Four years ago during her freshman year of high school, instead of joining a normal extracurricular activity like her mom wanted, Tabitha took up an apprenticeship under Sorcerer Solomon, one of the most famous fortunetelling sorcerers. Sorcerer Solomon has even predicted his own death, providing only a cryptic prophecy. When he does meet his demise, everyone is still shocked, especially since it seems Sorcerer Solomon has been murdered. Fulfilling the promise she made to Sorcerer Solomon before he died, Tabitha is sticking close to his youngest son, Callum. Not trusting anyone or the police to solve the murder, Tabitha and Callum decide to investigate for themselves. Could the murderer be one of Sorcerer Solomon’s children, including Callum; his first wife, the mother of his two eldest children, and also a renowned sorcerer; his current non-sorcerous wife, mother of Callum; or someone else?
I really wanted to enjoy this book, it had a lot of potential. The plot sounded great, and the sneak peek of the first few chapters really drew me in. However, I was let down. The story is kind of juvenilely written. It makes some sense because it’s written in first person, from Tabitha’s perspective, and is written as if she’s personally telling the story to you. I liked that aspect because it’s like you’re sitting down with Tabitha and she’s having a conversation with you. But at the same time, it’s like having a conversation with the kind of people who don’t stop talking and go from one story to the next. This story kept going off on tangents and didn’t do much describing, so you get side tracked and feel more like you’re being told a story and not like you’re living the story.
The biggest disappointment is that this was not much of a murder mystery, and there wasn’t really any investigating. Tabitha and Callum just talk about who they think did it, basing their guesses solely on who they think has the most motive. They do a little bit of clue searching, but only look through a few things in Sorcerer Solomon’s workshop, not really discovering much. Also, Tabitha doesn’t solve anything, the murderer ends up revealing themselves, and only after providing information does Tabitha put pieces together.
There is a decent twist at the end, and overall I didn’t hate the book, I still wanted to see how it ended and see who the murderer was, but the story didn’t live up to the expectations set from the description.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, it had a lot of potential. The plot sounded great, and the sneak peek of the first few chapters really drew me in. However, I was let down. The story is kind of juvenilely written. It makes some sense because it’s written in first person, from Tabitha’s perspective, and is written as if she’s personally telling the story to you. I liked that aspect because it’s like you’re sitting down with Tabitha and she’s having a conversation with you. But at the same time, it’s like having a conversation with the kind of people who don’t stop talking and go from one story to the next. This story kept going off on tangents and didn’t do much describing, so you get side tracked and feel more like you’re being told a story and not like you’re living the story.
The biggest disappointment is that this was not much of a murder mystery, and there wasn’t really any investigating. Tabitha and Callum just talk about who they think did it, basing their guesses solely on who they think has the most motive. They do a little bit of clue searching, but only look through a few things in Sorcerer Solomon’s workshop, not really discovering much. Also, Tabitha doesn’t solve anything, the murderer ends up revealing themselves, and only after providing information does Tabitha put pieces together.
There is a decent twist at the end, and overall I didn’t hate the book, I still wanted to see how it ended and see who the murderer was, but the story didn’t live up to the expectations set from the description.