The Book of Shadows

Imagine a Charles Dickens novel but Gothic with witches and demons.

Invested.

Too much description! This is the first thought as I read this book. I love the storyline and the originality put into Herculine but really? Half this book was pages upon pages of useless description. I could not keep a clear image in my mind of what was going on because of the wordiness. The back stories of each character were interesting, I especially liked the succubus and incubus' stories. Sabine's was rather dull and uneventful though it did provide a good baseline for how witches act/are organized which I'm sure was its purpose. Overall I would say this book is worth reading if you can get through the details. You may need to skim, I confess I did this on some parts, but it is a wonderful storyline.

This was a mixed book for me. It was beautifully written - at times evocative and at times poetic. I especially liked the description of the French Revolution as seen through the eyes of the witches and other characters. I also liked the characters Herculine, Madeleine, Father Louis and Sebastiana. While there were parts that dragged, especially chapters concerning the convent and Sebastiana's first coven meeting, the crossroads scene towards the end made the read worthwhile.