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Tag Archives: paranormal

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

24 Monday Jan 2022

Posted by astrid.lim in adult, fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

british, english, fiction, gothic, historical fiction, paranormal, popsugar RC 2022, secondhand books, witch, women

Judul: The Familiars

Penulis: Stacey Halls

Penerbit: Zaffre (2019)

Halaman: 420p

Beli di: @therebutforthebooks (IDR 96k)

Fleetwood Shuttleworth adalah perempuan 17 tahun yang menikah dengan tuan tanah pemilik Gawthorpe Hall di Lanchashire. Keinginan utamanya adalah memberikan keturunan bagi suaminya, namun Fleetwood sudah tiga kali keguguran, dan ia mulai panik, apalagi saat menemukan sepucuk surat dari dokter yang menyatakan ia tidak akan survive bila hamil lagi.

Dan ketika Fleetwood menyadari ia kembali hamil, ia bertekad untuk bisa melahirkan bayinya dengan sukses, dan sekaligus bertahan hidup. Secara tidak sengaja, Fleetwood bertemu dengan Alice Gray, bidan muda yang akhirnya ia angkat sebagai bidan pribadinya. Namun latar belakang Alice yang misterius membuat Fleetwood penasaran, apalagi saat Alice dituduh terlibat dalam perkumpulan penyihir, yang sedang marak di Lancashire, dan ingin ditumpas habis oleh para penguasa setempat.

Bayinya adalah prioritas Fleetwood, dan ia melakukan segala cara untuk menyelamatkan Alice, yang artinya menyelamatkan ia dan bayinya juga, meski ia harus menempuh berbagai bahaya.

Kisah berlatar belakang penyihir di abad ke-17 selalu menarik. Apakah benar para penyihir itu ada, atau hanya sekumpulan perempuan yang memiliki keahlian khusus (obat-obatan, penyembuhan, dan bercocok tanam) yang membuat mereka dicurigai sebagai penyihir? Belum lagi, banyak motif politik yang kerap menjadi dasar penangkapan dan pengadilan penyihir, yang digunakan penguasa untuk mencari muka di hadapan pengikutnya.

The Familliars sendiri awalnya menjadi kisah yang cukup menjanjikan. Saya suka atmosfer Gawthorpe Hall dan desa di sekitarnya, juga penggambaran beberapa karakter di awal. Namun, semakin ke belakang, saya semakin tidak bersimpati dengan Fleetwood, yang menurut saya tidak pas menjadi karakter utama. Lemah, plin plan, dan banyak mengambil keputusan yang membuat saya ingin mengguncang-guncangnya. Fleetwood juga lumayan sering melakukan hal-hal yang sepertinya tidak mungkin (atau sulit) dilakukan perempuan sekelasnya di abad ke-17, seperti berkeliaran ke mana-mana naik kuda sendirian, bahkan di saat sedang hamil besar, atau mengobrol dengan tokoh-tokoh bangsawan seolah ia sepantar dengan mereka, padahal usianya masih muda dan ia adalah seorang perempuan.

Di satu sisi, saya suka spirit Fleetwood yang ingin membuktikan bahwa perempuan bukan makhluk lemah, dan keinginannya mendobrak stereotype tentang perempuan bangsawan rumahan. Namun, seringkali spirit ini tidak konsisten dibarengi dengan tindakan dan pengambilan keputusan yang sesuai, sehingga lama-lama saya jadi skeptis dengannya.

Saya rasa, kisah ini akan jauh lebih seru bila mengambil sudut pandang Alice, yang hidupnya lebih berwarna, dan sikap serta karakternya setidaknya lebih konsisten dengan apa yang ia perjuangkan. It’s actually a shame!

Oiya, saya juga tidak begitu suka ending kisahnya, karena sekali lagi menegaskan pendapat saya tentang karakter Fleetwood yang lemah, dan membaca endingnya sama sekali tidak memuaskan!

Rating: 3/5

You might like it if you like: historical England, witches story, atmospheric setting, some elements of surprise

Submitted for:

A book about witches

A Discovery of Witches

22 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by astrid.lim in adult, fiction

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cover lust, english, fantasi, fiction, paranormal, romance, what's in a name

discovery witchesTitle: A Discovery of Witches

Author: Deborah Harkness

Publisher: Penguin (2011)

Pages: 579p

Bought at: Periplus Setiabudi Bandung (IDR 55k)

Plot:

Diana Bishop is a young scholar from Yale in the field of alchemy history, and has a grant to do research in Oxford. Diana came from a family of witches, but she tried so hard to deny her fate, and almost never uses magic in her life. Until one day, she encounters a long lost manuscript in Oxford library- a manuscript filled by magic and said to have an answer of the everlasting questions: the creation of the world, humans, witches, vampires and daemons.

This discovery lures all kinds of creatures into Oxford- and into Diana’s life, forcing her to face her fate as a witch. One of the creatures is an ancient, rich and handsome vampire name Matthew. And despite all the odds, Diana and Matthew quickly realized that it is their destiny to try finding out about the secrets of the manuscript, and journeying into the past together.

Why this book does actually have a good premise:

-Interesting topics about alchemy, history, and magic. I always love history and alchemy, and it seems this book has pretty good idea about the mystery of creation and its relation with alchemy.

-Lovely description of the setting: especially Oxford, I love how the old little campus town had been described in details- I guess it’s because the author- who was also a scholar, had been there before.

And why this book does not actually live to my expectation:

– Typical characters: a witch who was in denial and didn’t want to use her power, turned out has the greatest power ever. Plus, a vampire who is handsome, rich, smart, successful and dangerous. Sounds familiar, Twilight lovers? 😀

– Forbidden love: it’s a cliche, but actually I can accept cliches, if it’s been written well. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any of the romance plot in this book fascinating at all. It’s too predictable, slow, lots of unnecessary details and boring descriptions. And I can’t help but hating both the main characters.

– Another cliche: Over protective/ possessive vampire and the witch who always rejected his help- trying too hard to prove that she’s not a damsel in distress- but always failed!

– Too many unnecessary details: boring everyday mundane routines, described in long and torturing ways: taking bath, having breakfast, taking nap, rowing boat, running, etc etc- it’s too descriptive without being interesting.

– Lots and lots of repetitions: For example, Harkness loved to describe what Diana wears everyday. But sadly, her choices of clothes are not interesting at all! Sweater, legging, socks- always the same, it’s pointless to even know what she wears that particular day. The same happened when Harkness described Diana’s activities – very details and boring. For example, when Diana is rowing, Harkness always explains the small steps she takes: taking boat, getting into one, rowing, going back to the boat house, etc without any important incidents. It’s meaningless!

– Slow and predictable plot. For a book that wants to capture its readers with the mystery and secret stories, it successfully failed. The mystery is too slow, there are almost no important incidents or any fast paced actions. Even the fighting scenes could make me yawn, and I lost count of how many times I actually rolled my eyes while reading this book. Probably the fact that the author is a professor explained a bit how this book turned out more like a report than a novel.

In short, this book was failed to impress me- I know that paranormal romance is not actually my cup of tea- but I tried it anyway. This book only convinced me more that this genre is really not my thing, and I won’t read the sequels. Even though, knowing the author had been a Fulbright scholar before, broke my heart a little bit!

Submitted for What’s in a Name 6 Challenge for “Lost/Found” category.

WIN6

 

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