Magic and murder, mystery and age-old curses all intertwine.
This book is by Leslye Walton, and it is titled The Price Guide to the Occult.
The story follows a teenager by the name of Nor Blackburn. At first glance, Nor leads a pretty, unconventional life. She’s dropped out of high school and works at one of the local shops. But as we delve further into the details, we can see that Nor has a few dark secrets to her past. Namely, the scars that line her arms and legs, and the scars that are more unnoticed, the ones that no one can really see. And of course, there’s the curse. Since Nor is the eighth descendant of the origin of the curse, her great, great, many great grandmother, she is to be the end of the curse. This magic, however, is not common. It is something deeper, darker, and altogether, it costs something. So, will Nor be able to choose her own path? Or will she be trapped to follow the path of those before her, or even worse, her mother?
So first off, this book definitely had an interesting premise. The ‘age-old’ magic concept was really nice, and I enjoyed reading it. The setting also felt suitable for the storyline, the drizzly feeling of the Pacific Northwest was fitting, and it also sets the scene for some of the more haunting scenes. The lilting script the author used was really immersive, and the descriptions were very detailed. However, some of these descriptions were a little long-winded. Honestly, the big ‘plot twist’ was predictable, and I had a pretty vague understanding of how this story was going to go from the first chapter, the prologue even. Even worse, this information just becomes clearer as the story goes on. Enough about that though. I’ll let you decide what you think of the twists and turns of the story if you decide to read it. Let’s talk about the main character. Nor seems very interesting at first, the way her character is written definitely induces intrigue and leaves much to be answered, but through the story, the answers are just right there! The sense of suspense is only held for a brief moment before it’s shattered by the book just short of spelling out the true situation in actual words. In addition, Nor spends a good portion of the book just complaining about her life situation and having a lot of flashbacks to all the bad stuff that had happened to her. I mean, yeah, a lot of stuff has happened to her, and it sets up the story, but it doesn’t move her to actually do anything, which is annoying to no end. The only reason she acts is because someone is literally about to die, or someone has pushed her to take action. Also, just a side note, but I wanted to mention that this book does contain a lot of darker subjects. And when I say ‘dark’ I mean pretty disturbing, like child abuse, depression, and human sacrifice. These subjects are, obviously, not to be taken lightly, and the book does a good job of establishing their significance, but then it just brushes right past them. I didn’t like that as much, as it seemed a little like a reference. Sort of like, “Oh yeah, here’s your daily dose of the dark and gory stuff, let’s brush over the true trauma and move on to the main protagonist's love interests and how her relationships are going!”. Actually, while we’re on the topic, let’s talk about those love interests. There are two of them, and honestly, I don’t see their purpose. Both of them are pretty 2D characters, just like the protagonist, and they really have no redeeming qualities. The first one is from out of town (I should mention, this book is set on an island, so a new face is pretty significant.), and he seems perfect. He’s charming, cute, (by the main character’s opinion), and actually interested in the main character. The second, is the classic enemies-to-...what? Something in between stereotypes. It is very clear at the start that the main character and this second ‘love interest’ do not like each other. Actually, past that, they hate each other’s guts pretty much. And at some point during the story, they just become love interests. Or something. See, that’s the thing. Both the love interests and the whole story overall just seem really rushed, like all this information could have been spread out over more chapters, or even another book. But instead, it’s all in one book, and the progression of these storylines and character arcs just feels insincere. The author sort of rushes through some important points, and spends too much time on other points that I feel weren’t as important. She definitely does this with some of the transitions from place to place, or between significant moments in the book. The ending of the book also struck a dissatisfying note. It ends ominously, which would be okay if something else happened. But instead, the author leaves all of these lines loose, just dangling in the wind with no real ending. It was a little anticlimactic, if I am to be honest.
Overall, I really liked this book. There were a few things that I feel could have been written better, or differently, but it was a very enjoyable read. The characters, although a little 2D, did progress the story, and eventually, the end left enough information to be satisfied with the story as a whole. There is no sequel at present, nor has the author officially said anything about a second installation, which is a little frustrating because the end of the book really makes it seem like this was written for a series, and I’m sure readers would want to know what happened afterward, but that’s up to the author, so, we’ll just wait, fingers crossed. I think if you can get past some of these things since they're not really too significant in the big picture story, you will enjoy this book a lot. I recommend this book to a more mature audience, and I definitely think it’s perfect for the October, Halloween vibes.
Comments