TURNING PAGES: Weather Witch by Shannon Delany

Since A.F. finished HER review of DARK TRIUMPH before I could finish the book (!) I am going with my second string review for today.

Reader Gut Reaction: I loved the alliterative title of this book, which helped give me reasons to pick it up – I’m a sucker for that kind of thing. Coupled with an attractive cover, I was easily reeled in to a tale of a witch in trouble.

While initially I was excited about the novel, I realized that I was two-thirds in before the action really started. I felt like a lot of time better spent in developing the plot was spent on setting the scene. I was disappointed with where the novel ended – with a missed connection and no real understanding of what was going on. Let me explain…

Concerning Character: Something is coming. In his tower in the Hub, where he takes power from the captive Weather Witches to fuel the lights of the city, Bran knows. It is not the rumor of steam power, which will make his job redundant, and make the Weather Witches ordinary citizens. It is something real – not the rumor of steam, but something dire, something fell, something dark as night. But… what?

Elsewhere in the city on this dark night, Jordan Astraea shines. She is one of the stars in the firmament of society, ranked Fifth in the Nine Great Families of Holgate, Philadelphia. Well-bred and ornamental, dressed in a gown of sparkling wire and filmy gauze, Jordan knows her duty – to make the most of her looks, and make a good marriage for her family. She believes that she is fortunate in her friends – and on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Catrina Hollingdale, her best friend, and Fourth of the Nine, and her sometimes-beau, the flippant, light-hearted Rowen Burchette are by her side. Catrina even gave her the glorious dress she now wears.

When the Wardens march on the party and accuse the Astraea family of harboring magick, everyone and everything drops away from Jordan – except Rowen. Abruptly not empty-headed and light-hearted, defying his mother, Rowen refuses to shrink from the family, or Jordan’s mother. It’s a mistake, he insists. Even when Catrina tries to engage his attention elsewhere, he insists it’s a mistake. He sets out to defend her honor — and sets off a chain of events which end in him leaving home, banished, and unsure of anything except that he wants to see Jordan again.

Jordan, meanwhile, waits patiently and stubbornly for someone to say that this is all a mistake. She has no more magick in her than she has six arms. As the dress grows dingy and she grows bruises from riding to the Hub in cages, she realizes no one is coming to save her. And, as the terrifying man in the Hub brings out his knives to find the root of her power, she realizes if she’s going to survive, she might just need to save herself.

ALL of this sounds good, and the premise here is loaded with glittery descriptions, and subtlety that is perhaps necessary to tell the full story with all of the knotty plot issues smoothly laid out. However, I found myself disappointed that the novel ends before anything really happens, and certainly before anything is resolved. So, know going in: This is BOOK 1. You might want to read slowly, because BOOK 2 is going to be awhile.

Recommended for Fans Of…: THE AMULET, by Alison Pensy; WITCHLANDERS, by Lena Coakley; BORN WICKED, Jessica Spotswood