4.5 stars rounded up because it was so completely awesome and fun to read. I can't believe I have to wait 5 months to post my review!!!

I really enjoyed this book.

I found the plot to be really interesting and engrossing.

I loved that this book is not heavy on the romance and that even though there are definitely two love interests in this story I wouldn't actually call this a love triangle really, I thought the dual love interests were handled really well.

I really enjoyed all the side characters, especially Fifer, I can't wait to see more of her in future books.

I loved that this books deals with some, what i consider, heavier topics

Spoiler

such as men in positions of power taking advantage of young women, as was the case with the king calling Elizabeth to his bed chamber

,i really thought this added another level of complexity to the story.

I also really appreciated that this book even though it is the first in a series, does not have a cliffhanger ending because, let's face it, every single book in a series (except the last one) having a cliffhanger ending can get a little old.

Overall really enjoyable and i can't wait to read more in the series.


Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy to review.

So ein gutes Buch! Und gleich noch ein paar Lieblingscharakter mehr in meiner „Liste“. Ich bin sehr gespannt, was da noch so passiert😍😱

3.5 stars
I usually rate a book based on my reaction to it. Whether I felt it was exciting or dragged in some parts will affect my rating. Sometimes that means that I rate a book high because I enjoyed even while I acknowledge that its literary merit is not high. I liked this book well enough, but can see some of the objections to this book. I will continue on with the series because I found this book pleasurable. Not as a great thesis on the world's woes, but a great story with some great characters and interesting world building.

I don't understand why people wouldn't like this book, it wasn't too filled with romance... more of a fantasy mystery... sort-of. I loved the characters and the sass! And I will read Kingslayer! I'm hooked now!

2.5 Stars on this one. Spoilers abound.

I finished this book yesterday, it took me two days to read, and I'm still having trouble deciding whether I liked it or not.

The fact that I finished the book tells me that I enjoyed it to a degree, and I am curious to see what happens in the next book - BUT - I just can't help feeling like she missed the mark.

The story premise had so much potential which I feel was made poor by the main characters lack of everything.

She's an amazing witch hunter - but makes all these mistake.
Being an amazing witch hunter I would think would come with a certain amount of confidence and cockiness but she didn't really have either.
Don't even ask me about the king thing - that was all just handled way to lightly - it's sort of implied that she was upset about it and that's why she was making mistakes but that was kind of it.
I wasn't feeling the love interest - why did they like each other, they didn't really spend much time getting to know each other - he has to keep patching her up which is not really that romantic in my book.
Her 'best friend' was a douche to the end.
This is a world full of magic but nobody really uses it, except the bad guy, who is also known for killing anyone that uses it - oh but not everyone because he's building an army to take over the land and nobody really noticed that not all the witches and wizards were being burnt.

It's just a miss mash really. Still... having said all that, I probably will read the second one - just to see if it gets any better, if the writing becomes more polished. But Ill be getting it off book depository, when its on sale and when I have a 10% off discount voucher.

My apologies if this review made no sense, like I said I'm still not sure whether I liked it or not.

(!!!TRIGGER WARNING!!!)
(My review talks about things that happen in the book, even if they are not explicitly mentioned or described. These include r*pe, child abuse, both mental and physical, and PTSD, including mention of an attack.)

I didn't really enjoy this book. The writing itself is fine, good, even, but the main character is r*ped (it happens off-screen and is never labelled as such, but the protagonist is forced to have sex with the King, a man whose advances she is unable to turn down or say "No." to.) She is also mentally and physically abused, and as she is only 15, it's arguably child abuse at that (again, mostly off-screen), and suffers from PTSD, including an "on-screen" attack.

So how does the author choose to deal with all of these traumatic experiences and mental health issues that she's forced upon her protagonist? Spoiler alert! She doesn't. At all. Ever. Not even a little bit. Even after the protagonist suffers from a serious PTSD episode, she wakes up just fine and continues on as if nothing happened, and the episode is never discussed or brought up again. As someone who has suffered PTSD episodes myself, THAT'S NOT HOW THINGS WORK! It's such a slap in the face to people who actually struggle with trauma. This was obviously just a plot device used to move the story along and that is some lazy writing BS right there.

Long story short, The Witch Hunter takes a bunch of serious issues, including r*pe, child abuse and PTSD, and uses them as window dressing to give the illusion of a gritty reality to what is otherwise a teen romance. The end result is a vapid, disappointing flop, especially as those same "window dressings" are only ever brought up to move the plot along, so the issues are never addressed and thus we readers are left with no emotional payout.

Save yourself the time and don't read this book. I won't be bothering with the sequels.

Decent fantasy, but it doesn't really stand out. Also, insta-love is a rating killer.

This was a fascinating debut novel by Virginia Boecker. This book has magic, deception, plots, and political intrigue. I loved the world and the characters. I was fascinated by the story and loved finding out all the aspects of the plot as they unfolded.

This is one of those stories where magic is illegal and those with magic are against the King and his Inquisitor. I found this aspect of the story great, especially the idea of the Witch Hunters. The witch hunters are trained by Blackwell to capture and bring in those practicing magic so they are burned at the stake. On the other side of this you have the Reformers, who are against the laws forbidding magic.

The characters in this book were extremely well-developed, even the minor characters. As for the main character, Elizabeth, I loved how she was this cute, seemingly innocent girl, who was actually extremely brave, strong, and not at all innocent. I loved this characterization where she was always proving everyone wrong and taking care of things herself. I also loved the quirkiness of Nicholas and a lot of the other Reformers.

One of the things I really loved about this book, was the fact that the romance was not a large aspect at all. Yes it was there but not throw in our face like many other books and that was refreshing. This book definitely focused on the adventure for Elizabeth and her journey toward helping the Reformers and eventually deciding which side she stood with. The side that taught her everything she knows or the side that saved her when she needed saving.

I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to the next one. This book felt very complete at the end, but there are still many loose end that need to be tied up in future books. My only complaint with the book was that it is supposedly an alternate 16th Century England, but to me felt like it could have been present time. There was little world-building to indicate a past time period. There were many mannerisms and saying that felt much more present day then 16th Century. While this irked me, I still really enjoyed the book as a whole. I just would have preferred a more 16th Century feel.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This book wasn't very well written, I couldn't truly get into the story because of how bad it was written, but I did enjoy it and I liked the characters and the story all though I do not like the main couple.