Review: Whiny Witch, Inconsistent Characters, Abrupt Ending
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 23, 2013
Esmerelda is a 26-year-old witch who lives with her grandmother in a run-down house. Barely a few paragraphs pass without Esme reminding us she is a witch, but not a very good one.The grandmother is one of two inconsistent characters who exhibits bipolar behaviors and mood changes. Bell seems to think that Esme's observations that the character is inconsistent are sufficient explanation. It's not.The view of magic also suggests bipolar world-building. On the one hand, Esme's context magic rests on the principle that if a person changes one element of an environment, the outcome can change. Staying calm and alert are elements of that. Duh. Esme's perpetual whining about her life is blamed for the series of unfortunate events that ensure -- until the real cause comes out of left field at the end.On the other hand, there is an almost cartoonish view of magic as an inexplicable something that can produce outrageous phenomenon that are not apparent to non-magical people in the vicinity.Even though the story is short and an easy read, Esme gives us all-too-periodic plot recaps, as if we might forget what we had read only a few pages earlier.I'd have to write a Spoiler Alert to tell why the plot outcome is so unsatisfying; suffice it to say that it is as if the grandmother had a lobotomy to make it work.Homonym misspellings and missing words are among the typos that need to be fixed. I finished the story; in retrospect, I'm not sure why I bothered.