Born Wicked
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Release date: February 7th 2012
Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.
Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word... especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.
If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.
After the Cahill Sisters mother dies, all responsibility is passed down to the oldest, Cate. She takes it upon herself to raise her little sister, to keep the middle child out of trouble, to watch out for them to the best of her ability. There's a reason, besides the obvious, that Cate takes it very seriously. They're witches, and in New England, in an alternate history, that's a very bad thing. Though basically, being born female is a bad thing. If you're found guilty of witchcraft, you're trialled (sometimes), sent away to an asylum, ship worked, or you just...disappear. Just like magic. Poof. New England never used to be like this, witches had control, and religion was a choice as was freedom. Threatened, the Brotherhood rose with the first Terror, casting out the witches, controlling everything and suffocating them, and God forbid you don't do as they say or you'll be acting against the Lord and perceived as a witch. The brotherhood prefer their women weak, uneducated, obedient and as dull as dishwater.
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Release date: February 7th 2012
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word... especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.
If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.
After the Cahill Sisters mother dies, all responsibility is passed down to the oldest, Cate. She takes it upon herself to raise her little sister, to keep the middle child out of trouble, to watch out for them to the best of her ability. There's a reason, besides the obvious, that Cate takes it very seriously. They're witches, and in New England, in an alternate history, that's a very bad thing. Though basically, being born female is a bad thing. If you're found guilty of witchcraft, you're trialled (sometimes), sent away to an asylum, ship worked, or you just...disappear. Just like magic. Poof. New England never used to be like this, witches had control, and religion was a choice as was freedom. Threatened, the Brotherhood rose with the first Terror, casting out the witches, controlling everything and suffocating them, and God forbid you don't do as they say or you'll be acting against the Lord and perceived as a witch. The brotherhood prefer their women weak, uneducated, obedient and as dull as dishwater.
Playing on the Brotherhoods good side and hiding out isn't the only thing on Cates' plate, she's coming of age and has to declare whether she will A) Marry and lose control of herself B) Join the Sisterhood and lose control over herself or C) Lose the will to live. She doesn't want either and has a short time in which she needs to choose, and once childhood friend Paul returns from New London and calls on her, and suddenly she's noticing the impossible Finn, Cate has something else to lose other than her sisters. The Brotherhood are crying 'witch' all over the place and it's getting more frequent by the day, and Cate has found her mother's diary, with a prophecy that three born sister witches, one who can do mind-magic, will be the strongest witch the that has ever come by, and is the key to go against The Brotherhood and bring freedom.
Three sister witches, a sacred prophecy, a great destiny, a curse.
Sound familiar?
Repeat it with me. The power of three will set us...
Alright, that aside, I have to say, I...have no idea how I
feel about this book.
It was boring. There I said it
It was, for most of it, not much happened between dinners, church, shopping, blah, blah, blah but it picked up after the halfway
mark, (but it was a struggled to get there) and it got all angsty (and I love
angst- Go figure), and then that happened.
The end.
I- No.
Just no.
I've heard of cliff-hangers, and Oh-God-are-you-kidding-me
endings (Thank you, Shadow Kiss.) but this was ridiculous. I can't decide
whether the writer likes her MC or if she just really hates her.
The Brotherhood, oh don't get me started. No really, don't.
The most egotistical, hypocritical,
double standard, get back in the kitchen woman bunch of idiotic fiction priesthoods'
I've ever read.
The sisterhood aren't much better.
The world building... I needed more. I had a lot of
questions, and not enough answers. I know everybody is afraid of the Brotherhood
but why don't they push back? There
are a lot more against them then with them. Even their own Sisterhood.
Onto the characters:
Cate, the
oldest sister.
Hmm, I switched from liking the girl to wanting to slap her,
regularly. She's a little whiny, people. She doesn't outright complain about
the fact she has to take everything her shoulders. She smugly takes it on and
wants to complain about it in a -i'm-not-complaining-about-it type of voice,
because -look-I-have-to-do-everything-now-it's-down-to-me-and-I-have-to-overlook-anything-I-want-because-it's-not-about-me.
Or is that just me? Maybe. She wasn't the worst character, and she did have a
lot going on, but at the same time, and the feeling you get from Maura, no one asked you to. She needed to learn
to let things be, to stop worrying, to do what she wanted for a change. She grew, and learnt, and towards the end
became a devious little lovable character.
There was no slut shaming, but Cate really was judgemental
about the status of the other girls in the town.
Maura, the middle sister.
I wanted to slap her
too, for complicating things so much, when all Cate tried to do was protect
her. She wants out of their house, their town. She's free spirited and hates
being cooped up, hates having to pretend she's something that she's not, hates
having to hide her magic and hates being suppressed by the Brotherhood, and
that her father pays no attention to his kids at all.
Tess, the youngest sister.
She was my favourite character- mainly because we didn't see
much of her, and she was the most likeable out of the three, and since she was
youngest, she was always put in the middle between Cate and Maura. But, she was
the character that saw and knew more than you though. Don't underestimate her.
Overall character, story thoughts, courtesy of Pretty Little Liars.
Cate.
Maura.
And Tess is like...
Feelings.
Rating: 3/5
Am I still going to read Star Cursed? Yes.
Maybe I'm a masochist, I don't know.
