The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Book Title: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Author: Katherine Howe
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
My Grade: B+
# of Pages: 368
Week Read: Week #25 (6/18 - 6/25/10)
Summary: Salem, Massachusetts, 1681. Fear and suspicion lead a small town to unspeakable acts.
Marblehead, Massachusetts, 1991. A young woman is about to discover that she is tied to Salem in ways she never imagined.
My Thoughts: If you were to take The Heretic's Daughter and combine it with The Da Vinci Code then up the writing quality by at least 75% you would have The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. It combines the story of families affected by the Salem witch trials, with a historical, research-type mystery and just comes out with a fantastic, hard-to-put-down, fun read.
The Salem witch trials have been told again and again and again, and as fascinating as I find them, a unique story about them is hard to come by. But Katherine Howe proved it can be done and takes the trials in a completely different direction. What if there were actual witches being persecuted? What if witchcraft is real? What if science and religion are both right? Katherine explores all of these questions and gives interesting, if not slightly far-fetched but fun, answers.
The only slight flaw with the book was that it was slow to develop and then everything suddenly happens all at once and is finished really fast. I guess I felt there should have been a bit more from the end because we were given so much in the beginning. I also found that the supposedly mysterious antagonist was not a mystery and was easily found out before the big reveal. But other than that I found Howe's writing very enjoyable. Her characters were fairly well developed, her descriptions beautiful, the story well thought out and interesting, and her research and attention to detail very impeccable.
Overall a fun and interesting read. There will be moments where you find it very difficult to put it down.
Next Book: Fire by Night by Lynn Austin • review
Back to the Book List.
Author: Katherine Howe
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
My Grade: B+
# of Pages: 368
Week Read: Week #25 (6/18 - 6/25/10)
Summary: Salem, Massachusetts, 1681. Fear and suspicion lead a small town to unspeakable acts.
Marblehead, Massachusetts, 1991. A young woman is about to discover that she is tied to Salem in ways she never imagined.
My Thoughts: If you were to take The Heretic's Daughter and combine it with The Da Vinci Code then up the writing quality by at least 75% you would have The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. It combines the story of families affected by the Salem witch trials, with a historical, research-type mystery and just comes out with a fantastic, hard-to-put-down, fun read.
The Salem witch trials have been told again and again and again, and as fascinating as I find them, a unique story about them is hard to come by. But Katherine Howe proved it can be done and takes the trials in a completely different direction. What if there were actual witches being persecuted? What if witchcraft is real? What if science and religion are both right? Katherine explores all of these questions and gives interesting, if not slightly far-fetched but fun, answers.
The only slight flaw with the book was that it was slow to develop and then everything suddenly happens all at once and is finished really fast. I guess I felt there should have been a bit more from the end because we were given so much in the beginning. I also found that the supposedly mysterious antagonist was not a mystery and was easily found out before the big reveal. But other than that I found Howe's writing very enjoyable. Her characters were fairly well developed, her descriptions beautiful, the story well thought out and interesting, and her research and attention to detail very impeccable.
Overall a fun and interesting read. There will be moments where you find it very difficult to put it down.
Next Book: Fire by Night by Lynn Austin • review
Back to the Book List.