Born Wicked

Born Wicked is in many ways somewhat typical of the current Supernatural YA. There's a sort of love triangle. Family relationships are heavily emphasized. There's an autocratic government making the lives of the protagonist and her loved ones difficult. However, the smart setting is enough to make me press people to give this novel a chance before they write it off as just another color by numbers YA. However, it's not a book that I'd beg anyone to read or give a chance to.

The premise is simple. A theocratic government in New England persecutes witches, and Cate is the eldest of three who promised her dying mother to protect her sisters at all costs. However, as Cate's intention day (the day where she will be forced to declare her intent to marry or join the sisterhood) things begin to become more complicated especially when it seems that the Cahill sisters might be the subject of a prophecy.

And maybe that is the largest fault of Born Wicked. For the most part it is engaging, enjoyable read and maybe could have continued to be so if the book had been maybe eighty pages shorter. The same scenes seem to repeat themselves several time with the slightest variations. Cate fights with her sister Maura or Elena. Cate worries about the prophecy. Cate moons over boyfriend. Cate worries about future prospects. It wears very thin, and unfortunately my patience tapped out near the end and I skimmed the last forty pages, where clearly the climax was supposed to be emotionally heavy hitting but by that time I didn't have it in me to care much more.

The setting is well thought out and surprisingly refreshing in many ways. (People of color in a historical novel? The non-demonization of Arabic world? Differing sexualities touched upon? Oh book you do know how to pander to me sometimes!) Unfortunately, the bland plot and the frustrated tension of waiting for something anything to happen could make it all too much to bear.

There were also several plot threads that didn't seem to go anywhere. For example, original suitor and former best friend Paul seems to disappear about three-quarters of the way through the book and is never brought up again.

This could have been a great book, but it falls short of the high standard that I would have expected given the flashes of brilliance displayed in certain corners of the book. A tighter narrative, some better developed characters, and I would have happily given it five stars.