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Book
Review - Darksome Thirst |
Back cover synopsis: Newly initiated wiccan priestess Matricaria has begun to receive psychic messages--vivid dreams and tarot card readings--that point to a terrible fate for someone near to her. She and her coven attempt to decipher the symbols, hoping to prevent a tragedy. Soon the lives of these very different women are drawn together, toward a common goal: purge the shadows! |
Rhaevyn's Synopsis |
| A fiction story set in the 1970's involving early computer techs, vampires, and a group of witches as the good guys. Not only do you feel Alicia's pain of being a female in a male-dominated field, you also get a sense of a working Pagan group that's doing its job in protecting the community and each other. Sure, this is a fiction novel, but some of the best fiction is so close to reality that you get a genuine attachment to the characters and their plight. |
Entertainment Factor  |
| It's fiction. Draw yourself a hot bubble bath and enjoy it. I can see some people not liking it because they're picky about how vampires should be portrayed (Anne Rice fans think of vampires one way, Poppy Z. Brite fans think of them another way, Bram Stoker fans have yet another opinion, and then there are Buffy fans...and that's just naming a few!) but I felt the parts dealing with the coven were very well done. *GASP!* Pagans were the GOOD guys! |
Content and Information |
| Once again, this book is fiction, so "information" is not really an applicable subject here. However, I did feel the content involving the coven was very useful--it showed a more realistic picture of a working coven than, say, Buffy, Charmed, The Craft, and other fictional portrayals of witches. This is obviously not an instructional book. The content reflects that. But it also doesn't make blatant mistakes like worshiping during a New Moon with the moon visible overhead at midnight. Yes, I have seen books that made such errors.... |
Usefulness Not Applicable |
| It's fiction! Sure, you can get useful ideas from fiction (I sure have), but I did not find this to be the case here. |
Longevity
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| It's set in the 1970's, was written in the 2000's...and is fiction. You can read it at any time. I thought it was intriguing enough that many people will want to read it again to catch some of the plot twists and other subtle details as they occur. But I will say I will be reading it again in the future...probably when the sequel is released. |
Final Analysis |
My only "disappointment" is that the book is going to have a sequel (The Old Power Returns, due October, 2005) and I have to wait for it. I normally don't read too many fiction novels, especially of the vampire genre, but this book was enjoyable to even me. The plot was good, there were enough twists to be intriguing but not confusing, the character development was well-done, and it was fast-paced to make me not want to put it down. I love this book. I can't stop recommending it to people who are looking for a novel to read to take their minds off school work. |
Author:
Morven Westfield
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I'll admit a bias...I don't like a lot of the books that Pagan authors are putting out now. I try to give fair and honest reviews, but I really think that if we want the standards of Pagan reference and literature raised, we have to be incredibly critical of what is already on the market. Just wanted to warn you ahead of time... *grin*
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