ARC Review: The Apprentice Witch by James Nicol

Hi friends! Long time no see! This last month has been kind of slow reading wise, but I thought it was about time I got started on the ARCs that the wonderful Emma of Miss Print sent me. The first one I picked up was The Apprentice Witch by James Nicol, a Middle-Grade fantasy book being published on July 25, 2017.

I had a hard time even getting in to this book. I was immediately bored with the story because I felt like I had read it before. It didn't take long for me to realize that the plot follows the same tropes as most magical-girl/witch-girl anime and several other young witch stories published. I kept with the story, hoping that the author would have some kind of fresh take or surprising twist to add, but he never did.

Beyond the tried take on an old story line, the characters and dialogue of the story were kind of boring as well. Most of the characters in the book were two-dimensional with little to no real growth over the course of the story. Arianwyn had some development, but her initial characterization was boring (I would really like a character to have a flaw that isn't being clumsy for once). The dialogue is awkward and there is much too much telling and not nearly enough showing.

I would have given this book a 2 out of 5 stars if it weren't for the overwhelming similarity this book has to too many other stories. As such, I have to give this book 1 out of 5 stars. There really wasn't much beyond the beautiful cover to recommend this book.