Witchmark
I was on the fence about this book when I heard about it. Everyone seemed to like it a lot. And even though it sounded cool on paper, nothing about it really grabbed me. Then Tor.com offered it as their free download last month and I needed a digital book to get me through a few slow work days, so I read it.
I'm still on the fence about it. It took me a really long time to get invested in the characters or story. For a long time the book felt unfocused and scattershot, sending tendrils down a bunch of different paths. There was a doctor in hiding from his family until he accidentally runs into his sister at a hospital fundraiser. There was a murder mystery and some suspicious-acting colleagues. There was the mystery of the book that the victim was working on when he died. There was a mystery epidemic spreading through the hospital, resulting in more murders. There was a stalker and a potential love interest. All this in a world where magic and faeries are real, and I had to learn the rules of this fantastical society.
It was a lot. Every time I got interested in one plot thread, the book dropped it in favor of a different one.
That said, the ending was fantastic. Polk did an incredible job of tying all these disparate elements together into an incredibly thrilling and satisfying conclusion. It ended up reminding me a bit of NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, but, like, a lite version. 300 pages instead of 1000 plus.
So maybe that was my problem. I felt like the story didn't quite get enough room to breathe. The beginning and middle were rushed and jerky and I had a hard time investing in what was happening. But the payoff was worth it, and I'm even considering reading the sequel. If I come across it.
I'm still on the fence about it. It took me a really long time to get invested in the characters or story. For a long time the book felt unfocused and scattershot, sending tendrils down a bunch of different paths. There was a doctor in hiding from his family until he accidentally runs into his sister at a hospital fundraiser. There was a murder mystery and some suspicious-acting colleagues. There was the mystery of the book that the victim was working on when he died. There was a mystery epidemic spreading through the hospital, resulting in more murders. There was a stalker and a potential love interest. All this in a world where magic and faeries are real, and I had to learn the rules of this fantastical society.
It was a lot. Every time I got interested in one plot thread, the book dropped it in favor of a different one.
That said, the ending was fantastic. Polk did an incredible job of tying all these disparate elements together into an incredibly thrilling and satisfying conclusion. It ended up reminding me a bit of NK Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, but, like, a lite version. 300 pages instead of 1000 plus.
So maybe that was my problem. I felt like the story didn't quite get enough room to breathe. The beginning and middle were rushed and jerky and I had a hard time investing in what was happening. But the payoff was worth it, and I'm even considering reading the sequel. If I come across it.
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