So Seawitch is both about a boat named Seawitch and about an actual sea witch. Harper has to find out what happened to an old boat that washes up on shore because apparently the Guardian Beast has taken on the role of paranormal boss man now, and teams up with Solis to do it.
This series is a very different one from the first five books. I’m really noticing that the mysteries are easier to figure out, even if they are a bit more twisted in family politics than before. Perhaps this is how it always was but now I’m reading those explanatory sections that I dislike more1 but I feel like all the portions about the mystery are being handed to me.2
On the other hand, Solis gets a whole family and backstory. I love Solis now. He is my favourite.
I don’t get the soul bond thing. Is it just emotions? It manifested as being able to feel Quinton’s physical pain initially, but now it seems to only reflect his emotions when they are in a mid-range and she’s not looking directly at him. And he’s not feeling any effects as near as I can tell. I’ve taken to assuming he’s hiding it to keep Harper from worrying, but I’m still hoping for a little more on it than being used as a plot device in the last book.3
We have to talk about this friendship thing that keeps coming up. Yes, Harper does tend to use her friends as resources and probably should have lost a lot of them after putting them in that much danger in the first five books, but maybe stop harping on the “How do I be a good friend? I don’t know how to friend!” subplot? Quinton keeps bringing it up and Harper keeps talking about it in ways that are a little too on the nose to sound real. It sounds like an after school special and I’m really hoping it’s not an important plot point.
And now, Tanya complaining about the technology in the Greywalker series:
Also, can we cut Harper some slack on going to her friends, who are a legitimate witch4 and a paranormal researcher, for help on dobar-chu,5 which is a term I have never even heard of before and have no idea if I’m spelling right? She found minimal information from looking them up online and they are resources that probably know more about it than the online databases that she can access with her probably incorrect spelling.
I am super happy that Harper is trying to do some Google. I like that she’d trying to look things up on her own. It’s just also fine if she also gets some more information from her friends who probably know more than she does and know more about what’s accurate.
Back to our regularly scheduled book talk.
The series is definitely progressing toward some big confrontation with Quinton’s father, but the book is feeling a lot like the mysteries are getting easier. Everything just wraps up so neatly at the end and I`m left wondering if this could be better if it were written without the case and just the main arc happening. I mean, it would be shorter, but it might make it feel more like the previous iterations.
Also, I still don’t know if Edward’s alive. I know next to nothing about what happened at the end of the fifth book still. I also don’t know how much time has passed anymore. Before, she busted her knee one book and that injury carried over into the next, but I’m wondering if this cracked rib is going to stick around. These books feel like they won’t have that anymore.
I mean, they’re still fun. I think I got spoiled by the fourth and fifth ones in how quick they all happened and how much they focused on Harper and the plot that a return to the old formula feels like a bit of a step backwards.
Two more left. Here’s hoping everything rapidly picks up!
[AMAZONPRODUCTS asin=”0451415450″]- Or that they’re being better integrated into the text so it’s not all in one massive dump [↩]
- Oh, he saw the girl? Well, she’s probably still alive and a sea witch. Gary is some mythical creature that is super rare and looks like that thing the other character saw? Guess who’s not dying right now! [↩]
- And it better damn well be used a plot device for all the emphasis that’s being put on it. [↩]
- An Irish one at that [↩]
- Big Irish otters that can talk? [↩]