Review: entertaining serialisation of a promising story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 23, 2013
Witchwood Estate - Books 1 & 2 & 3.  Patti Roberts.Arc provided by authorI need to start with a caveat. When I agreed to review these books I didn't realise they were an ongoing series, of short novellas rather than a traditional type of series,  and that's something I never read, although I love traditional series. Still, I started with book one on Saturday and quickly became engrossed in the world of Witchwood. The description covers the storyline that's going to be revealed over a series of books, and each are a reasonably priced quick read. As I said its not how I prefer to read, but I'm a quick reader, I've friends who only have limited time to read and I'm sure they'd enjoy this type of book. It's certainly worked for womens magazines for many years, I can recall my mothers ones serialising books back in the sixties so though its new to e-books the format certainly works.Its a beautifully descriptive book, full of evocative mystery and mood setting. I really feel as if I'm one with whatever scene Patti sets. I do feel its aimed at the Young Adult market and that's a genre I only dip into occasionally, but this is so well written that it will appeal to older readers too looking for something a bit different. I enjoyed the characters, there are a lot of them and I did find it difficult remembering just who was who, and where they fit in the tale but then for an ongoing series we need lots of people to carry the story and keep it interesting. The basic plot is laid out but its early in the series so far, and though I've an idea where the story is going its very open as to what adventures are going to be revealed, and what sort of magic and mystical creatures it will contain.What's incredibly useful is the info at the end of the book on the witches calender, the herbs used in spells, crystals and their meanings, animal symbols and a host of other interesting details that will help the reader follow what promises to be a complex series.Even though I don't usually read books in this format I found the world and people Patti has created to be engrossing, and the writing style is just perfect for the story that's slowly being revealed. Its like drawing back a curtain to expose another world, each glimpse tantalises and seduces the reader into wanting more. Alexandria is the perfect heroine for this tale, she has a blend of innocence, combined with intelligence and a strong sense of morality. With the evil I feel is coming she will need to be able to draw on all her strengths to do the right thing.Overall even though its not my preferred type of reading I can see how this series will appeal to young adults and others who have limited time for reading. Its an exciting story broken down into easily read bite sized instalments. Though my star rating is a three and a half-only because of my personal reading preferences, I can see that for the right reader this will be a five star series.