Title: Witchstruck
Author: Victoria Lamb
Genre: Young Adult (historical)
Set in: United Kingdom
Rating: 2.5 /5

My thoughts:
This is the first book in the Tudor Witch trilogy. I was mainly attracted to this book because of the setting. I haven’t read any book set in the Tudor era as it seems very complicated to me but I felt this would be a good introduction to it. Besides I love reading about witches.

The witch in this book is Meg who is working as a maid in the isolated Woodstock for the exiled Lady Elizabeth. It’s also a dangerous time as the king of Spain is going to marry the Queen and Catholicism is sweeping the country. It’s also not a safe time for withes as the punishment, if found, is death. Meg has to be very careful as she works for Elizabeth, whose mother Anne Boleyn was sentenced for being a witch; any suspicion on Meg would also put Elizabeth’s life in danger.

Thrown into the story are also Marcus Dent who is a witchfinder and a young Spanish priest Alejandro.

As I mentioned before I liked the setting, it kept me interested in the story. I also like the witch hunting part. It is scary to think that these things actually happened to innocent people. Halfway through the book though I felt like I was reading a romance novel. In spite of many things happening in the book, the plot felt a little loose to me. The witch part of Meg is not really explored much in the novel, but I suspect it’s kept for the sequels.

I also found Elizabeth more intriguing than Meg. Since it’s a first person narrative, Meg comes across as a naïve, simple teenager, which is probably not what the author was going for. It also makes for a very superficial read where none of the characters are explored properly.

Overall though, it was a quick and pleasant read but I’m not sure I will read the sequel.

If you are looking for better YA novel with similar themes, The Witching Hour and Time of the Witches are better choices in my opinion.