4 stars ( )

I just found out that this is the third book in a series. I had already started the book and was thrown right into the action. There was no preamble setup. Which is something that can totally work. But now that I know it is the third book in the series, I think I should read the first two books before continuing with this one.

Barrow witch is het derde boek van de 'Fey Matters' serie. Het eerste en tweede deel heb ik niet gelezen. Hierdoor vond ik het lastig om in het verhaal te komen. Er worden veel namen genoemd en er wordt regelmatig teruggegrepen naar gebeurtenissen uit eerdere boeken. Om het verhaal goed te begrijpen, raad ik aan om de gehele serie te lezen.
Doordat ik alleen het laatste boek heb gelezen, vind ik het moeilijk om deze te beoordelen. Misschien dat ik enthousiaster over dit boek was geweest, wanneer ik het hele verhaal gelezen had.

Het moeilijkste van dit boek vond ik dat ik geen enkele keer het gevoel had dat ik echt in het verhaal zat. Ik raakte in de war van de verschillende namen, waarvan ik geen idee had wie, wie was. Het verhaal ging van gevecht naar gevecht, waardoor je kon merken dat dit het afrondende boek was.
Positief aan het boek vond ik Effie. Een sterke persoonlijkheid, waarvan ik het gevoel had dat ze gegroeid was gedurende het verhaal

* e-ARC gekregen in ruil voor een review ( )

I came prepared to like this book – after all, it's fantasy with steampunk elements, the Scottish highlands, fey creatures, everything that is normally right up my alley. I actually tried very hard, but somehow I could not get into the story; maybe reading the previous volumes in this series (of which I was not aware at the time) would have helped. Without this background information, I had a bit of a hard time to find out what was going on or even who or, in fact, what species the protagonists were. Even so, I if the narrative manages to draw me in I am usually content to defer for later reference what I don’t get right now.

What exactly was it that did not klick with me? First and worst, I found the pacing somehow off: action-driven, gripping scenes alternating with info dump threw me off rhythm and made it difficult to follow the storyline. Then, there was the author’s trying so very hard with so many characters (which blurred for me), so many fey species drawn from both Celtic and Norse lore. The overall Scottish-ness seemed forced, with characters forgetting to talk dialect mid-sentence and the narrative winding up with an odd and, to me, a bit grating mixture of Ye Olde Englishe, Gaelic and Scots, even instances of Celtic-Norse language mashup and original creations phonologically improbable in either language. Also, the author seemed bent on vesting his protagonist, as well-rounded and plausible a character as you would wish to find, with every Mary Sue trait on the list: an orphaned (check), half-human hybrid (check) outcast with, yes, Hazel eyes, auburn hair – I’m sorry: tresses, and some kind of super-powers (check, check, check).

Overall, a solid work of fantasy with an interesting setting, which might profit from a spot of editing to get rid of some instances of weird grammar and cut some dispensable details. It seems a pity it did not work for me. ( )

Barrow Witch is the third book in the Fey Matters series by Craig Comer. I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have not read the other books in this series, I did not realize it was part of a series until I was about 15% in (and a little confused). As a result, I can't talk about the series as a whole, but I can give my impressions of this book. I would not recommend skipping the first two books, I feel that they introduced a lot of the characters and did a lot of world building.

The plot of Barrow Witch seems pretty straight forward. I will admit, the politics lost me. Some of that is, again, because this is the third book, but some of it is my fault since I didn't find that part interesting. However, I did like that Effie was able to hold on to herself, even if she did have to leave her comfort zone, in the face of everything that happened.

Effie is a strong, interesting character. She has a good heart, a curious mind, and a lot of compassion, even after years of not fitting in anywhere. I also enjoyed the supporting characters, I feel that they are well rounded, which isn't always the case.

The writing style took a little while for me to get into. It felt oddly formal in places and it was very descriptive, sometimes overly. For me, the plot didn't move very quickly, but the scenes were beautifully built. Instead of the book being a quick run, it's more of a jog....you notice more about your surroundings, but you still get there. ( )