Chrysler Szarlan

Despite the ploddingly slow start and the occasional extraneous cliché, I really enjoyed this book.

I do believe it could have benefited from a more stringent editing process, as a slightly more streamlined version of the story could have solved my primary complaint: after the thrill of the exciting first few pages it takes nearly half the novel before anything of particular importance happens.

Instead of action, we are treated to page upon page of talking to people who don't feel like answering questions. This strangely drawn out opening is made all the weirder by the way that it only takes two months of narrative time. The time span in general feels all screwed up, honestly, as the Dyer family react to the grief and loss of their father/husband as if that event was much more temporally distant.

There's something to be said for the slow route, however, and that thing is the way the Dyer family, Rev especially, grow to find a spot in the reader's heart in the midst of all this narrative meandering. When the story finally kicks into gear it is well worth the price of entry.… (más)

I picked this book due to the story-line being about women, witches, and magic. It seemed fitting to read in September prior to fall really rushing in.

The main character in this novel is Reve Dyer (full name Revelation). Reve and her husband Jeremy are practicing magicians in Las Vegas. We quickly find out that Reve and all of the female ancestors in her family tree are able to do real magic. Reve, Jeremy, and their three daughters, Grace, Faith, and Caleigh are genuinely happy until the day her husband is accidentally killed. Reve finds out that her husband's accident was in fact murder and is soon hiding with her children from a man that wants to harm all of them. This causes her to go back to Hawley Five Corners in Massachusetts to stay with her maternal grandmother.

I really did like how the book slowly spilled all of the secrets of the Dyer family. One of the secrets that Reve starts to delve into is the "The Hawley Book of the Dead," which is also the title of this novel. The Hawley Book of the Dead is supposed to be able to reveal truths.

There were still some things that I didn't think worked that well in this novel. First, having the story also including Reve's daughters viewpoints just didn't work. I think it would have been better to have additional books that fully explored all of the characters individually.

Also the hint of a romance that was set up in this book was just a bit much for me. It probably didn't help that I never got a sense of Reve as a character or that she really loved her husband. At times Reve felt very one dimensional to me. The character just reacted to many things that happened to her and I hope in future books (if there are any) she is more well rounded.

Additionally, there was way too much tell going on in this novel. I honestly started rolling my eyes when the book slowly started unveiling how the Dyer women were pretty much a part of every ancient myth in the world. It started to get to be a bit too much for me. An entire family of Mary Sue's doesn't interest me as a reader.

That said, I still think that Chrysler Szarlan, the author of this book, has set the stage for a continuing series and I hope does follow up on this book with more stories about the Dyer women.

Please note that I received this book for free via the Amazon Vine Program.… (más)