#my  review

I received this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley. Thank you publisher!

3 out of 5 stars

I would like to start with the cover - the cover is one of the best covers I have seen in a while in fantasy. In a world where graphic covers rule the genre - it was refreshing to see a beautifully rendered painting. The color scheme and the subject is just superb! Lauren (art director of Orbit) and Jeremy Willson (the artist) created a one of a kind beautiful cover that I honestly wouldn’t mind hanging on my wall.

Now onto the book itself. Seven Blades in Black is my first Sam Sykes novel. I have heard a lot of great things about the writer and I was very excited to dive into this novel. However, while I liked it well enough, it took me a very long time to get into the story. I really did like Sal the Cacophony - she’s funny, witty, snarky and just a great MC. I also really appreciate that she is gay (or at least bisexual as this is a first book in the series and the reader doesn’t know everything). The main reason why I struggled with the book is that it moves REALLY fast - I mean videogame fast. I know that Sam said this series was his love letter to The Final Fantasy and it truly is, with many of the same elements - but it moves at a dizzying speed. Furthermore, I found the whole magic system really complicated and hard to follow. I had to reread the passages a few times and then think about what/how the magic would work - it really took me out of the story and did not let me enjoy the book.

I think that anyone who loves fast paced fantasy or Sam’s previous work will really enjoy it. I really appreciate Orbit letting me read and review this book.

-Iryna

I received an e-galley of this title via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you publisher!

2.5 out of 5 stars

A Witch in Time is a story of a young witch, an artist and a demon cursed to be reborn over and over again to live out a doomed love affair. Once I heard the words witch, artist and demon - I was so there! I was so excited about this book and the cover is gorgeous.

Well this book was not what I expected. The characters were flat, one dimensional, the book jumped the shark in 3rd reincarnation and the ending was predictable.

My first problem with the book is the age gap between Merchant & Juliette. She’s 16 and he’s in his 30s with a wife and a kid on the way. Historically, I am aware that these things happened - but I honestly couldn’t get past the revulsion I felt when they had sex, or when he painted her nude. I don’t know but to me this is just pedophilia. They have a love affair, it happens in like 20 pages, like just happens, for purposes of the plot. It’s so unbelievable.

My second problem is that this book is VERY rape happy - why? Just to show that Juliette has a hard life. Juliette is to marry a young man who is cruel and abusive to save her family. It’s very Tess of the d’Umbervilles - a young woman, trying to save her family gets raped by the richer man, then she is disgraced and discarded like trash. Not to mention that once Juliette leaves - her younger sister marries this awful piece of trash and gets abused by him. WHY?! I felt so awful for the sister! Why didn’t Juliette ever help her?! She was only obsessed with herself - that’s why. Which brings us to why I dislike Juliette.

Then we have Juliette - a spoiled brat who never really grows up. The wold is just against her and she makes all of her own problems. And I understand, she’s still in her teens, but I just couldn’t care for her. Honestly, I couldn’t care for any of her reincarnations, like at all, and especially Hellen. WOW I have not disliked a character this much in a long time. She’s shallow, self-obsessed, self-important, and one dimensional. She only cares about what kind of designer she wears, what kind of party she attends/throws, who is present at this party, how it can benefit her, how her house looks - honestly she needs to be Instagram ready at all times. If I wanted to read about any of this - I’d pick up a Vogue, not a historical fiction book. And then Merchant (the artist) is just there to break her art and Luke (the demon) to pick up the pieces and put her back together.

The magic and the demon take up maybe like 10 pages total of this book. Basically what drew me to the book in the first place was not there.

And then there are descriptions like: “She turned to see a middle-aged woman with long hair and low breasts leaning against the doorway.” Why are her breasts mentioned in this? What’s the purpose of their description? I honestly don’t think this author likes women very much, what with all the rape, descriptions of saggy breasts and the misfortune that befalls them She likes them only if they’re wearing a 2013 Alexander McQueen gown at a gallery opening.

There are parts of the book I did enjoy: the way the curse worked with the administrator (if it was done better), Juliette’s mother’s back story, traveling through time and seeing Paris in the 19th century.

This could have been a great book, but instead it’s just a shallow piece of work that made me angry and depressed.

~Iryna