The scope appears to be attempting to reach epic proportions without ever bothering to lay the very necessary foundation. Thus we are jumping around between characters, adding to our cast rapidly, without showing enough detail or character presentation to connect with any in particular. overall 50% ( )

I requested to read Hedge Witch due to the cover, the punky feel with a synopsis about witches… sold! I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the story as well. The plot started out a little slow, learning about the main character Cait and her family, but them picked up as soon as the reader is whisked off into another world. This 2nd world is a fantasy dream, witches and evil sorcerers and all of it is tumbling into the real world where Cait and her grandmother are trying to save both worlds.

The fast paced storyline was made all the better by the cast of characters, all so unique and fun to follow on their journeys. In the real world, we have Cait – a strong willed, hardheaded teen, her grandmother, her mother, Danny, and the evil Nox and his ‘help’. In the land of magic, we have so many others, Fer, Johnny, Ran, Hellen and the evil Lich King.

I found there to be a nice balance in the number of characters and their worlds, but also loved the magical elements. In the real world it was/is harder to perform magic – even for those coming from the other world, this aspect kept some of the ‘real’ world feel to the world.

I have read a lot of books about witches and the part that so many seem to avoid is how the power affects the person using it. In the case of Hedge Witch, whenever someone uses magic they are depleted –either with physical pain or depression or the like. I think that this really added another level to the story, it made the characters think about how and when they wanted to use their abilities versus just using them all the time and taking advantage of their gifts.

Overall this was a very enjoyable book. I look forward to the next installment! ( )

"What you send out comes back to you threefold. It's the way of nature, the way it should be. And we accept, welcome even, the price paid. After the day there must be night. After the summer, the winter."

This is the price to be paid for practicing magic, only Cait doesn't know that magic exists, or that she is a witch. When trouble from another world suddenly erupts into the basements of the Manchester Central Library, where Cait's grandmother works, Cait must learn about another world and the magic within her- quickly. The library houses many special books, some behind bars and some from other worlds. It is one of these books that the terrifying undain and a team of brutal soldiers is willing to hunt down Cait, her grandmother, her mother and Cait's friend Danny, for.

First, I loved that this began in a library, what better place for a dangerous otherworldly book to be stored? I easily fell for Cait's character. She was easily relatable and a strong character, it was fun to see her discover her magic and find strength within herself. I do wish that we didn't leave Cait for so long when the point of view switched to the other, magical world of Andar. There was a lot of world building, back-story and important characters to meet, that tied the story together as it moved along. Fer and Cait's relationship was an interesting surprise. Once the story came back into Manchester and the chase was on with the book, I was much more engaged. Also, learning all of the depth of the book, the soldiers and the ties to Andar was intriguing. The best surprise character for me was the archaeon, a literal bookworm who can supply all of the knowledge of the books it has lived in, and in our world, the world wide web. I hope he shows up again in the next book. ( )

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I enjoyed the reading very much and I am looking forward to next book .There's magic aplenty here but also some old-fashioned strategizing.

But..... Here is the lesson .....Magic should never be used lightly using magic hat it's price- It is a wonderful and terrible gift and you should use it wisely if you use too much you can burn the magic out f you.

Cait lost her loved father in tender age , and since then her mother wasn't been the same, they become two strangers that living at the same house. On top of that, Cait thought that She is a total failure, going nowhere.

But at the same that she is getting a weird message - “They will hunt you! Once they find you, who you are and what you are, they will come! Day or night! You … here all along! All along!” - from a strange crazy beggar .It was too much for her and she turned and ran for the library. There she will meet her grandmother. Her grandmother was always pleased to see her. Always had time for her.

Underneath the Central Library of Manchester, a straight, concrete corridor, where a string of lights provide occasional clearings in the darkness, lead into the gloom of the vault! A strange place where old, wispy cobwebs, with no evidence of any actual spiders, hanging in the high corners and at a regular intervals were locked, metal doors.

“Book storage. We only have a small percentage of the volumes on display upstairs, you know. The rest are down here, carefully cataloged and protected....It's much bigger than the library upstairs. Not many people know this level is even here. It extends a long way under the streets. I like to think this part of the city is built on a foundation of books." Her grandma explained her.

In one corner a part of the shelf was sectioned off with strong metal grilling, a large padlock securing a hatchway in it. Several old books were inside, placed carefully onto the shelf so they weren't touching each other. “… why are these books locked away when they're in a room that's already locked? ”

.....“Oh they're valuable,” her gran said. “We sometimes look after books for other people. They have to be well protected for insurance. Some of them have been here for years.”

Suddenly there was a strength yellow green light and loud banging sounds and then a sharp smell of burn. from this moment everything had changed for Cait and the secrets surrounding her, and the introduction of Nox.

Nox, with his phalanx of bodyguards, their motorcycles gleamed silver in the bright sun, each wear a helmet so it was impossible to see their face, who love to hunt some low-life waster who barely knew what was going on, on his Harley-Davison V-Rod. He loved everything about this. The throb and roar of the bikes. The sweet smell of burning fuel. The thrill of the chase. and..the kill! He and his gang serving the Lich King on our world,

“Cait, listen to me. This thing is extremely dangerous and, I'm not going to lie to you, extremely frightening. It's come from another world in search of something. A book. And we must stop that from happening, at whatever cost. Do you understand?” In the fight on the protection of the book, one witch die and one got heart.. ..Cait grandma. The creature that can for the book run away.

By the orders of grandma, she reached inside Vault 42 (yes the same No. as in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and In the Judaism, the Two Lettered Name" ascribed to God,and in the In Japanese, "shi ni" - four, two, that sound like the phrase, "unto death"... and so on.....) and took the book. A book that, etched into its leather a sketch of a skull and strange symbols. Cait put it under her arm, turned, and ran back to her gran.... "Take the book and destroy it. Burn it. Burn every page. Not a word must survive. When you've burned it, shred the ashes, too.” said her grandma.

And Cait succeeded to exit the library walking past Nox and head to her best friend Danny. Where they together tried to destroy the book, but couldn't.

Meanwhile, on another world, to Islagray, the Witches' Isle, in Andar , brought an unconscious witch..... “Her name is Fer. A hedge witch. She is uninjured. She worked some terrible magic and the pain threw her into this stupor. In time she will recover.”... said Ariane to Hellen Meggenwar, eldest of Islagray. She fought against pair of Undains and succeed to kill one, but she nearly killed herself with the magic she worked.

Under Islagray, five passageways, hewn from rock led off into the ground to an archive. Torches here and there showed many doorways in the walls of each passageway, leading to more caverns. Four of the five tunnels eventually disappeared around bends but the fifth, the central one, seemed to go straight down fore and in this spot the the two worlds where were connected, with the Manchester Library archive.

Undains - a creatures owning a rotting smell to them, are, sorcerous in nature, something that should never have lived. They are bone and feather lashed together in roughly the right shape and only able to move because of the death magic that filled them. Worse than the stench was the way the skeleton had been cut. Human bones sawn up and mixed with those of animals or some giant bird. They all created and ruled by Menhroth, the Lich King. This king rule the kingdom of Angere, that contain a big population of Undains that he himself created..

Johnny Electric - A wandering minstrel. A bard, a busker, a jongleur. A tall and thin, with a good–natured face, a wide smile. His hair was long and ragged. His eyes sparkle. He could have been a scarecrow taken from some sunny field and brought to life.

Ran - A dragonrider. Leather armor covered his torso, legs and arms. Tattoos deep blue, intricate whorls, cover his head and hands and would cover, his whole body. His hair was long and bound in a tightly knotted sheaf that reached half way down his back. In his left ear were one silver stud to denote his rank. Around his neck, a gold chain studded with string of small red gems, Penitence Stones. A shame burned in him. And the intense desire to spell out what the dragonriders had done all those years ago. As the king guard, they followed their orders and allowed Ilminion the necromancer, to work his necromancy. It is said that over a thousand people died within the chamber as Menhroth was ritually killed and brought back as undain. In this He offered Menhroth eternal life and inhuman power. Offered him all the powers of necromancy, too.

The book - Over long years, Ilminion perfected the Ritual of the Seven Ascensions, and described in the books. The necromancer's magic is all there in one book. How it works, how it may be broken. The book may be the only hope for stopping the Angere king, so they couldn't destroy it. By magic, Akbar, mancer of the failed Angere rebellion, split the book to two. One half were taken to Angere and the second they sent to Islagray. The copy of Angere disappeared and copy of Islagray has been sent,twenty years ago, to the other world.

Now the the witches of Islagray send a delegation to retrieve the book from our world. The delegation contain: Fer the young witch, Saleen another witch, Ran the dragon rider who want to compensate of the shame of his ancestors and Johny Electric that is actually a famous singer from our world.

On the other side in our world Cait, her Grandma, her mom, Danny tried to to prevent from the book to fall into the hands of Nox and his gang. ( )