In about a week or two, the trio manage to cross an entire island, going from their village to the capital to the mountains to the jungle to the desert to the frozen world to a place called the Shadows. It has too much action, for instance, leading most episodes to be over before they begin. The story itself, though, still has some awkward flaws. Many readers will not be bothered by such comparisons, however, or may find them to be fun allusions. I also could not stop thinking about this book as “My Little Pony, but with humans,” which may or may not be fair.

And Melda is the annoying overachieving girl at school, who soon reveals herself to be capable, brave, and loyal–and Tor and Engle’s new inseparable best friend. Engle is the loyal friend, who is also comic relief (mostly because he eats too much). Tor is the Chosen One (with a bit of a bland personality and no real reason readers should believe he deserves to be the leader). The protagonists, meanwhile, feel extremely reminiscent of Harry Potter. Echoes of The Hobbit, for example, are seen in an encounter with cave trolls, as well as in a (superfluous) statue carried around by Engle–the statue glows blue when danger is near. Thus, anyone who believes in the power of story to guide and transform lives will love the importance given to stories here.Īt times, however, Curse of the Night Witch veers a little too closely to other stories told before. He, in fact, uses the Book as a guide to get him to the Night Witches realm.

And this is done on purpose the author knowingly weaves the stories into the fabric of Tor’s life. The stories grow increasingly more disturbing the closer the protagonists get to the Night Witch.

The book is interspersed with tales from folklore, the stories that Tor and his friends grew up hearing from the Book of Cuentos each night–”The Weeping Woman,” “The Cave of Cosas,” “The Lake of Bones, and more. While more seasoned readers might be tempted to point out some of the flaws, younger readers will likely find this one to be a new fantasy favorite.Ĭurse of the Night Witch will no doubt appeal to avid readers because of how steeped in story it is. Likely, however, the target audience of tweens will not notice or mind, instead focusing on all the marvels of Emblem Island. Curse of the Night Witch is obviously a debut novel, one that is crammed full of action and adventure, but sometimes stumbles with pacing, plot inconsistencies, and too-obvious parallels to other fantasy works.

Curse of the night witch