Darlene's Book Nook: Audiobook Review: Witch World by Christopher Pike

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Audiobook Review: Witch World by Christopher Pike

SERIES: Witch World, Book #1
AUTHOR: Christopher Pike

NARRATOR: Justine Eyre
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Audiio
PUBLICATION DATE: November 13, 2012

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook, 13 hrs and 21 mins
GENRE: Young Adult, New Adult, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781442353008

Witches are real—and each of us may be one—in this all-new paranormal suspense novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christopher Pike.

Heading off for a weekend in Las Vegas with her friends, Jessie Ralle has only one worry: how to make it through the road trip in the same car as her ex, Jimmy Kelter. The guy she hasn’t come close to getting over since he broke up with her five months ago. The guy who’s finally ready to tell her why he did it, because now he wants her back.

Only, sometimes knowing why doesn’t actually make things better. Sometimes it leads to bigger, more terrifying questions.

Jessie discovers that she’s stumbled into a world where some people can do the impossible and others may not even be human. Are there really witches? Is she one of them? Armed with new abilities and shocked to discover an entire parallel world in which she and her loved ones co-exist, Jessie’s desperate to learn whom she can trust and whom she can’t—before it’s too late.

MY REVIEW:

I received this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own.

Witch World completely sucked me in!

At the outset, we meet Jessie Ralle and she is reflecting back on her life. She discovered that she was a witch at the age of 18 just after graduation, when her class took a weekend celebratory trip to Las Vegas. Jessie and her best friend, Alex, hit the blackjack tables when they get to Vegas. She meets a man named Russ, who seems to have a knack for knowing what cards he is going to get. He gives Alex bad advice on purpose to get rid of her so that he can have Jessie all to himself. Jessie ends up spending her last dime at Russ’ insistence that she put all her money in. Before the night is out, Russ is up over half a million dollars and Jessie has won a substantial amount herself. The only problem is that Jessie is only 18 years old and, therefore, underage. Her fake ID may have been sufficient to get through the door, but she now needs to provide her Social Security Number to collect her winnings. She agrees to let Russ cash out the chips for both of them, and she waits for him in his hotel room. Although she worries a bit about whether he will skip out on her, she also feels that she can trust him.

The next day, Jessie is kidnapped and thrown into a meat locker. She tries to escape but fails, and she slips into unconsciousness as the effects of hypothermia begin to take their toll. When she awakens, she is in a morgue and the coroner is about to cut her open to perform the autopsy. Her mind is awake but she cannot speak or move, and she has no idea how to get his attention before he kills her for real when he removes her organs!

Pike has created an amazing parallel world called Witch World. A person can have up to ten extra genes, but the genes can overlap to create extra abilities. For example, a person can have three extra genes but possess six special abilities such as a gene for healing or longevity or strength. These unique individuals with these extra genes are known as “witches,” and dying activates these “witch” genes. When a person with these extra abilities dies in the Real World, she awakens in Witch World. It exists at the same time as the Real World, but in a different time zone. The person transitions between worlds at dawn, so she will go to bed in Witch World but wake up in the Real World but a day earlier. Essentially, she will live each day twice: First in Witch World and then again in the Real World.

I liked Jessie, whose strength is admirable. She is thrust into this unknown reality and has to figure out how to tap into her special powers to enable her to survive. While Witch World looks very much like the Real World, the rules are different. Jessie straddles the line between good and evil, which makes her a bit of a loose cannon and an interesting protagonist. She does have some dark tendencies, and she could go either way.

The first half of the story was really fast-paced and was hard for me to put down. In the second half of the book, the world-building became more complex as Pike goes back in time – sometimes thousands of years – to explain the back-story of some of the characters. There were parts that were somewhat convoluted, and it felt a bit like information-overload. However, overall, I still really enjoyed the book and I am planning to read the sequel!

I am surprised by the “Grades 9 and up” rating of this book. Due to the sexual content and the age of the protagonist, it definitely qualifies for the “New Adult” label.

Narrator Justine Eyre is new-to-me, and I really enjoyed her performance. It was very easy to determine who was speaking due to the subtle inflections and accents that she gave to each character. Her pacing was excellent, and she was a pleasure to listen to!

MY RATING:

4 stars!! It was really good, and you should put it on your TBR list! A big thanks to Simon Audio for the opportunity to review this audiobook!