Magic, Mermaids, Marriage, Oh My!

When searching for links for Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson, I had a very difficult time finding anything that was more than mildly interesting. Having read the book, I wasn't really surprised. Although Which Witch has an interesting premise, it was rather predictable and although there were some redeeming parts, it really wasn't all that exciting.

The main storyline begins with a wizard, Arriman the Awful, who has a problem. He wants to retire, yet feels it is his duty to make sure the dark arts survive and perpetuate in his villiage of Todcaster. Although it is promised that another, greater wizard will come to relieve him, after many years of waiting, he decides that he needs to take matters into his own hands.

At the advice of friends, he holds a competition among the witches of Todcaster to see which witch he will decide to marry, so that they might have a son who is a wizard and Arriman can retire when the boy is grown.

The witches of Todcaster are horrible, and as varied in their awfulness as they can be. From an old hag covered in flies to a half-mermaid with scaly skin to a banshee to a witch that gasp possesses white magic, none of them seem to be a suitable match for Arriman. Yet all of them are determined to have him, no matter what the cost...

Overall, I thought the book was interesting enough to keep me reading until the end, yet disappointing simply because of its predictability. From beginning to end, there was no doubt of what would happen, and although the twists and turns in getting there were rather original, the final destination was never questioned.

Hopefully, her better known book The Secret Platform 13 is better.

On a scale of one to ten, I'd give Which Witch? a six and a half.

And even though it may not be this book...

Happy reading!-Mel

Here are the few links I could find to Eva Ibbotson and her fantasy work (although from searching, I also learned that she's a romance writer as well):

http://prod.uk.penguin.com/Author/Author...

http://www.cool-reads.co.uk/review-page....

http://learnedowl.ne-ohio.net/revksf2.ht...

http://www.childrenslit.com/th_halloween...

http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/au...

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