Content Reviews: YA Witches

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Goodreads: Born Wicked

Series: The Cahill Witch Chronicles #1

Publication Date: Feb. 7, 2012

Source: Library

Summary:

As witches, Cate Cahill and her two younger sisters have always been in danger.  Witchcraft is feared in New England, and the Brotherhood is always looking for an excuse to haul women away to Harwood Asylum or to some mysterious fate.  But when Cate finds their mother’s diary, which talks about a prophecy of three sisters with powers, she learns they may be in more peril than she had dreamed, not only from the Brotherhood, but from others willing to use their talents for their own ends, and even from each other.

Conclusions:

Obviously, there is witchcraft in this book.  The Brotherhood, who are the men in charge of government on every level, teach in the Sunday schools that witchcraft is bad, a gift from the devil.  The Brotherhood, however, are the obvious villains in the story, cruel men who oppress women and spy on everyone in their eagerness to condemn the sins of others.  Their opinions are generally meant to be discounted by the reader.

Witches, it seems, can be either good or bad, depending on how they use their power.  The protagonists, clearly, are good ones.  Cate does not particularly like her own magic, having inherited from her mother the thought that it is a curse that mainly puts her and her sisters in danger.  Her sisters use their magic mostly to amuse themselves or to retaliate in minor ways against the other sisters when they are angry.  No one is doing terribly wicked things here.

The theme that women are being oppressed and are expected to act like silly, frivolous dolls runs strong throughout the book.  Cate and her sisters are somewhat exceptionally educated for their society and like to flout other societal roles.  Cate often mentions, in conjunction with the Brotherhood’s hatred of witches, that they punish lesbians equally as harshly.  She is in favor of homosexual couples, and one such couple forms and kisses during the story.

The romance between Cate and her suitors is kept to kissing.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Goodreads: Chime

Series:  none

Publication Date: March 17, 2011

Source: Library

Summary: 

Briony has always known she is wicked.  Her stepmother told her to hide her powers and to never use them or tell anyone else.  But now her stepmother is dead, and a handsome young men has come to board at her house instead.  And he seems to think that Briony is not wicked at all.

Conclusions:

Unlike in Born Wicked, the witchcraft in Chime appears to be unanimously frowned upon.  Briony despises her own witchy powers and the terrible things she believes she has done with them when she became overly jealous or angry and lost control.  She spends the majority of the book attempting to suppress her witchcraft and reminding herself what a horrible person she is, so she will not be inspired to use it again.  This self-hatred is at times excessive, although the reader can see the differences between Briony’s own thoughts and the reality of the situation.

All the other witches introduced in the book are evil.  The Old Ones, who seem to be things like river spirits that are more powerful than witches and older than them, can be either dangerous or harmless, depending on their own personalities.  They are part of the nature of the area, and their assumed extinction in the future, as technology takes over, is mourned even though the area will become much safer for travelers.  As it is, anyone who enters the swamp must carry a paper with a Scripture verse in order to defend against death or worse.

The romance in the story is clean.  Briony is the daughter of a pastor, who adheres by his rules even if she sometimes dreams of being as free as other young people, and Eldric, the love interest, likes to be chivalrous.