The Witch Hunter (Witch Hunter)

by Virginia Boecker

[jnikkir]

This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved...

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I'm going to start off this review by saying something that I did not expect I'd be able to say about The Witch Hunter. This book was... fun.

And I say that while acknowledging that "fun" is usually a good thing! But it was the type of "fun" that I wasn't expecting out of this book at all -- it was a fun adventure, with fun characters, quite a bit of humor, a pretty sweet (and light) romance... Do you see where I'm going with this?

The Witch Hunter is a fast-paced read filled with witches, swords, magic, kickass fight scenes, and danger around every corner. But on the whole, I felt like the book was pretty... light? It was a more lighthearted adventure than what I expected, what with the violence and gravity of the book's plot.

And I think that feelings stems from the characters -- they came across as pretty young, to me. Which was definitely not what I was expecting. I expected it to be dark. I expected the characters to be complex and for there to be FEELS and ANGST -- especially with the whole secret-witch-hunter-helping-witches-and-falling-for-a-healer thing. But while The Witch Hunter touched on those things, I feel like it only did so on the surface, and didn't get quite as intense/dark/complex as I expected it to. It was still very entertaining, but it fell short of my expectations, and of what it could have been, which is always a little disappointing.

Elizabeth Grey is 16, a witch hunter who's had years of brutal training to become so. She's a fighter, and fairly dedicated to the witch-hunting cause -- or at least, to Caleb, Elizabeth's best friend and fellow witch-hunter. The head Inquisitor, Blackwell, basically rescued her and Caleb when they had nowhere else to go, and she's super loyal to Caleb -- she loves him, as a friend and possibly something more... So she stays with him, and hunts witches, and everything is badass witch-hunting fun -- for a little while, at least. I liked Elizabeth quite a bit, but for me, she came across as fairly young (she's 16, but I expected her to act a little more mature), and her personality seemed to clash with her mad-witch-hunting-skills and brutal training.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth gets caught with something that results in her being accused of witchcraft, and she gets thrown into prison, awaiting execution.

At this point, I'm going to interject and mention one Elizabeth-related thing that really bothered me. It's slightly spoilery, but you learn it pretty early in the book, so: The reason Elizabeth is accused of being a witch is because she has witch's herbs. And the reason she has those herbs is to prevent her getting pregnant. Because the King has decided to start making a habit of calling her to his rooms so he can sleep with her. Against her will. So, he's been raping her. My problem with this, aside from the obvious? It seemed like that whole scenario was thrown in as an excuse for her to get caught and accused of being a witch. It was touched on a little bit later in the book, but only lightly, and briefly. It doesn't seem like she was greatly affected by it, other than the whole caught-and-accused-of-being-a-witch thing, and to have it be glossed over in such a way really felt... off, and its seeming unimportance made me rather uncomfortable. =/

Anyway, some time after she's thrown into prison, she's saved by the wizard Nicholas Perevil, who's been cursed -- and apparently, only Elizabeth can save him. To say much more would be to give away a lot of the plot of the story, so I'll just say that the book continues at a fast pace as we learn more about Nicholas, his true motives, and the sinister truth of the curse that's been laid on him.

Most importantly, Nicholas brings another group of characters into the story -- Fifer, George, and John; a witch, a Fool, and a healer. From Fifer, I really got the impression of a high-school girl who's on the fringe of the popular clique. She's a bit arrogant and abrasive, but I didn't not like her. George is sweet, sometimes funny, but not terribly well-developed beyond that. John is a healer, and the best-developed of the crew -- probably because he's Elizabeth's love interest. He's got a tragic past, a natural gift at healing, and he's tall and handsome and undeniably good.

Elizabeth and John's romance is sweet -- a slow burn, and admittedly adorable... But it just seemed to happen without much to support it. Unfortunately, I didn't feel any chemistry beyond the "oh that's cute" type. I think this was partly John's fault -- he's so perfect, and the relationship is fairly predictable. So, while I was all "awww they're cute," I also didn't venture anywhere near "holy crap I ship this so hard" territory, if you know what I mean.

I think my main issue with The Witch Hunter was that I didn't think the characters were developed enough for me to appreciate them as individuals, let alone to be impacted hugely by their actions -- their shifts in allegiance, their loyalty, their betrayals... There was a lot of telling regarding those sorts of things -- characters "just knowing" that another character feels a certain way -- which didn't help. I didn't feel the emotions behind it, which led to my lack of investment.


In conclusion...
The Witch Hunter was definitely entertaining, and I'm glad I read it! I just wish the characters had been a little better-developed, and that I'd been able to really become invested in them and their stories. If you're looking for a fun, fast-paced adventure that intertwines fantasy and a cool historical-fiction (think Salem Witch Trials) vibe, I'd still recommend checking this one out.

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There were books involved...