Review: Witch Island

Witch Island by David Bernstein
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I received a free copy of Witch Island from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Witch Island reads like a typical slasher movie. A bunch of teenage friends having just graduated decide to spend the night camping on Witch Island, where over one hundred years earlier a witch had been burned at the stake. The spirit of the witch is trapped on the island and many residents are scared to set foot there, braving the island despite all the warnings, the group of teenagers have no idea what lies ahead as the night progresses. How many of them will survive the night?

This was a bit of a middle of the road read for me. It wasn't an awful read, but it centred around the teenagers too much for me and I found that part really predictable. The dialogue between the teenage characters was kind of annoying, the use of words like "babe" so often was off-putting. Add to that all the constant stereotypical teenage sex talk and behaviour, and you have pretty much the same story as most teenage slashers out there.

The plot was pretty typical for this kind of story and I knew more or less what was coming as the story progressed. I actually found the parts that covered the backstory of the witch the most enjoyable and would have liked to have seen more of that in the book. I would have also liked to have read and learned more about the characters who were sent to trap the witch. The history of the island and previous inhabitants of the area is what stood out the most for me, it made reading the rest tolerable.

Witch Island wasn't an awful read, I enjoyed it for the most part but the majority of the story has all been done before and is nothing new or unique.

Reviews also posted to my blog: Scarlet's Web
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