Warrior Witch

4.5 stars. It would've been 4 stars, but those last few chapters gutted me (in a good way). I really liked the overall plotline, but there were some things that didn't completely settle with me.

When I opened the book, I really wasn't sure what to expect (in terms of plot), because the ending of Hidden Huntress created utter chaos (wonderfully). As mentioned before, as much as I loved the book in general, there were some bits that bored me a little. Although those bits weren't too bad, and the slight boredom only lasted for short periods of time. Starting from the end of Hidden Huntress, Cecile has finally defeated Anushka. But in doing so, she released the trolls from their curse, along with the fey courts. While organizing the panicked show more humans, Tristan and Cecile still must defeat enemies who want to take complete power.

So I start reading, and Cecile and Tristan interact with all sorts of people (using the term very loosely). Strategies and politics are discussed. Admittedly, the politics discussions were the parts that bored me. Those people interactions were the interesting parts, and they occurred so frequently that I was able to tolerate the politics pretty well.

This isn't as much of a complaint as it is an observation, but some moments that I thought would've been significant and earth-shattering were somehow...anti-climatic? I'm not sure that's the right word. For example, the interaction between Cecile, Tristan, and Thibault happened so fast, and what happened to Thibault at the very end was so unexpected that it seemed unbelievable. The disbelief also applied to the eventual fates of Roland and Angouleme. I guess it did effectively add to the shock and suspense, though...which is why this isn't really a complaint.

The story was very twisty and clever, and some things happened that I never could've predicted, which is a good factor. But the ending tops it all off...before the very last chapter, during the third-to-last and second-to-last chapters, I was completely shocked. I had been dreading this possibility of this tiny suspicion in the back of my head after a certain event before this, but I didn't ever seriously believe it would happen. Because it seemed like all was happy and well...but I suppose that was the calm of the storm. Those few chapters before the last chapter nearly horrified me, and I was thinking to myself: There had better be a good reason for this. Otherwise, that's a star or two deducted for this unreasonable thing happening. But, lo and behold, the last chapter changed the horror to a bittersweetness; the absurdness to a brilliant logic, and rather than deducting stars, I added one just for the amazing ending.

If you've already read Stolen Songbird and Hidden Huntress, then I strongly encourage you to finish the trilogy with Warrior Witch! Its ingenious plot and action make it to be very entertaining besides the politics, but if you're someone who is interested in discussions of politics and strategies, then all the more reason to read it!

Oh, and if you haven't read the previous books in the series yet, then I am seriously questioning your decision to expose yourself to all these major spoilers. show less

The Malediction trilogy by Danielle L. Jensen was an eye-opener for me. If you read my review of Book #1, Stolen Songbird (link at the end of this review), you’ll learn I initially turned down that novel because I couldn’t imagine that anyone could make trolls attractive much less romantic lead material. Boy, was I wrong about that! Not only did Danielle L. Jensen succeed at doing that but she’s woven together a world in this trilogy that is fascinating to read about. I couldn’t wait to read Book #2, Hidden Huntress, and just finished Book #3, Warrior Witch. Each follow-up novel in the series was just as good as the first one!

This world is comprised of humans and several kinds of magical creatures, among them trolls, witches, show more and fairies. And those magical creatures are not just vying for power but are tearing their world apart in the process. Put politics in the place of magic and you may find some disturbing similarities to history and our current world. But this is the one-step-removed world of fantasy, so it’s much easier to read and shake your head at than it is when you look at real-world politics and upheaval. If you like fantasy, intrigue, and edge-of-your-seat suspense with a slightly feudal touch then I suspect you’re going to love this series as much as I have. Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=9077. show less

I think this book was my least favorite of the three. There is just too much going on at points with all the different story threads...strangely this made the book kind of boring and difficult to read. I think part of my issue is that there are so many characters and so much going on. A little index with the characters, synopsis of the story thus far, or just a little more recapping would have made it much easier to engage in the story and get into this book.

The book does pick up some in the second half. A big driver in this story is the fact that both Tristan and Cecile are required to deliver on payments owed; Tristan to the Winter Queen and Cecile to the Summer King. The fey play a much bigger role in this book and honestly it seemed show more like a bit too much when thrown in with the Troll, human, and half-human politics all going. However, it does all come together nicely in the end.

Tristan and Cecile spend vast portions of the book apart dealing with the politics and issues they are faced with separately. In the second half of the book they finally team up again and I enjoyed watching them work together. I did like how things wrapped up but I struggled a bit to stay focused on the story.

I thought there were some issues with the story as well. I had trouble engaging with the story and kept finding myself falling asleep or struggling to pay attention. Additionally, the chapters alternate between Tristan and Cecile and honestly their voices sounded a lot the same. Many times I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter to be reminded who was speaking; they just didn’t have voices that were different enough.

Overall this was a good conclusion to this series, I ended up enjoying how things wrapped up. However, I did struggle quite a bit with staying engaged with the story early on (I kept falling asleep or wandering from it). I think there was just too much going on; too many characters and the plot was a bit sloppy. Tristan and Cecile sound very alike in their different chapters and this caused more issues for me because I kept forgetting whose POV I was reading from. I really loved the first two books in this series, but I thought this one was a lot weaker. I would still recommend to fans of YA fantasy; there are some neat ideas in here, some great magic, and some sweet romance. show less

Took a while for me to finish this, mostly for lack of interest. For some reason, I wasn't as impressed with this book as I seemed to have been the first two. Most of the book was the battle, which dragged on and on and on and on and ... I just wanted it over. There were so many times where the heroes (or villains) were almost killed/captured, but then something happened to cause them to evade it. This was often caused by one side underestimating the other (surely you will stop underestimating each other by now!) or some form of Deux ex Machina - looking at you, dragon.

Then, the ending - after the battle - dragged on and on and ... well, you get it. I somewhat understand the reason, it must have been hard to not tie up their lives, but show more surely it could have been done in a more succinct manner? Also, (I don't want to spoil) but I felt like one tyrannical rule was traded in for another and no one seemed bothered?

I think it's worth the read to finish the trilogy, but I've lost the excited feel that I felt with the first book. show less

Warrior Witch is the final book in The Malediction Trilogy. With the witch Anushka dead and trolls finally freed, the isle is at war. Tristan and Cécile, are finally together again after being separated but they have no time to celebrate. They quickly find themselves fighting a war on two fronts and if that were not enough, each of them owe a life debt to the fae. Somehow, they must find away to stop Tristan's violently insane younger brother from claiming the throne, as they try to stay one step ahead of the fae, who clearly have been playing the long game.

Cécile has been through much since we were first introduced to her in Stolen Songbird. My first complaint with her character was the she turned out to be the typical spunky agent show more and this still has not changed. I am well aware that this book YA and therefore a younger protagonist might make mistakes that a more mature one might not but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some character growth, of which Cécile had absolutely none. Cécile constantly vacillated between wallowing in self pity due to the consequences of her actions and in turn blaming others and shirking responsibility altogether. What was perhaps must irritating about Cécile was her absolute refusal to listen to others. The trolls on her side of the war were experienced and trained and time after time, she ignored their advice to do things her own way which inevitably further complicated whatever situation she was trying to extricate herself from.

The thing that bothered me most about Cécile as a spunky agent is that her actions didn't even make sense. Who exactly decides to sneak into the enemies lair in the middle of the night without bothering to inform friends and family of the risk they are taking? Cécile that's who. She knew damn well that cooler heads would have forced her to think through her actions and so she ran off instead with a half formed idea. When called upon her action, Cécile didn't even seem to want to acknowledge that her friends and family were terrified that she had died. She's almost bitter about having to take her lumps for their rightful anger.

Warrior Witch is filled with action which for me is a bit of a turn off. I don't enjoy reading battle scene after battle scene and the writing in these portions of the book was far from descriptive enough for me to be drawn in. Instead, it felt like the action was drawing out the inevitable conclusion of the story. There just wasn't enough meta holding Warrior Witch together for me, even with the introduction of the fae and an explanation as to how they become trolls and trapped on earth. The introduction of the fae should have added something special to this story and yet, I felt at least the Winter Queen was far too easily defeated to be of much interest. If that were not enough, solving the mystery of how the Trolls became trapped on earth on the first place occurred in what felt like a blink of the eye. How is it that the Trolls and witches have been trying for centuries to deal with the iron poisoning which trapped the Trolls on earth and Cécile was able to put together a little spell in a New York minute? I understand that Cécile is the super special chosen one but watching her vacillate between an utter wreck and then completely competent threw off the flow of the story.

For all its faults, I read through Warrior Witch rather quickly. I kept hoping that it would return to the former brilliance of Stolen Songbird, only to be bitterly disappointed. At least part of the problem is that Tristan and Cécile spent so much time apart and on top of that, for a time, Tristan used magic to shut down his feelings so he wouldn't be tempted to rush to her aid. This series really needed the banter between Cécile and Tristan to be at its best. I kept reading in spite of what was wrong because I wanted to see how Jensen ended this trilogy.

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3.5/5 stars. I didn't like this as much as I liked the preceding books. Still, these books are well-written, and I very much enjoy the political scheming and shifting alliances. A good series; I'll read more by this author.

I was really losing interest from about 40-90% and was about to mark it a 2-2.5. I liked the ending though, so that bumps it up up to 3.