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There are currently 29 member reviews
for The Witches at the End of the World
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Andrea B
The Witches at the End of the World by Chelsea Iversen
In this story, two orphaned witch sisters living in isolation are left without a guardian once again and choose to face their futures in drastically different fashions. Brimming with elemental power and boiling with tension-building contrasts, their earthy tale is one that reveals the best and worst of nature.
Although somewhat confused by the title of the story, I enjoyed its atmospheric presentation, multiple perspectives, and opening line. Thank you, Bookbrowse and Sourcebooks, for providing me with an advanced, complimentary copy to read and review.
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Sandi W
Bonds of Love...
I so wanted to like this book much more than I actually did. I like books driven by characters, as in speech, or by the plot, where ever the story is going. I found this book to revolve more around the 'thoughts' of the two main characters. So between that, and the prose and binding of the story, which I did think was good and interesting, I was a bit disappointed.
That is not to say that this book is bad - it it far from that. It just was not related to me in the fashion that I like best. So I could only read short patches of it at a time and my interests went to other books I was enjoying more.
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Windell H. (Rock Hill, SC)
Good and evil
This book was very tiring to read. Very slow beginning. The plot almost reminds me of sibling rivalry. The characters were not well developed. Written in a beautiful setting and a and time of much superstition it fell short of my expectations. Youth readers might enjoy this.
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Bev C
The Witches At The End Of The World
Minna age 19 and Kaija 23 live in the Birchwoods of Norway. The young witches live, until her death, under the protective care of grandmother Mormor. They are then no longer bound by their magic.
Minna is fixed in vengeful anger because of the burning death of their mother. Kajia seeks the community of the village and her magic is of a tender variety.
I would call this book historical fantasy and say the strength, especially of the the revengeful spirit of Minna make it emotion driven rather than plot driven.
I also need to admit that although it may have elements of appeal to many readers, it wasn't a win for me. As usual, I encourage others to give the read a chance and record their own personal experience.
Thank you to Source books for a copy (ARC) and request for an honest review.
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Molly O, Aurora CO
The Witches at the End of the World
I can't decide in which genre this novel belongs. If it is a YA (Young Adult) novel, I would rate it higher than if it is in adult fiction. The mostly flat characters, the predictable plot and the happy ending are all elements that appeal to young readers. Those characteristics are also the ones that do not appeal to me as an adult reader. The sisters were polar opposites, representing good and evil until the very end when they finally had some blurring of their back and white edges. l I found the plot was plodding through more than half the book. The ending invites a sequel, for which I am sure many younger readers would be grateful.
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Doreen B. (Sauquoit, NY)
Tale of Two Sisters
The story begins with 2 sisters living in the wilderness hidden from people by their grandmother when their mother was burned as a witch in the village where they lived. The sisters practice magic but each has a particular kind. The older sister Kaija practices calm spells that keep things even and managed to help their survival in the wilderness, but her younger sister is more impetuous and unpredictable. They describe themselves as having inner witches like they are separate entities from themselves. Kaija has good memories from her life in the village and misses the community of people and does not like the isolation and solitude of the wilderness. The younger sister, Minna practices a darker form of magic with more dramatic outcomes and seems to be more out of control. Her inner witch seems impatient, unpredictable and seeking revenge from the outside world over the death of their mother.
It was an interesting story. I liked the Nordic setting and the time period. The story itself was fairly basic and predictable. There could have been more details about their life in the village and about their mother and how she was suspected of witchcraft. I would have liked more character definition. I could not easily picture the people. With a bit more tweaking of the plot it could be a very good story. It needs more detail and definition to make the characters more distinct and identifiable. The timeline was confusing. It was hard to tell if the events happened in days, weeks, months…events moved very quickly All said it was a good first novel.
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Bette K. (Ft Pierce, WV)
Eye of Newt
The main characters in this novel are two witches who are sisters. They are not Disney witches, nor fairy tale witches, nor even scary witches. They could be called earthy witches as they live and survive through their knowledge and interaction with the natural world in very primitive conditions. The time frame is when people believed in the occult and burned witches at the stake. Thus these witches live in total isolation from any other humans. One of the sisters is satisfied to remain isolated and one yearns for a more normal life. One is portrayed as a good witch and one as an evil witch. We learn something of their history thru reminiscences between the two.
The conflict begins when the good witch runs away and becomes involved with regular people in a village. Her sister performs spells as revenge upon the village resulting in unforeseen consequences for all.
I could not feel like cheering for or against either girl. Their magic was not magical enough and they didn't really arouse empathy for their situations. The story was fairly routine and most of the outcomes predictable. The attempt to arouse the reader with gothic description of setting went too far and became skimable.
I think that the last of the witches should be witchyer.
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