Decent story concept but not a compelling read. Its slow-moving pace and clumsy romance scenes are just a few of the issues that suggest inexperienced writers. Like so much of what is being published these days, the absence of a knowledgeable, professional editor is glaring. ( )

Night of the Witch is a book I had to read. Historical fiction wrapped in fantasy is like a siren song to me. Add the fact that Sara Raasch and Beth Revis penned the novel, and Night of the Witch was one of the novels I was most excited to read this fall.

Maybe my hopes were too high, but I did not love Night of the Witch as much as I wanted. My main issue with the story is that the writing is too simplistic for my taste. Simple sentences and short, stilted dialogue made me believe the book was geared toward middle grades rather than the young adult category as advertised.

Adding to my general dislike is that the authors interspersed German words into the story with no rhyme or reason. I majored in German and love seeing the language in books. Even so, I could find no pattern for when or why Ms. Raash and Ms. Revis would exchange a word in English for one in German. The replacements were too random and did nothing to enhance the story. From what I could tell, the German words did nothing but remind you that the story takes place in Germany.

My other concern about Night of the Witch is that I struggled to buy into the insta-love between Fritzi and Otto. There is almost no development for either character, and their attraction to each other, especially Fritzi towards Otto, makes no sense. That's a lot of fear and hatred to overcome, and Otto's actions towards Fritzi upon first meeting do nothing to endear him to her.

Lastly, the German major in me wanted more world-building. I wanted to learn more about the hows and whys behind the creation of the Hexenjaegers. Plus, I know the layout of German medieval towns versus villages, but most of the readers of Night of the Witch will not. This geography plays a vital role in the politics behind the story, and readers need to understand all of it.

Some of my issues with Night of the Witch are due to the fact that I am familiar enough with German and German history to want more of it. I believe there is a lack of world-building to explain the story. Also, I found it difficult to buy into Fritzi and Otto's all-consuming insta-love. Are any of my concerns enough to prevent me from reading the sequel next year? Of course not! Where Night of the Witch excels is with the fantasy element, and I need to know how the battle between Dieter and Fritzi will ensue. Still, I will approach the sequel with much lower expectations. ( )

Another enemies to lovers tale, this one starting with a horrific rampage by witch hunters intent upon burning every witch in a mythical Germany. However Fritzi manages to survive, but not before watching her mother burn at the stake, and see her little cousin Liesel dragged off to an equally terrible fate.
Determined to avenge the massacre, she ends up captured by Otto a member of the hexenjägers, the crazed minions of the church, who are tasked with ridding the country of all witches. However, he has his own agenda, fueled by having watched his own mother falsely accused and burned as a witch.
The two embark on a quest to free imprisoned witches and then find a safe haven where they hope to find support in destroying the hexenjägers. What ensues during that quest involves nail-biting adventures coupled with revelations, and even some betrayal. The story ends with a perfect set-up for the sequel. ( )

Series Info/Source: 1st book in the Witch and Hunter series. I got an ebook of this through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This was okay but also had some pretty big issues for me. The most glaring issue is the insta-love between the two main characters; a witch-hunter and witch literally fall in love in less than a day. Their love drives a lot of the story which just seemed ridiculous to me. In general this whole book was pretty boring and had a lot of plot holes. Previous to reading this I had read Revis's "Across the Universe" series which I really enjoyed. I had also read Raasch's "Snow Like Ashes" series which I really enjoyed and the first books in her "Stream Raiders" and "Set Fire to the Gods" series which I really did not like.

The story alternates POV between Fritzi (a herb witch) and Otto (a captain witch-hunter). The story starts with Fritzi surviving a horrible attack from the hexenjager in which the whole witch community she lives in is destroyed. Meanwhile, Otto is trying to hatch a plan from inside the hexenjager ranks with his sister to free a lot of the witches that have been captured before a mass burning of them happens. Fritzi disrupts this plan in a big way and the two are forced to work together and trust each other.

As with the immediate "soul love" between Fritzi and Otto a lot of things don't make sense in this book. The villain in here doesn't have very good motives (or any) and I was puzzled that a goddess would "mistakenly" give Fritzi's brother these powerful gifts...I mean she pretty much lived in Fritzi and her brother's heads, how could she miss what Fritzi's brother was doing with his power?

There are a lot of weird plot points and holes in logic throughout the story that bothered me. In addition to that, the story is strangely boring and linear and just tough to stay involved in. I never really liked Otto or Fritzi much because we just aren't allowed to really get to know them as a reader. The whole book is basically a cat and mouse chase to some mysterious woods with a big baddie that is chasing them for strangely undetermined reasons.

My Summary (2/5): Overall I wasn't a fan of this book. The plot was both boring and full of plot holes. The insta-love between the two characters was horrible and never really gave us a chance to engage with and get to like the characters. I won't be reading anymore in this series. Given my experiences with all of Raasch's novels after "Snow Like Ashes" I don't plan on picking up any more books by her. I just loved "Snow Like Ashes" so much that I keep hoping she'll deliver on another series. This is the third series by her that I have started since "Snow Like Ashes" and it's just as big of a miss for me as the other two were. ( )