Chelsea
Written on May 31, 2017
The orphaned daughter of a sorcerer and a half-demon, Savannah is a terrifyingly powerful young witch who has never been able to resist the chance to throw her magical weight around. But at 21 she knows she needs to grow up and prove to her guardians, Paige and Lucas, that she can be a responsible member of their supernatural detective agency. So she jumps at the chance to fly solo, investigating the mysterious deaths of three young women in a nearby factory town as a favour to one of the agency’s associates. At first glance, the murders look garden-variety human, but on closer inspection signs point to otherworldly stakes.
Soon Savannah is in over her head. She’s run off the road and nearly killed, haunted by a mystery stalker, and freaked out when the brother of one of the dead women is murdered when he tries to investigate the crime. To complicate things, something weird is happening to her powers. Pitted against shamans, demons, a voodoo-inflected cult and garden-variety goons, Savannah has to fight to ensure her first case isn’t her last. And she also has to ask for help, perhaps the hardest lesson she’s ever had to learn.
Book 11 in the Otherworld series.
- ISBN10 0307359018
- ISBN13 9780307359018
- Publish Date 21 June 2011 (first published 1 July 2010)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint Vintage Canada
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 336
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780307359018
Reviews
celinenyx
Written on Oct 21, 2013
Waking the Witch is the first book that marks the final trilogy of books within the Women of the Otherworld series. Only two more books to go, and then it's all over. We've met Savannah as a little girl about five books ago, and she has grown up into a twenty-one year old woman now.
With Paige and Lucas out of town, it's finally time for Savannah's solo investigation. In a small town there have been three murders, bodies found at the same location, and there is evidence of supernatural happenings. But what's really going on, and as a young woman herself, is Savannah in danger?
If you've followed this series, by now you've been on a very long ride. You have had over five different narrators, some better than others. Some books in the series are more paranormal romance, others urban fantasy. In the later book I'm seeing that they're leaning more towards some kind of paranormal mystery genre - paranormal creatures (witches, half-demons, werewolves) trying to solve crimes that may or may not have been committed by other supes. It makes for nice stories, but I was kind of expecting more than just a decorated mystery.
The same goes for Savannah. She was a spunky kid, she was slightly evil and rebellious and had awesome magic powers that surpassed both Paige and Lucas. I was really excited to be reading about Savannah's magic, but was sorely disappointed in that respect. She only uses the most basic spells: knockback spells, unlock spells, lightballs and energy bolts... It's basically all we've already seen from Paige. She only does one cool spell in the entire book, and that made me a bit sad. I hope there is more magic action in Spell Bound.
Waking the Witch is a decent paranormal mystery. It has plenty of breaking and entering, listening in on people, interrogating town people and going through suspects like cookie monster goes through cookies. It's engaging, but I didn't see the Savannah I was looking for yet except for at the very end. Waking the Witch is the only Women of the Otherworld book that ends on a cliffhanger as far as I know. Even though I've been a bit disappointed with the last books in the series that I've read, I'm still looking forward to the next one.
Melanie
Written on Aug 20, 2010
I will say. I love Savannah. I was not sure how much I was going to like her as a narrator. We see her mature quite a bit. She is almost a "responsible adult" (I am not sure she would want to hear that. :) )