are each given to an individual character, written in third-person past-tense on black pages with white text. The change in voice and formatting threw me every single chapter, bouncing out just enough that I couldn’t get immersed in the book. Additionally, most the even chapters added nothing. Instead, the book became a novella of one of Sabrina’s adventures and nearly glimpse of her love story, peppered with short stories about her co-stars. It never felt cohesive.

As for the characters themselves, they’re super flat. Having not watching The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix, I’m not sure if the author was relying on readers to be fans and know characters inside out? I felt like even with the even chapters, there were too many characters without any depth. I didn’t feel emotionally attached to anyone, and there was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing and that style of writing just… bores me.

This book is an easy read – I read most of it in one sitting. I do think it’s going to be a weird one to market, because I’m not sure how many YA readers are going to be content with the simplicity of the writing, and I certainly hope middle grade readers are not picking this one up. Unfortunately, I really don’t feel like Season of the Witch will translate over to an adult audience.

Fans of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will either love or hate this one, but I don’t think there will be much in between. For those who are not watching the show, I don’t think I’d recommend this book, even though it’s a prequel. There aren’t spoilers, and I don’t think anyone would be confused… I just think you need to be a fan to enjoy it.