REVIEW: Witch Craft by Caitlin Kittredge
Dear Ms. Kittredge,
I have a very hard time explaining why I keep reading this series. As I’ve mentioned in the past, the main character, Luna Wilder, can be really off-putting at times. On the other hand, it’s very nice to see her maturing and evolving over the course of the series. The Luna Wilder we meet in Witch Craft, the fourth installment of your Nocturne City series, is certainly not the same Luna Wilder we met at the beginning in Night Life. Well, in some ways, at any rate. I still question her taste in men.
When Witch Craft opens, Luna is now the head of the Supernatural Crimes Squad (SCS), a new division in Nocturne City’s police force created to look into cases not quite on the mundane side of things. Problem is they want the SCS to start bringing results ASAP. If not, then they’ll be disbanded and Luna and her co-workers will be out of a job.
Luna sees their chance to prove themselves with a new case. Mysterious fires are being set all over the city, killing some unsavory people who deal with Nocturne City’s supernatural side. What’s more, Luna is being targeted for reasons she doesn’t understand, by things she’s never seen before. To further complicate things, Lucas, the serial killer wendigo from Second Skin, has returned and Luna finds herself unwillingly attracted to Will Fagin, a federal agent who’s been assigned to investigate the ongoings and might have a secret or two of his own. Add to that a mole who’s feeding information to the people the SCS is trying to bring down, and Luna’s got a lot on her hands.
I wish I could say I enjoyed this book more than I did. I didn’t hate it and I did finish it, but it just didn’t incite much of a reaction from me either way like previous books in the series had. In fact, I actually put the book down in the middle for several weeks, and I didn’t feel any pull to return to it. I’m not sure why that is. In a sense, it sort of felt like the story and plot was just going through the motions.
I wasn’t very interested in Luna’s new love interest, Will, even after we learned what his secret was. I’ve also never been particularly keen on Lucas, but serial killers tend to bring forth that reaction from me. Even though I never cared for Dmitri, his interactions with Luna were at least interesting. I can’t really say that here.
It also didn’t help that I figured out who the mole was the second we learned there was a mole in the SCS. I thought it obvious and that removed a lot of the suspense from the plot for me. I’m not sure if we were supposed to believe another person on Luna’s team was the spy. Unfortunately, that person was too obviously a red herring for it to be effective.
I did like the fact that the mythology of the Nocturne City world expanded by having different creatures than we’ve seen previously, and also by including different disciplines of witchcraft. But it almost felt very kitchen sink-like; too much going on to form any lasting impression.
As usual, I enjoyed the relationship between Luna and her cousin, Sunshine. I still think that’s one of the best aspects of the series. And how funny is it that Sunny is now dating Luna’s former boss. Ha! How traumatic that must be for Luna. I also liked seeing the interactions between Luna and her formidable grandmother. It makes me wish we could have seen more of it in previous books. Well, maybe in the next one.
I really do wish I could have liked this book more than I did. I know that the Nocturne City series ends with the next book, though, so maybe the final novel will yield different results. C
My regards,
Jia
This book can be purchased at Amazon. Ebook format? What’s that?
I’ve only read one book by her (Street Magic and not even to completion), but I had a similar experience. She writes very well, I can’t fault her prose. But I put her book down and couldn’t seem to pick it back up. It’s been about two months already. The book lacked urgency for me.
But I’m convinced she will probably become a favorite of mine in the future. I do like her turn of phrases and her style.
I have not read any of her books yet, but ill get this one of Amazon and check it out.