SPELLCASTER REVIEW
TITLE: Spellcaster
AUTHOR: George Bachman
SERIES: ?
PUBLICATION DATE: April 3 2017
PUBLISHER: Self Published
SOURCE: review copy from author
Christine Daniel suffers in ways no sixteen year-old should and that no doctor has been able to cure. That's because the excruciating pains and high fevers slowly debilitating her aren't triggered by a physical cause but by visions of a youth calling to her while fleeing a mysterious man who means him harm. This could hardly be happening at a worse time, when she and her beautiful older sister Allison are making their début in high society, like other wealthy socialites seeking matches with titled but impoverished gentlemen in Victorian England.
Because of his pleas, Christine is convinced that to stop the visions she must somehow save this youth. But first she has to find him, and since she's seen him only in visions, she needs someone who'd know how to locate someone through means outside the known senses, the paranormal. Unfortunately the authorities have driven underground all but one of the country's occultists, and the reason she isn't hiding is the only reason she might help Christine, something she wants in return. Christine must convince Allison to marry the occultist's lover, one of those impoverished gentlemen, so that the illicit pair can share her part of the family fortune while continuing their affair.
If Christine doesn't stop the visions by saving the youth, the pains and fevers will eventually kill her. But if she does what the occultist wants, she will betray Allison to a lifetime of misery. Can she lead her sister into a marriage with a very bad man if doing so is the only way to save her own skin - literally?
Christine is plagued by visions and nightmares. Being in the midst of a posh society that thrives on gossip, scandal and shunning, she has to be careful not to draw the wrong attention especially since it's nearly her time to debut. So she turns to witchcraft and magic to find out why she's plagued by those weird dreams but she can't do everything on her own and so she starts to seek out help from the renowned occultists in society all while trying to keep her outrageous behavior from tainting her reputation. But the occultist that hasn't been banned wants something in return-she wants Christine's sister to marry her lover so that they can share the family fortune.
The premise and plot of this story was exciting! Christine is having visions of her past life and she feels like she's not herself because of these visions. She was really strong headed and a bit stubborn in my opinion because she refuses to let her sisters and friend's now that she's suffering. I also really appreciated that in her past life the author didn't automatically make her a woman but rather a man.
"I knew things i could not possibly know and i have to fight the overwhelming feeling that...that i am not only me."
The two story lines and the differences in setting were pretty cool! A British society and the medieval knight setting. It was a book that mixed Austen feels and maybe some kind of medieval-king Arthur knight feels, But the transition from one setting to another wasn't as smooth as it could have been. The shift was a bit too abrupt i think.
The beginning was a bit rough for me because i got easily confused with all the characters we were introduced to at the beginning. I had trouble keeping up with who was who and it felt a little like we had an onslaught of background in one go instead of a gradual explanation spread out within the first chapter.
The author did an amazing job with his writing, that is one thing i really have to mention. It was really good writing and his interpretation of each of these eras was excellent. There was a lot of time and effort put into those settings. There was also a great build of tension and mystery throughout the writing which i found pretty cool :P
"I laid in bed for a week hearing and seeing things only spirits can show, not hallucinations. Voices strong as memories. It was not with my eyes and ears alone, it was all the way inside me."
Unfortunately the story didn't grip me, and though the author did a spectacular job with his world building, at times it felt like a little too much descriptions were included. When you spend so much time describing and describing, the reader kind of loses focus on the story and i found myself skipping a couple of heavy description filled paragraphs but once i got back to the story, i had kind of already lost the gist of it. The story grips your attention but then you're distracted by the descriptions and once you get back to the story, your attention isn't really won over again.
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