Hex Hall (Hex Hall, #1)

by Rachel Hawkins

[Amber]

The story begins with Sophie being shipped off to Hecate Hall - a reformatory school for ‘special’ people. Sophie has always known she’s a witch, and that came in handy with this story. There was no awkward moment of having Sophie discovering her powers, and there was no explanation needed for the parental figures either. Sophie’s mum already knew.


As soon as Sophie arrived at Hecate Hall - fondly nicknamed “Hex Hall” by the student body - I knew this was going to be a great read. There were important scenes around every corner, and no filler scenes to be seen.


Sophie even caught the eye of the school hottie - Archer Cross - within the first few minutes of arriving. If that’s not immediate chemistry, then I don’t know what is! The story followed Sophie through her settling into her room with her new vampire roommate, Jenna. Then, all of a sudden, students start getting attacked. From then on, the reader is left trying to guess who - or rather, what - attacked those girls.


There are a couple of surprise moments thrown in, as well as a couple of twists that also left me shocked!


The pacing was pretty average throughout the book. Whilst it was fast, I wasn’t made to feel that the plot was leading up to anything huge. I was left wondering if anything was going to happen, and if it was, when exactly things would kick off!


Before I start with Sophie, I just wanted to say that I absolutely loved reading about all of the Prodigium that were at the school. Hawkins described each different type of Prodigium (isn’t it easier just to say “creature”?) in such a magical way, I just kept wanting to read more about them to see if there was anything else to discover.


Now for Sophie Mercer… I did like her character a lot. She was humorous, stubborn, and a great friend - even at the hardest of times. She dealt with moving away from her mum and in with a vampire and an assortment of other “creatures” very well, and it showed how strong she really was. However, what I didn’t like about her was the way she spoke. I know that may sound silly, but the dialogue just did not seem up to par with her character.

The love interest - the dashing Archer Cross - was a wonderful addition to the cast. He was extremely witty, which you know I love, and while he’s no Jace Wayland he’s certainly way up there.


Jenna, the new roommate, was a darling. I loved how the author included Jenna’s struggles in with the story as well. She really was a treasure to read about!


The writing style was incredible. It was descriptive and not dialogue heavy. It drew me in straight from the prologue!


I think that if you enjoy reading about magic, witches, wizards warlocks, vampires, werewolves, shape shifters and demons - then you’re definitely going to want to buy this book! It’s a must have for your bookshelf! Make sure you read it before Demonglass[Image] (Book Two) comes out in March!