Review: The Near Witch By Victoria Schwab

"Believing and knowing are different things," says Dreska, returning to the table.

"Knowing and proving are different things," says Magda. 

Excerpt from The Near Witch.

The Near Witch by Victoria Schawab was recommended to me by fellow blogger magnet4books (this is a link to her review of the book). 

A basic summary of the book: main character Lexi lives in Near, a small town (I can relate) where there are never any strangers. One day a stranger is spotted and then kids start going missing. Lexi is intrigued by the stranger but also worried about her younger sister Wren who could become the next abducted child.

What I liked about The Near Witch: the storytelling, the descriptiveness of the landscape, and the mystery. The mystery of the missing children well kept me guessing until very close to the end. In fact, in the last 50 pages or so I was really stressed out to see how the story was going to end. (I like a good book that stresses me a little!)

The one thing I didn't totally love but didn't hate either: main character's "love story." To me, it just seemed a bit rushed and unbelievable. I liked the idea in theory but it just didn't connect for me somehow. I mean it isn't awful and doesn't ruin the story AT ALL but I just felt it moved too quickly for this reader. 

Overall I give this book a 4 out of 5 and I would defiantly recommend it to older teen readers and adults who fancy a little supernatural twist. 

Lastly, I'll leave with a short passage from The Near Witch that I really liked and it isn't too spoilery. (And I'll just say, I liked the gems left by Lexi's father throughout the book.)

"My father used to say that change is like a garden. 

It doesn't come up overnight, unless you are a witch. Things have to be planted and tended, and most of all, the ground has to be right. He said the people of Near had the wrong dirt, and that's why they resisted change so much, the way roots resist hard earth. He said if you could just break through, there was good soil there, down deep."

~The Near Witch~