The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

Reread this today since the sequel is coming out soon. It's such an interesting way to tell the story of Salem. I'm looking forward to the sequel. Some of the characters seemed a bit unrealistic on certain topics - Sam not knowing about the witch trials despite living in Salem and having studied some of the stuff was a bit much. And I will say, listening to the book rather than reading a physical copy, plus the way the reader said the word, made me really notice the overuse of the word “coif”.

This was an excellent book. You can tell it was very thoroughly researched. But it was not dry at all. The story kept building and made me want to keep reading it or actually listening to it because I did it as an audible book. The narrator was excellent and did the voices very well so that I knew right away who was speaking.

This book took a while to get going and I could see the ending coming. It was still interesting though.

I LOVE all things witch, witch trials, occult etc, if your book includes those things chances are I will read it and enjoy it, and this novel was right up my alley! Katherine Howe is a descendant of two accused Salem “witches” and she has created a very well researched and well crafted (haha no pun intended) story that weaves facts with fiction in a truly enthralling story. The novel jumps back and forth from present day to the 1600's and the cast of characters are well developed and interesting. The only negative point I had with the novel is the author really telegraphs who the “bad guy” is very early on in the novel, it is quite obvious and therefore, for me, took away a bit of the “who done it”, but that really was just a minor issue for me and I really enjoyed the book overall!

Part way through this book, I was ready to put it down. I was quite certain that the direction of the plot had grown completely transparent and that I had everything figured out. Mostly out of spite, I kept reading, expecting to prove myself right.

I was deliciously wrong.

While some of what I expected came to fruition, it did so in such unexpected ways that I was completely consumed. The last couple hundred pages flew by as I devoured the story, delighting in the unexpected twists and turns that awaited on each page.

Bravo, Ms. Howe, for surprising me in the best of ways.

Eh. Just can't get into it. Some parts are great, but there are not enough of those for me.

UPDATE: Listening to this book is way better than reading it. There are some places where I am tempted to start thinking about the little details that don't make sense. However since I'm listening to it, the book keeps going on and I don't stay thinking about it.
I like the plot and the way the “bewitching” is explained. I like the way the author made me feel like I was in 17th century Massachusetts.
Connie is not my favorite character because there are some obvious things that she didn't pick up on for a while. I like her relationship with the people around her though. There are a few things that I wanted explained better, but I'm not going to throw out spoilers. I did really like the way she tracked the book throughout time. It made a lot of sense.
So that explains a lot of the book. There are annoying pieces that don't make sense, but there are also other parts that are done really well.

If “Discovery of Witches” and “The Forgotten Garden” had a baby, they'd get this bit of drivel. What is with the streak of bad “Twilight” for adults books filled with cardboard characters and juvenile writing? Seriously, this thing reads like something a 12-year old would write. I take that back, maybe a 12-year old would write something less ham-fisted and something a bit more creative. How you make a book about the Salem witch trials written by an honest-to-God descendent of two of the actual witches boring is baffling. Wow, you mean Connie is short for Constance?! OMG! “Bottel” is a phonetic spelling for “bottle?!” Wowzers!