Book Review – Sisters of Salem Series
PC Cast and Kristen Cast are a couple of my favorite authors. I first discovered them when I read the House of Night series. Since then, I’ve read multiple books by them as well a series penned by just PC Cast. Unfortunately I haven’t read anything written solely by Kristen Cast (yet!).
This series follows twin witches living in a small town that they protect. Along with their non-magical friends, they fight through personal issues, deal with loss, and endure persecution. They also, of course, have to protect the town (and world) from various supernatural threats.
Characters
As usual, their character creation is top notch. There are a variety of well rounded characters that each deal with their own internal struggles. The dynamic between the twin sisters is done well. At first they seemed almost too perfect, but after a series of unfortunate events, a rift forms between them and they both learn what it’s like to be an individual.
Mythos
These authors have a love for all things witchcraft and magic and pull a lot from various pantheons in this series. These books revolve around the existence of various underworlds whose gates are sealed and protected. You can tell that they did a lot of research of gods, goddesses, and creatures to do the story justice.
Story
Now, as much as I love the Casts’ storytelling, I found the actual story here lacked a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed the series. I just felt like it could have included more and gone on longer.
A lot of inner turmoil was dealt with in this series, which was perfect, especially considering the characters are not only teenagers but are dealing with supernatural forces. But I felt like it pulled away from the storyline. I would have loved to see more creatures/gods/goddesses from the various involved pantheons. I wanted to learn more about the different underworlds and have them explored.
Overall, I would have been happy to have the series extended by a couple of books so we could explore more of the external forces in the series.
The ending of the series was particularly shocking, which I appreciate. I find a lot of stories end on a predictable note, but this one didn’t.
Summary
I always find myself gravitating toward teen fantasy fiction and these perfectly fit the bill. It’s a modern day fantasy which sees the characters deal with both inner and outer turmoil and a lot of mistakes are made along the way.
I probably wouldn’t recommend this series for children, only because there is some swearing and sexual scenes, but it’s otherwise appropriate for readers of any age.
Give it a try! I’ll be interested to see if PC and Kristen Cast ever decide to return to this world.
