Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Hex Hall (Hex Hall, #1)

by Rachel Hawkins

In the wake of a love spell gone horribly wrong, Sophie Mercer, a sixteen-year-old witch, is shipped off to Hecate Hall, a boarding school for witches, shapeshifters and faeries. The traumas of mortal high school are nothing compared to the goings on at "Freak High." It's bad enough that she has to deal with a trio of mean girls led by the glamorous Elodie, but it's even worse when she begins to fall for Elodie's gorgeous boyfriend, Archer Cross, and frankly terrifying that the trio are an extremely powerful coven of dark witches. But when Sophie begins to learn the disturbing truth about her father, she is forced to face demons both metaphorical and real, and come to terms with her own growing power as a witch.

Reviewed by celinenyx on

3 of 5 stars

Share
Harry Potter was my childhood. Ever since I've been trying to find that book that recreates that magic something that made that series so amazing.

Sophie is a witch. After a magic disaster, she is sent to Hecate Hall, where she attends school together with fae, shifters and other witches. Something is draining the Hex Hall students of their blood, but why and who?

The first thing that struck me is how Hex Hall was more juvenile than I was expecting. Lately I've only read older YA books and adult books, so getting into this very high-schooly mindset was hard for me at first. The writing is very easy going, and Hex Hall is a quick read.

Although this book has more than three-hundred pages, I felt as if the page time could have been used so much better. The story failed to bring the magic world to life for me. The life at school is only sporadically touched upon, and there weren't enough details for me to really get into it. Another problem I had was the lack of male characters in the story. The female characters are aplenty, and are all given a name and some kind of personality, but from reading the book you would only think there was one male student living at Hex Hall. I found this very unrealistic - even if you have a crush on a guy, that doesn't mean you don't see the other guys.

I really liked the ideas Ms Hawkins had, and her world sounds interesting. I'm intrigued enough to continue reading the other books, but Hex Hall overall felt very much as a debut.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 January, 2014: Finished reading
  • 4 January, 2014: Reviewed