In this novel, written by Jessica Cluess, Henrietta is the prophesied girl to bring about the end of the Ancient ones, seven monsters tormenting England during Queen Victoria’s reign, by becoming the first female sorcerer, not to be confused with the illegal witches and magicians, since Joan of Arc. Oh, and she has an Unclean best friend whom she is trying to save.
Honestly, that is the best way I can think of describing this book without giving anything away.
I enjoyed this. But, as I was writing that summary, I realized that not much happened in this book. The characters grew, there was a lot of character development… on a few characters. And, while the characters are teens, and there is nothing that MAKES this an adult novel, I feel like this would appeal to adult fans of Harry Potter. It is a very, very similar plot, with the exception of length, detail, and the fact that the main character is a girl.
And, the biggest reason I think this has been categorized as a YA novel is the fact that, if this was an adult novel, this would only be the first half or the first section of the story.
Things this book did that I didn’t like: the random addition of Fey. We don’t get to see them more than on occasion, and they should be a bigger part. Particularly since, while there are a lot of Fey novels and stories out there, I think that many people still don’t know those stories. And, because of the variety, an author needs to describe their world fully. That is the biggest downfall of this written, is the description of the world itself. We get bits and pieces, but not much of the world as a whole.
