Book of Shadows by Cate Tiernan
So, I mentioned that there I had a story behind this book. It was published in 2001, when I was about twelve. That's around the time I first picked it up. Book of Shadows is the first book in a series of fifteen books, called Sweep, all centering about a girl named Morgan and how she discovers herself through the religion of witchcraft, Wicca. When I was twelve or thirteen, I discovered this series at my library and delved right in. For some reason, maybe the later volumes of the series weren't at the library or maybe they hadn't even been written yet, I stopped reading Sweep halfway through and it became a distant memory. In later years, I couldn't even remember the name of it. Back then, this is what the book looked like:
A bit different than the image up top, huh? So imagine my astonishment when I recognized the first book for the same series I had abandoned in my pre-pubescent years! I had seriously just been scanning the shelves at this bookstore, and that yellow book jumped out at me and I instantly knew what it was. Not entirely unlike the way Morgan, or heroine, finds herself unnaturally pulled to Wicca. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I bought the book (which is actually the first three books in one volume) to see if my twelve-year-old self had good taste in reading. For the record, I did.
The Rundown
Title: Book of Shadows
Author: Cate Tiernan
Number of Pages: 186
Genre: Supernatural
ISBN: 0141310464 (for Book of Shadows by itself) or 0142417173 (for the volume with the first three books, like I have)
Summary
Morgan Rowlands was a very ordinary 16-year-old before the mysterious Cal Blaire moved to town. She isn't gorgeous and feels outshone by her best friend, Bree, and her little sister, Mary K. She constantly describes herself as 'ordinary.' To be honest, the first few chapters seemed reminiscent of Twilight. Of course, this was written before that, so it really isn't. And it's better than Twilight, though I'll explore that a little later. The two books just seem to parallel each other at first, with the self-conscious main character and the love interest that seems to be hiding something unnatural.
Because Cal isn't what he seems. He practices Wicca, an ancient religion that ties to witchcraft. And Cal is looking to start a new coven, or group of witches, in his new town. Some of the other kids laugh it off, but some seem genuinely interested, and Morgan in particular finds that the more she learns about Wicca, the less she can deny it is part of who she is, and she may be close to unlocking great power within herself.
Shelf Potential
3.5/5
This is where I rate how interesting the book seems when I first pick it up. The cover itself seems aged and simple, pretty on its own, but I don't think it would really stand out much on a shelf. The summary on the back does a good job of inspiring interest in the plot, and the inside excerpt is of a scene that peaks that interest even more. I guess the reason I gave this section a 3.5 was because I didn't pick up this book for any of those reasons. I picked it up because I remembered it.
Plot Potential
4/5
This section didn't get a 5 because the whole 'supernatural love story' is an old cliche. Magic has also become a cliche. But this book got a 4 because reading a novel centered around Wicca is something I've never done before. The fact that this magic story rises from something that actually exists make Book of Shadows unique and new.
Overall Execution
4.5/5
Tiernan has a writing style that is pretty common in Young Adult novels. It was easy to read and not distracting. I especially enjoyed her diction, the way she uses phrases like "my mom clucked" instead of "my mom said." Such phrases were happy little distractions that set Tiernan apart from other YA novelists.
On the other hand, there were some grammatical mistakes I noticed right off the bat. Someone did not do a very good job editing this manuscript. These were distracting at first, but after I started to get immersed in my reading, I stopped noticing them, which was good. They only occurred sparsely.
This book is written in first-person past tense, which is pretty typical, with our main character, Morgan, being our narrator. Each chapter has a short quote about witchcraft at the beginning, from the late 17th to the 18th century. These quotes are mostly ominous, warning about witches, which is an interesting contrast from the text itself, where Morgan is discovering the positivity Wicca has on her life. I appreciated the fact that these quotes were relevant to the story, because so often when authors do this, the relevance is so cryptic it is often lost.
The other unique thing at the beginning of each chapter is that some of them contain short paragraph-long entries from either Morgan's journal or Cal's Book of Shadows, the witches' equivalent to a journal. These are nice because they add to the mystery as we wonder what Cal is referring to in his pieces. We also get a quick peek in his head now and then.
The last thing I want to touch on about the execution of this book is the unusual way they spell 'magic.' It is spelled 'magick' here, because they want to separate the word from the kind of magic magicians do. I remember when I was younger this distracted me, but I found that this time around I didn't mind it as much.
Character Development
3.5/5
Morgan- I really like Morgan, the main character. At the beginning of the book, I couldn't help comparing he to Bella from Twilight because she kept stating how plain-looking she was. But when Bella says these things I always kind of got the feeling she was just saying them to get sympathy points (Mary-Sue style). When Morgan says she's normal, you can tell she actually believes it, but she tries not to let it bother her too much. That already makes her a stronger character than Bella.
Morgan goes through many emotional problems in this book. She has to deal with her parents' disapproval of Wicca, while she is discovering Wicca is a large part of who she is. So she's torn between being a good daughter and being true to herself. She also has to deal with her feelings for Cal while her best friend, Bree, has feelings for him as well. In Book of Shadows, all of Morgan's conflicts revolve around deciding where her loyalties lie.
Cal- I don't have too much to say about Cal's character because he hasn't really been developed yet. By the end of Book of Shadows, he's still mysterious. We know he believes in Wicca, but there are hints (not subtle ones) all over that he knows much more about it than he lets on. However, he seems to be an open-minded individual who is accepting of all. He uses his religion to bring together students of all different cliques, which surprises Morgan. Cal is cryptic so far, but we still have fourteen more books to figure him out.
Bree- Morgan's best friend's character goes through dramatic changes in this book simply because the way Morgan perceives her is different by the end of the book. At the beginning, Bree is the number one confidant in Morgans's life, but by the end, Morgan realizes the friend she thought she knew wasn't the best thing for her. Hats off to Tiernan for using Morgan's perception of her friend change the dynamic of their relationship.
Everyone Else- Here is where Tiernan loses the point and a half. Aside from Morgan's family members, everyone else in the book is quite unmemorable. Over the course of the first chapter or so, Morgan's first few days of school, she names all her classmates (first and last names) and it's pretty overwhelming. Am I going to have to remember all these people? Even the eight other classmates who decide to join Cal's coven are pretty bland. I really couldn't pin a personality to hardly any of them. Yet they are always present at the Wiccan rituals, so won't they be even a little important? A bit more development here would have been appreciated.
Age Group
13 and up
I think I'm just saying this because I was originally around 13 when I read this, but there was some stuff in this book that I was surprised I read back then. Morgan refers to the 'stoners' in school. There's a skinny-dipping scene, although Morgan feels uncomfortable and refuses to participate, which I guess would make her a good role model for young girls. Morgan has an aunt who is a lesbian. There's even a reference to sex, although they call it "going to bed," so the reference may just go over some heads, like I suspect it did mine. Nothing inappropriate really happens though. The age of the main characters is 16, but I think this Book of Shadows could be understood by people younger than that.
Summary
Overall score: 3.875/5
I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it. I wouldn't let the fifteen books in the series scare you off, because most of them are under 200 pages, like this one, and pretty easy reads. I also wouldn't let the fact that it's centered around Wicca scare you off, either. It was basically like learning about another religion while the other characters were learning about it, too. And it's always good to broaden your horizons and learn new things. If anyone is interested in borrowing Book of Shadows, just let me know and I'll lend it to you... after I finish the other two books in my volume, of course. In case you are wondering, the next two books in Sweep are called The Coven and Blood Witch. If you want to read something else by Cate Tiernan, she wrote another series called Balefire, apparently about two identical girls who meet by accident and have the same strange birthmark on their cheeks (don't ask me, that's all I know), and her newest work, Immortal Beloved, about... immortals, as far as I can tell. Go to catetiernan.org for more information.
I haven't decided which book in my Book Buffer I'm going to read next, but I promise to put out another review before too long. One more thing, before I go. I would appreciate any feedback on the review of this book, since it's my first. Too lengthy? Was there something more you'd like to know about? Please let me know!
