Witchlight

So… I didn’t actually realize that this was the second book in a series until I was part way through reading it. And then there wasn’t an ending that isn’t a cliffhanger requiring the reader to grab the next one. This could, quite effectively, be a stand-alone novel. It’s so unusual and refreshing to find this in any single installment in a series, and I loved this fact!

I picked up this book because it has been so freaking long since I had read anything by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and I once went through such a MZB phase. I think I read all of her Avalon books within the span of a couple of months. I really need to revisit these books!

This book really made me remember how much I love MZB’s writing style, how what she writes show more flows so gracefully. Just reading the descriptions of places was so enjoyable and completely built the whole world so thoroughly. Loved every second about it.

I think the one thing I didn’t like about this novel was that it was slightly dated – the story takes place 14 years after the main characters graduated (in 1982), and they’re all in their mid-30′s. Rather wish a specific year hadn’t been actually mentioned for when they actually graduated, as I wouldn’t have actually wanted to figure out how old they would be today, which then tinged the whole book with a mid 1990′s image in my mind. Unfortunately, my hyper sensitivity to the actual time period drew away slightly from my full enjoyment of the story.

What I really enjoyed about this novel, and which I think helped get the pace of the novel going right away, was the fact that we were learning who Winter Musgrave is while she was learning it. Having the story begin with Winter not remembering the past few years of her life made for a very interesting beginning and allowed us to jump into the story with her.

Other characters in the book are all quite well developed as well, and as much as I liked Winter, I wish we got to see her interact more with the other characters. Especially Truth, who is apparently a main character in another book in this series. Maybe I will need to delve more into this series just to spend some more time with her.

The Bottom Line
Thoroughly enjoyed reacquainting myself with Marion Zimmer Bradley’s works. I really enjoyed this book, but am not sure if I will be reading the rest of the series or if I will be treating this as a standalone novel. show less

Witchlight is the most internally consistent and successful of the series, I think. I like Gravelight's first half better, and fans of gothic romance might well prefer Ghostlight, but Witchlight has a solid plot, some interesting metaphysics, and a twist ending that was actually pretty startling. It's still not a good book, really, but it has some things to say and it says them.

(It is worth noting that this book, and the rest of the series, were published years after MZB's death, and are in fact copyrighted to Rosemary Edghill, who is a consistent if second-rate purveyor of what I fondly call "mall-elf fiction." I strongly suspect that Bradley herself had minimal involvement with this series. I'm not entirely thrilled by the deception.)

Winter Musgrave awakens one morning in a remote farmhouse, and realizes she has amnesia. She cannot remember exactly how long she's been living in the house or why she came there. She has vague memories of being a successful New York stockbroker, but doesn't know why she quit... until she begins to find dead, mutilated animals on her doorstep, and flashes of the horror she's endured come back to her. In the fear that she is causing occult phenomena unconsciously, she seeks out psychic researcher Truth Jourdemayne (who appeared in the previous novel of this series, Ghostlight) to help her, and she goes on a quest to unravel what happened to her, back when she was a member of an occult circle in college. What happened to her college show more boyfriend, with whom she was truly in love? Who is she, and what are her powers? Most importantly, what is the malevolent force that seems to be following her?

Not bad, but several aspects of the plot are a bit dubious, and the ending is a bit unbelievable. show less

I finished this second book but have abandoned the last two books in the series. It just wasn't holding my interest. A bit too weird for me. And I wasn't impressed with the characters and some of their choices.

Such a disappointment from a great writer.

hb

Op een goede dag wordt Winter Musgrave - beursmakelaar op Wall Street - tot haar verbijstering wakker in een oude boerderij in de Hudsonvallei, vlakbij Glastonbury.

Er zitten grote gaten in haar geheugen - ze weet niet wanneer ze naar de boerderij is gekomen, of hoe. Alles wat ze weet is dat het bijna lente is. Iedere ochtend bij het wakker worden staan alle ramen en deuren van de boerderij open, ook al weet ze zeker dat ze die de avond ervoor heeft vergrendeld. En iedere ochtend vindt ze een dood dier voor haar deur, leeggebloed en aan flarden gescheurd.

Op zoek naar hulp komt Winter bij Truth Jourdemayne terecht, een psychologe gespecialiseerd in het occulte, verbonden aan een instituut voor paranormale wetenschappen. En daar leert ze show more meer over zichzelf dan haar lief is...

* Geschreven door Marion Bradley & Rosemary Edghill. show less