The Ward Witch / The Book Keeper - Sarah Painter ****

By Brian Clegg

I’m quite fond of Sarah Painter’s Crow Investigations books – an urban fantasy series set in London featuring four magical families in the otherwise normal setting, so I was interested to see what her newish Unholy Island series, based in the same world, but located on an island with a causeway off the North East of England, just north of Holy Island, would be like.

Going on the first two books in the series, the concept and setting is great, but the plot development is initially somewhat glacial. The idea is that Unholy Island has its own, magical nature – unless you are wanted by the island, you will never stay more than two nights and you will forget about any experiences there when you leave. It’s a great setting into which Painter deposits a newcomer, Luke, who gets a mixed welcome from around a dozen residents, each a remarkable character, ranging from BandB owner (and ward witch) Esme to the mysterious (and unnerving) three sisters.

The first book, The Ward Witch, sets up the scene, but relatively little happens beyond Luke arriving and introducing the location and characters. Okay, that’s not entirely true: there is a murder to be solved, but considering this, it is all surprisingly low key and slow. It’s necessary to read it to continue with the rest of the series, but as a standalone novel, it’s weak. 

Thankfully considerably more happens in the second book, The Book Keeper, the title referring to Luke who takes over the island bookshop after the death in the previous novel. Here the bookshop’s magical nature really comes into its own, relationships develop and the island as a whole is under threat. Although it still has a very sedate pace and could, frankly do with a bit more energy – this second book feels significantly better than its predecessor.

Overall, the setting and concept are great and I will certainly read on – I just hope that Painter can inject a bit more of the drive that’s at the heart of the Crow novels to stop this series feeling quite so lethargic.

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Now Appearing is the blog of science writer Brian Clegg (www.brianclegg.net), author of Inflight Science, Before the Big Bang and The God Effect.