Lis’ Review: Witch Hunt by Nick Chivers

Nick Chivers
Witch Hunt
Dreamspinner Press, October 31, 2011

Links: Author’s Facebook | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
Mike thought he could escape his past. He renounced his crown as High Mage of The Council, had the Bands of Binding placed on him, and tried to start over as a normal human.
It didn’t work. And now a part of that past wants him dead, and Mike is running for his life.
With his best friend, Andrew, and Andrew’s soulbound partner along for the ride, Mike can’t help but feel lonely until he meets Rick, an all-around gorgeous man who might just be the wrong guy—again—especially since Mike can’t shake an ex-lover who’s hoping for a second chance. It’s a lot to deal with as demonic forces pursue him from Mongolia to Brazil, but Mike has to make it to the safety of The Council if he doesn’t want to be the prize trophy at the end of this witch hunt.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Witches, Evil, Past, Betrayal, Mystery

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Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 1.5 out of 3
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Reviewed by Lis:

Every once in a while you come across a book you really really want to like, but the execution is just done so poorly, that you just can't. Witch Hunt by Nick Chivers is such a book. It's not easy to review a book when you can clearly see how much effort has been put into writing it and I'm not a person to needless degrade a book just because I don't like it. So I divided this review into pro and con sections. Just like a little demon and angel whispering into my ear.

What worked for me:

The storyline. Just because the romance - the couple only meets up briefly a few times - and hot sex *snif* are absent doesn't make a book bad. No, a book doesn't always need to have Hot Man Smexin' to be good. No matter how much I like reading about two hot men getting it on. The storyline for Witch Hunt is clearly thought through and interesting. It shows that you can't always hide from your past. I found that the backblurb was a little lacking in what this story is about. From reading it, you get the idea that this is primarily a romance. It isn't. There is more focus on the action and mystery and characters in this story than on the romance. So the blurb is a bit misleading.

The characters are all likable, if not a bit weird and possess a range of kick-ass powers. I liked that this story focuses on witches. Did I mention I like witches?

What didn't work for me:

The execution of this story. The writing in Witch Hunt is amateurish at best. It is very basic. Something you expect from an author who's just starting. There are too many uses of adjectives and words that amplify the noun. After a while of reading that it gets old, really fast. This book is a case where the writing actually gets the story and the characters down. This kind of writing would have worked better if it was a comedy.

While the characters are interesting, I sometimes wondered if they had some kind of disorder. For such old characters (most of them anyway) they sometimes act more immature than my 13-year old cousins. From reading this story, I didn't get the impression this was intentional.

Overall conclusion:

Witch Hunt is not necessarily a bad story, the author probably just needs a little more practice writing and the use of a really good editor or beta reader, and there is no shame in that. While this story had potential, it didn't work out for me. Nevertheless, it might just be the story for you.
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