Review: Lively YA book, but too many logic holes
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 18, 2013
The book engaged me at first, but as it progressed, the logic holes became more and more annoying. I was prepared to suspend disbelief in reading a supernatural story, but when the world of the story doesn't hold together logically, it became less and less enjoyable. Sure, I get it that a YA book is going to have a YA heroes. But the lack of adult actors in the story wasn't rational. Adults- the parents of peers, a teacher, a neighbor- show up to give Tess information she needs, but when it comes to the apocalyptic battle scene at the end of the book, the battle is fought by teenagers. By people who've been reincarnated for centuries at war with each other, and in this particular lifetime, they all just happen to be 14-18 years old? And these teen witches have somehow convinced their families to move to one small town so they can be there for the battle? Their parents gave up jobs to move there? There's 10-15 new students arriving at the high school every day? Now, where are these families finding housing, and where are the parents finding jobs? If the parents are also witches, why aren't they showing up to fight alongside their children? (The Harry Potter books come to mind). And some of the witches have reincarnated as cats and rats, which are swarming into the town? Tess is attacked by 'hundreds' of rats-where did all these rats come from? If they are evil witches, and used their powers to get to the town, why don't they just use their powers to attack her, rather than biting her feet? While I love the idea of an army of Siamese cats, I just can't believe that Siamese cats have taken to the road to march to Connecticut to battle the forces of evil. At some point, there's mention that certain evil witches are being kept from reincarnating; so why don't the good witches keep ALL of them from reincarnating? The idea that the good witches are dropping out of the battle as the evil witches are getting more and more powerful, just doesn't bode well for the end game. Why are evil witches holding grudges for centuries, when most people in real life end up losing interest in high school grudges? Why engage in a vendetta against someone for killing your mother, when you know that you're all immortal and will be reborn any time you die? The battle at the end of the book felt rushed, as if the author were trying to conclude before reaching a certain word count. In fact, I would say the book stopped, rather than concluded, leaving things unsettled with plenty of room for a sequel.