Laurie ForestReseñas
Autor de The Black Witch
Reseñas
But two paragraphs is literally my only complaint. The rest of the entire novel was utterly brilliant. It reminds me of when I read The Network series. Partly because the prequel was unexpectedly epic also. But this was just perfect fantasy. The world building is incredible and the messages of peace and harmony are the perfect balance of pushing a message without overwhelming the reader with the message. Yeah, the whole peace and harmony bit sounds kind of trite but this book really does tackle some of society's most important issues in a fair, objective and subtle manner. Without becoming a mouthpiece for the author's opinions. There's tons of great quotes about how power corrupts and the benefits of open mindedness. No character is portrayed as black and white. All of them have shades of grey. All of them are prejudiced in their own ways and it was interesting to see how the author demonstrated the contradictions in viewpoints. There's this understanding conveyed that readers will and do have their own biases, their own prejudices - but encourages them to identify their own biases and work towards overcoming them.
The friendship between Tessla and Vale was adorable. Vale was such an honourable man - even though he's somewhat of a jerk. Tessla was fiery and strong and determined. And I loved how even though they were both forced into a bad situation they were on the same page. They both understood that each of them were giving up their freedom but that they were working to make the best of it. And Vale's dedication to his friends was inspiring. And Fain! Fain was fantastic. Such a sweetie.
I only wish this was longer. I'm excited to dive into the rest of the series.
Saying that this book promotes racial hatred is like saying that Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle promotes unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry. Literature is at its most powerful when it confronts difficult issues, and this book certainly succeeded in starting a discussion.
I am looking forward to seeing what the author does with this world in volume two.
Apparently there's a controversy about racist beliefs in the books -- yep, there's a lot of racial tension and a whole lot of mean talk and Elloren is kind of an idiot about it at first, but figures out that she wants no part of that kind of behavior and creates a group of friends. Too bad about the chicken -- that part was horrible, but it certainly illustrated a lesson.
Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss.
Another re-read of this in the books. THis is still one of my all-time favorite YA series and I can't wait for book 4 this year.
I am so happy i re-read this after finishing the novellas. Everything is fitting into place and I am ready for Iron Flower.
I am kind of heartbroken. I still love this series but this book was filler. I don't feel that anything really happened and I was able to guess where things were going at quite a few points. The ending was not surprising and I already have more theories to where this is going.
My biggest pet peeve with this book is that something that you have known is going to happen since book one, and were highly anticipating (or at least I was), was thrown in as an "oh, by the way, this happened".
This is still my favorite YA series and I will finish it and binge re-read them all before the next book. Looking forward to book 4 when things hopefully start to come together.
Gardneria weitet seine Machtansprüche aus und macht seine Grenzen magisch dicht - um die Bevölkerung vor der "schmutzigen" Magie der anderen Völker zu schützen (gleichzeitig wird so aber auch die Flucht aus dem Land verhindert). Und während es offiziell bei Höchststrafe verboten ist, sich anderer Magie als der den Magiern von Gardneria zugehörigen zu bedienen, ist es ausgerechnet Vogel, der Höchste Magier, der sich dunkelster Magie bedient.
Noch ist keinem in Gardneria bewusst, welche magischen Kräfte Elloren, Enkelin der Schwarzen Zauberin, wirklich hat - als Leser bekommt man auf den ersten Seiten einen Eindruck davon. Und dann ist Elloren vor allen auf der Flucht und der sicherste Ort scheint dann doch Gardneria zu sein, wenn sie sich unter den Schutz ihres magischen Partners, Lukas Grey, stellt. Doch diese Sicherheit ist trügerisch.
Der dritte Band der Serie bringt Lukas und Elloren wieder zusammen, man erlebt, wie restrektiv die gardnerische Gesellschaft geworden ist und wie stark die Unterdrückung all derer vorangeschritten ist, die keine Gardnerier sind. Unterbrochen wird Ellorens Geschichte dann immer wieder von anderen Schauplätzen, in denen es um den Aufbau einer vereinigten Armee geht, die sich Gardneria entgegenstellt. Und Elloren erhält jetzt doch eine Ausbildung - immer unter dem Druck, dass Vogel ihr nachstellt und ihre Kräfte zu seinen machen möchte.
Eine spannender dritter Teil, in dem vieles passiert, der manchmal, insbesondere in Bezug auf Ellorens Ausbildung, aber auch auf der Stelle tritt. Aber wenn ich den Schluss richtig interpretiere, kommt es wohl im vierten Band zum großen Finale, bei dem Elloren eine wichtige Rolle spielen wird.
Man sollte aber unbedingt die ersten beiden Bände der Black Witch Saga gelesen haben.
No, I don’t find this book racist; it’s about racism, but it doesn’t condone it. There are many other reviews who does a better job at pointing this out - I have other things I want to point out.
There are some timeline/urgency issues; certain world-moving-political events are made to sound very important/devastating, but they are only sparsely mentioned in between the much more “important” YA love interest through-line, and thus the “urgency” is diluted.
I was really interested in learning more about the world, the different cultures, the magic system or even the university itself, but instead we get a lot of the MC mooning over the colour of somebody’s eyes.
I did give a high rating though (4-stars), because I did enjoy the book, even with it‘s confusing mix of serious themes (racism and how we are taught it) and fluffy scenes (mean girls and gorgeous guys).
Audiobook Quality (4/5): I have no complaints about the audiobook quality, it was fine.
Story (2/5): I stopped reading this book about 25% of the way in, it was just completely not for me. This is a dark world where women are forced to be wandfasted to men to help them control themselves. Our main character, Elloren, ends up at University where she is expected to find someone to be wandfast to. In the beginning of the book a main plot line is Elloren and another powerful female mage basically fighting over a guy...yuck.
Characters (2/5): All of the characters in this story just felt wrong and slimy and left me with a bad taste in my mouth. They just weren’t people I wanted to read about. I am sure some of this is the point of the story but I didn’t like it and felt no reason to read something that makes me feel so awful.
Setting (3/5): There is definitely world-building here and, while I didn’t enjoy the world at all, you can tell a lot of effort went into creating the society and magic system.
Writing Style (2/5): I was also not a fan of the writing style. The writing is very descriptive and moves very slow. It took nearly 25% of the book just to get Elloren from her home to University and I am not really sure why. This book was just so far from being something I liked. I don’t DNF audiobooks very often but I just couldn’t keep listening to this one.
My Summary (2/5): Overall I did not like this. I disliked pretty much everything about it; the story, the characters, the world and the writing style. I will be steering clear of Forest in the future and checking to see if I can get my Audible credit back.
So the books starts off with Elloren is instructed to go back home and seek the protection of Lukas Grey. The reason? Their potential allies have found out that she is the Black Witch of prophecy and are going to send assassins to kill her. Will Lukas help her? Should she trust him with the secret?
Elloren must learn to control her powers before Marcus Vogel captures her and uses her for his own plans. Her friends and family are scattered across the continent with their own battles to win.
I loved this book. Seriously, this will be a series that I can read again and again.
- Welcome to the Resistance, who solves every problem by calling for help.
- Elloren thinks about Yvan. All. The. Time.
- Between the reader and the cast of characters, only Elloren is surprised by anything.
- Elloren says she is willing to do anything for the Resistance, but she literally refuses to do the only strategic power-play within her ability, i.e. wandfast to Lukas Grey.
Characters fall into traditional roles: the steadfast friend, the spiteful enemy, and the forbidden love, to name a few. This makes their development and the general plot pretty predictable. Still, Elloren's newfound friends are so genuine and open in supporting or criticizing one another that one can't help loving them.
Overall, the Black Witch is a fun introduction to what promises to be an intense adventure. It was interesting to read, and some scenes were powerful in their emotion and riveting in detail. Looking back at the end of the book, it all felt like the lead up to something more, not a story in itself.
If you are frustrated by wishy-washy or emotional protagonists, Elloren might be hard to handle.
Fun fact: Rafe is my hero, hands down favorite. I would want him as a bro.
I do recommend reading the two Novellas that come out just before this book. It'll help in the understanding of huge plot events.
I really enjoyed this book, I just hated that this book ended on a cliffhanger! This book never had any truly boring parts. This book always made me want to read more. Now I just need the 2nd and 3rd books. I would recommend this to anyone you like action, friendship, and revenge themed books. I think that this book is my favorite book I have ever read. It was super exciting, thrilling, and entertaining book. This means a lot coming from me because i get so bored with every book!
Ellorean and her two brothers were raised in a small town by her uncle. Her parents died years ago. All Ellorean has known is what was taught to her by her uncle and what her community and religion believe to be true. These are things such as wandfasting (marriage equivalent) is not only accepted but preferred when younger, such as age 13. That her race is the master race, the one that god put on the land to rule. After All they are the pure race. They are the race with magic. You see these beliefs heavily in this book, but more so when Ellorean spends time with her aunt, who is a very high political figure in their land. Her dear uncle tried to hide her away from things, but her aunt wants her in the middle of the intrigue.
Ellorean is seen as important because she is the spitting image of her grandmother the Black Witch. It was the Black Witch that freed her people and brought the prosperity they now have. There is a prophecy that a new Black Witch will rise and bring even better and brighter things to her people. However, Ellorean has no magic. Her wand-testing is failed, and most are disappointed, but that does not keep them from trying to use her for their own political purposes.
Ellorean is on her way to the university. There she would have every creature comfort if she obeys her aunt and marries the handsome Lucas, the catch of the school. But she has promised her uncle, who is now sick and not able to communicate, that she would wait til she graduated. And so, she must work for her tuition. And live in what she considers hell, with races inferior to her own. She could have everything she ever wanted, be the queen of the school, if she wandfasts.
Ellorean’s uncle taught her to somewhat think for herself. It will take some dastardly deeds, and a bit of hazing for Ellorean to lean that what she grew up believing is only part of the story. Her history and beliefs are the Disney movie of actual history.
This book is a bit long, but most good fantasy is. It takes time to build the world and set everything in place. And for the first time in a long time of this readers history, there are no major gaps in world building. Yes there are cliffhangers and stories untold, but there are also more books to come. I have my suspicions, but no spoilers in this review.
As for the “problematic” parts. I do see the “white savior” narrative. It is definitely there. Ellorean is the pale skinned woman with the long black hair. The rest of the races are every color under the sun, pink, purple, blue, brown, black. Some have wings, some are a bit furry, etc. As myself a white woman, I draw a parallel to what modern culture needs to learn and see. The world I currently live in has a growing white supremist faction, which is echoed in this story. The “right” race is building power to take over and destroy, but it will be those who can see beyond skin and race, to actual people and actions who will move a land forward. It’s the children and the young adults who will help abolish the beliefs of the past.
This is a story about growth. That books, even history and holy books, are prejudiced by the writers. That nothing is black and white, and that even the best of enemies can become the best of friends. When closing this book, the reader needs the next one.
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I think the School Library Journal review nailed it:
"Teens will have to get through hundreds of pages of stereotypical characterizations of marginalized groups (non-Gardnerians are hateful and ultraviolent, their blood is "polluted," they mate like animals, the non-Gardnerian women are trying to steal Gardnerian men, etc.) before Elloren begins to recognize that maybe Gardnerians are the bad guys in her realm. Although unlearning prejudices is a timely theme in YA, Forest handles this issue clumsily."