Review: The Witch Hunter

Title:  The Witch Hunter
Series:  The Witch Hunter #1
Author:  Virginia Boecker (Website | Twitter)
Age Group:  Young Adult 
Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  June 2nd, 2015
Source:  Gifted

The magic and suspense of Graceling meet the political intrigue and unrest of Game of Thrones in this riveting fantasy debut.
Your greatest enemy isn't what you fight, but what you fear.
Elizabeth Grey is one of the king's best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. But when she's accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.
Salvation comes from a man she thought was her enemy. Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful and dangerous wizard in the kingdom, offers her a deal: he will save her from execution if she can break the deadly curse that's been laid upon him.
But Nicholas and his followers know nothing of Elizabeth's witch hunting past--if they find out, the stake will be the least of her worries. And as she's thrust into the magical world of witches, ghosts, pirates, and one all-too-handsome healer, Elizabeth is forced to redefine her ideas of right and wrong, of friends and enemies, and of love and hate.
Virginia Boecker weaves a riveting tale of magic, betrayal, and sacrifice in this unforgettable fantasy debut.

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I'm honestly not sure how exactly I feel about this book.  While I did enjoy some parts of it, other parts had me struggling to even keep my eyes on the page.  I simply couldn't keep my mind focused on it, especially in the middle.  Everything seemed to drag for way too long and I had to actually convince myself to continue reading it and not pick up a different book.  But that's not to say there wasn't some parts that I liked a lot.  The end was super interesting and kept my attention and some of the characters kept me invested throughout.

The biggest thing that bothered me while reading was just how some things didn't make sense at all.  For example, all of Nicholas's followers kept accusing Elizabeth of being a spy and having like, infiltrated them and that made no sense to me.  They are literally the ones that kidnaped her and brought her to their camp.  How could she be a spy infiltrating them when she was brought there?!?!  That logic bothered me so badly.  Every time it was brought up in the story, I had to keep myself from drop kicking the book.  Another thing that really got to me in this is that I totally thought the author was building up one character to be the love interest and then suddenly some random new person was there and became the love interest.  It threw me off when I was reading and made it harder to connect with and like this new love interest guy.  I had already begun to ship Elizabeth with the first guy. 

The characters were all pretty good.  It took me a while to warm up to Elizabeth but that was mostly because I had trouble sympathizing with what she was doing.  Once she sort of opened her eyes to a different way of thinking and acting, I began to like her much more.  The other characters were okay.  They were interesting enough to keep me invested in what they were doing but they seemed one dimensional.  Like, they all were very "straight and narrow", I guess.  Some of my all time favorite characters are ones that aren't always good.  I like seeing them test their morality and through those experiences, I get closer to them and that never really happened with the main characters in this book.  Though there was a side character, Schuyler, that dabbled a bit in this sort of development.  I wish we had been able to see more of him throughout this book.  

I don't know if I'll be picking up the next book in this series.  The Witch Hunter had some good aspects but it also dragged on at times and none of the main characters truly won me over.  It did have a nice fantasy aspect and I was taken by the history of the witches.  I just wish it would have been a bit more engaging. 

“I'm quiet for a moment, enchanted by the idea of something stealing over you, settling into you, and telling you, with absolute certainty, who you are and what you're meant to do.” 

Three Teapots