Salt (Entangled Digiteen)

by Danielle Ellison

[Angie]

Salt is a super fun read! I was eager to read it because I was thought the idea of witches being demon hunters was unique. I also found it interesting that instead of humans using salt to protect themselves from witches, witches use salt to expel demons! Salt starts with Penelope trying to fight off a demon, since she forgot her salt. She also has the added problem of having no magic. A witch with no magic is not acceptable in their society, but lucky for her, Penelope can pull magic from her family, so no one has to know. Then the impossible happens: she banishes the demon with magic! She's ecstatic for a while, until she realizes it was a fluke. But really there's more going on with her than she knows.

Salt has a lot of great world building. From the beginning we learn that witches protect humans (and themselves) from demons, and that there is a group known as the Enforcers who specialize in this. Penelope is about to start her testing to become an Enforcer, a goal she's decided on in order to gain access to their special library so she can find information about the demon who killed her parents and stole her magic. There is a bit of an info-dump when Penelope starts testing. The first day just happens to be an oral exam about Enforcer history. From there we also get to learn about their fight techniques and magical abilities. Even though I was slightly annoyed at the classroom setting for world building device, I was never confused about anything witch or demon related.

The plot is quite predictable and cliché. Penelope is special, in that she can use her family's (and soon, her boyfriend's) magic as her own, and she's on a quest to find out why she's special. Of course, there's a family secret that her grandmother refuses to talk about when confronted with solid evidence that something is going on. I never gave much though to what the secret was, since I was just having a blast reading, but when it was revealed, it wasn't surprising at all. On top of that, demon attacks are also suspiciously higher than usual, and in typical YA Urban Fantasy style, Penelope swoops in to save the day. Not exactly original, but I thought it was fun.

There were a few things about Salt, aside from the predictability, that bothered me. The first being that the Enforcer exam is supposed to be very strict, and they don't tolerate any mistakes since this is a life or death occupation. However, Penelope screws up in every test, and yet, her mistakes seemed to be expectations each time. That makes no sense. Second, I couldn't be sure if Penelope and her sister were twins or not. Penelope says they share a birth year and that they're in the same class, but then she also keeps referring to her as her baby sister, which Connie never remarks on. Are they twins and Penelope was just born first, or did they just happen to be born the same year? I have no clue. Finally, the romance wasn't that great. It's insta-love and they share some cosmic connection and they make each other stronger, but he has secrets, and then there's a twist! It was like every YA romance trope was thrown in.

In the end, I did like Salt. It was very cute and a lot of fun. Nothing about it was surprising though. At least the basic premise was unique and makes me want to read more.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.