UF/Horror Challenge - Witch Craft
Apr. 18th, 2011 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naomi_jay
I will start by saying I have a massive girlcrush on Luna in this cover.
I will follow by saying I actually finished this a week or so ago and forgot to do a review, so the book isn't quite as fresh in my mind as it could be, That said, I did love this book. I think it's my favourite Nocturne City book so far, as Luna seems to have grown in leaps and bounds since Second Skin. She's still the waspish, independent, growly Luna I love, but she's matured and thinks before she acts more than she did in the earlier books. Part of this is down to her new position as head of Nocturne City's new supernatural crime unit and her responsibilities to her team. Part of it, I'm sure, is also down to the experiences of the past three books, both in her personal life and her career.
As always, Kittredge manages to find something new and different to throw at Luna, and in Witch Craft we get everything from killer selkies to trolls to Thelemic magic. I haven't seen Thelema referenced in any other urban fantasy novel, despite how much everyone loves to name drop Alistair Crowley, and I was fascinated by Kittredge's use of it here. Having established her caster and blood witch societies firmly in book two, Pure Blood, it was fun to see her now explore a whole new type of magic, and the culture that went with it. it made for a truly engaging mystery and introduced a new layer to the world.
I did feel the absence of Dimitri quite keenly. Although there's a part of me that thinks, well, yeah, he and Luna can never work, there's another part of me that really, really wants them to. I like Will Fagin, and I find Lucas quite intriguing, but to me it's Luna and Dimitri all the way. Given that there's only one more book in the series to go, and there's no sign of Dimitri reappearing, I suppose I'll have to resign myself to Luna settling down with someone else (or not? It would be cool to see her just flip everyone off and continue to be quite happy by herself).
The one other thing I missed in this book was werewolves, which seems odd given that the main character is a werewolf. In the previous books, we've seen Luna interact with other wolves - and struggle with her own beast - quite a lot, and her battle between humanity and wolfism has often been a key part of each plot. In this book, we don't really get that, and I don't think Luna ever shifts throughout the whole plot (or maybe she does at the end? I should re-read it and check). Anyway, although that's not a major flaw, as Witch Craft's plot is not a werewolf-centric one, I do enjoy that aspect of the series, and would have liked to a bit more werewolf smackdown in this one.
Overall, I can't complain too much. This is another dark, twisty, and plain cool book from one of my favourite authors, and my only real problem is that I don't have Daemon's Mark on my shelves yet.
I will follow by saying I actually finished this a week or so ago and forgot to do a review, so the book isn't quite as fresh in my mind as it could be, That said, I did love this book. I think it's my favourite Nocturne City book so far, as Luna seems to have grown in leaps and bounds since Second Skin. She's still the waspish, independent, growly Luna I love, but she's matured and thinks before she acts more than she did in the earlier books. Part of this is down to her new position as head of Nocturne City's new supernatural crime unit and her responsibilities to her team. Part of it, I'm sure, is also down to the experiences of the past three books, both in her personal life and her career.
As always, Kittredge manages to find something new and different to throw at Luna, and in Witch Craft we get everything from killer selkies to trolls to Thelemic magic. I haven't seen Thelema referenced in any other urban fantasy novel, despite how much everyone loves to name drop Alistair Crowley, and I was fascinated by Kittredge's use of it here. Having established her caster and blood witch societies firmly in book two, Pure Blood, it was fun to see her now explore a whole new type of magic, and the culture that went with it. it made for a truly engaging mystery and introduced a new layer to the world.
I did feel the absence of Dimitri quite keenly. Although there's a part of me that thinks, well, yeah, he and Luna can never work, there's another part of me that really, really wants them to. I like Will Fagin, and I find Lucas quite intriguing, but to me it's Luna and Dimitri all the way. Given that there's only one more book in the series to go, and there's no sign of Dimitri reappearing, I suppose I'll have to resign myself to Luna settling down with someone else (or not? It would be cool to see her just flip everyone off and continue to be quite happy by herself).
The one other thing I missed in this book was werewolves, which seems odd given that the main character is a werewolf. In the previous books, we've seen Luna interact with other wolves - and struggle with her own beast - quite a lot, and her battle between humanity and wolfism has often been a key part of each plot. In this book, we don't really get that, and I don't think Luna ever shifts throughout the whole plot (or maybe she does at the end? I should re-read it and check). Anyway, although that's not a major flaw, as Witch Craft's plot is not a werewolf-centric one, I do enjoy that aspect of the series, and would have liked to a bit more werewolf smackdown in this one.
Overall, I can't complain too much. This is another dark, twisty, and plain cool book from one of my favourite authors, and my only real problem is that I don't have Daemon's Mark on my shelves yet.
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on 2011-04-18 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-04-18 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2011-04-18 04:00 pm (UTC)