Review Detail

Review published on Page Turners Blog on 8/27/2011:

I really believe that a well-loved folk or fairy tale has to have a certain level of darkness in it to be good. And The Near Witch starts with just that -- a story which scares you with its possibilities, a story that reminds you when you hear an unexpected knock, knock, knock that it just may be true.

Also, Victoria Schwab is THAT writer. You know the one that will keep you guessing, wondering and all the while you will be hypnotized by her gorgeous choice of phrasing. Here’s an example with her protagonist, Lexi, and the mysterious boy, Cole, who shows up just as the disappearances start (from page 86):

I pause a moment, leaning against a rock. The world tips dreamily.
“You’re tired,” he says.
I shrug, but linger another moment.
“I’m fine,” I say, straightening. “Tell me a story.” I yawn as we continue walking along the narrow dirt lane, the wind-blown path always to our left. “It’ll help keep me awake.”
I didn’t want just any story, I want his. I want to know the world beyond the Near and the way they speak and the stories they tell and why he is here, in his singed gray cloak, and why he is keeping his words close.
“I don’t know any,” he says. His eyes wander over the field to the grove in the distance, sitting like a knot of shadows.
“Make one up,” I say, glancing back now at the blue-black world that falls away behind us. Cole looks back, too, frowning as if he sees something different, more troublesome or alive than the simple landscape, but he says nothing, seems to grow thinner before my eyes.
“All right,” I say at last. “I’ll start, then. Any requests?”
The silence is so long that I think he hasn’t heard me. The wind around us hums. Finally he speaks.
“Tell me about the Near Witch.”

Victoria is a masterful storyteller who will amaze you with a fairy tale so visceral and real that you will want to leave the light on at night. Having said that, she will also leave you smiling with her to-die-for romantic moments. Lexi and Cole experience the kind of love that makes sense in its spontaneity.