I find it difficult to write this review because this book did not stand out to me at all. A standard witch hunt taking place in Puritan times. I found it drawn out and lacking in plot. I didn't feel invested in the characters and even after reading it so recently can not remember an interesting thing about it.

I originally started this book when I was 10 or 11, and it's stayed with me. I don't recall finishing it, and reading it now as an adult, I'm pretty sure I can guess why.

In short: it's kind of dull. Nothing really happens.

It's advertised as a paranormal historical fiction, but the paranormal is very, very mild and could simply be explained away as young Mary being lost, depressed and wishing desperately to see her grandmother again. Much of the book involves her being stuck on a boat to America, then travelling through the woods to get to the new settlement. The ending is very rushed (though her long diary entries would have you believing otherwise) and it ends incredibly abruptly.

There are so many things that could have been done differently. Firstly, Mary has been raised to believe her mother is dead, but then she appears the day of her grandmother's execution and shoves her on a boat to America. Why? Dunno. Never explained. She sure as hell doesn't know anyone on the boat, so this is probably worse than staying in the UK.

Then she is in America. Has made some friends. Travels to the new settlement. Meets a few Native Americans. Dresses as a boy. Gets accused of witchcraft.

The diary entry ends mid-sentence, which as a child I thought was so cool (I do recall skipping to the end, but not reading the book through), but it's very unfullfilling as an adult.

Simply put, I wish so much had been done differently. But, as a child, this really did cause my curiousity of the witchtrials to bloom.

I read this book through in one sitting in high school, and have wanted to remember the name to recommend it and just found it on a book list!

Celia Rees' prose is as beautiful as ever, though it took me a while to be drawn into this one. The dramatic conclusion was a long time coming and seemed rushed when it finally did arrive. Nevertheless, Mary's story was powerful and brilliantly narrated. Though I'm usually not so fond of stories written in diary format, while reading Witch Child I honestly felt as though I was reading the diary of a real young girl caught up in events beyond her control. I look forward to reading more from Rees.

Chrissi and I have been very lucky with the choices for our Kid Lit challenge this year and I've been delighted with what we've read so far. However, I'm sorry to say Witch Child fell a little bit short for me in comparison and if it hadn't been so short and I hadn't been so intrigued by the main character, I probably would have given up. It's not written like many other pieces of young adult fiction and I think that's a positive thing to say about it. In a way, it feels quite adult and not a book that specifically panders to a younger audience but personally speaking, I just found it too slow in points to capture my attention like I had hoped.

Witch Child is a historical fiction novel told in the format of a diary from the 1600's, written by our young female protagonist, Mary Newbury. When the story opens, she has had to witness the brutal death of her grandmother after being put on trial for being a witch and yes, she floated which instantly made her a friend of Satan. There have been whispers about Mary too, being her grand-daughter of course, but she manages to escape overseas to America on a ship with a group of Puritans to start a new life and escape the rumours surrounding her "powers." However, on reaching the settlement, Mary is once again in danger, especially as she fraternises with the Native American people whose way of life/ideals are seen as blasphemy to the Puritan way of life. The threat to her life becomes once again very substantial leading to her taking drastic measures to save herself from certain death.

I'll start with the things I liked about this novel. Firstly, I loved the character of Mary herself. She was extremely personable, very easy to like and sympathise with and I did find myself eager to find out what her fate was going to be. As I mentioned before, I think it's written in quite a unique style and I appreciated the difference when I compare it to other works of young adult fiction. Sadly however, points of the narrative were just so very tedious, especially the parts where Mary is on the ship that I found myself skipping entire paragraphs just to get to another part that I could feel slightly more excited about. Furthermore, I didn't really feel that other characters, for example, Rebekah and Martha were as fleshed out as they had the potential to be and this was a shame as I was quite interested in both their personalities and back stories. This book has so many terrific ratings on Goodreads, I'm sure I'm in the minority that feel the way about it, perhaps it was just a case of wrong reader? I'd love to know if you've read it and what you think, especially if you feel the exact opposite and adore this story. I'm open to being talked round!

For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com

Decent, easy read. Not much character development.

What was that ending. They did not just leave a cliffhanger and never write a second book and never will. Um. This was a book that I had to read for school and it's definitely not as bad as reading a really boring classic but still. I don't know why half of the time I was confused :omg:
A mediocre of a book and I'm only complaining a little.


BUT THE EXECUTION OF THE DESCRIPTION WOAH :LAUGH:

Loved this book! You can read my full review here:
https://taleofabookworm.blogspot.com/2017/10/witch-child.html

I loved how the book gave details of the life of a witch during the start of the trials.