Wendy the Good Witch
Written: Jul 10 '05 (Updated Jul 17 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting premise, good characterization
Cons: The flashbacks were boring
The Bottom Line: A good horror novel that doesn't get so wrapped up in mysticism that it forgets to continue the plot
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| Rocketgirl's Full Review: J. G. Passarella - Wither: A Novel |
Wither, though generally credited to John Passarella, is actually a collaboration between him and Joe Gangemi. The book was initially released in 1999 and has been scripted for a possible movie. The story is set in modern-day Windale, Massachusetts, whose past is tainted by the witch trials.
Wendy is a college freshman at the local university. She is known by her fellow students as a bit "different" since she dabbles in "white magic." She works in a local "curiosity" shop, in which crystals, herbs, and other such witchy items can be found. Wendy has started to have terrifying nightmares and is having difficulty concentrating on anything.
Abby is an 8-year-old child. One day she wanders off into the woods behind her house. She trips over some tombstones from an old graveyard. These tombstones bore the names of the three women accused of being witches back in the 17th century: Sara Hutchins, Elizabeth Wither, and Rebecca Cole. Abby falls into a sort of trance and begins seeing the life of Sara.
Karen is a college professor. She is pregnant with her first child. She is also having strange nightmares. And she starts worrying that something is wrong with her baby and that she will never carry it to term.
Wendy is the main character throughout and she is supported by her best friend Frankie and her boyfriend Alex. Wendy is having so much difficulty with her nightmares she feels she needs to cast a "spell" to help her deal with the nightmares and to keep the other students from making fun of her all the time. Something DOES happen, and a great flying beast comes and snatches away one of the jocks that has been bothering her the most. This is NOT what Wendy had in mind, and sets about trying to undo her spell. She doesn't realize that something else is going on and that powers of evil are using her for their own good.
The story follows three different story lines at once, which eventually merge about two-thirds of the way through the book. The story lines follow Wendy, Abby, and Karen as they cope with their own problems with the "witches." Switching back and forth between the story lines is annoying to some. However, I like it because it increases the suspense, wondering what is going to happen next. This fact made the book a real pageturner since each chapter or each scene change was right at a climax. In fact, the suspense hardly lets up throughout the entire book.
Except for one thing. There are disruptions to the main story that are basically descriptions of the dreams the girls are having. These dreams are written into italics, which for me, are difficult to read, so right away I didn't like it. The descriptions dealt with what had happened to the three accused witches. This would probably be my only complaint is that if this technique of flashback through dream sequence was going to be used, then more information needed to be given in those flashbacks. In fact, there wasn't much and they did very little to explain what was going on in the present. So in short, I felt these sections could have been left out altogether and not hurt the book at all.
As far as violence goes, there IS a bit of "blood and guts" described. It isn't overly gory but there is some description when the beast attacks a human, for example. If squeamish, you may want to skip this book. These descriptions can probably be handled by most people, however. There isn't much at all in the way of profanity. And the one sex scene is mostly implied, but not described. It is almost, but not quite, gratuitous; it actually does follow the course of the plot.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I am usually not big on horror novels, mainly because there are just so few authors who can write horror. However, this is one author who did a very good job, especially impressive since it is his first novel. The characters are someone you can cheer for, there is a very definite good vs. evil theme, and unending suspense. Some horror/fantasy novelists get so caught up in mysticism that they forget about plot. Not so, with this novel. I was never confused about what was going on, but just cheering for the "good guys" from start to finish. I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys horror novels or if you just like a good suspense novel.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Rocketgirl
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Member: Beth
Location: Tri-Cities, WA
Reviews written: 398
Trusted by: 224 members
About Me:
So many books, so little time.
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