Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan Pages: 384
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on June 7 2016
Series: Witch's Child #1
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy & Magic
Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people's senses.
It's a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it's a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned--crime pays.
Her latest job is paying very well indeed. Julia is posing as a housemaid in the grand house of Mrs. Och, where an odd assortment of characters live and work: A disgraced professor who sends her to fetch parcels containing bullets, spiders, and poison. An aristocratic houseguest who is locked in the basement each night. And a mysterious young woman who is clearly in hiding--though from what or whom?
Worse, Julia suspects that there's a connection between these people and the killer leaving a trail of bodies across the frozen city.
The more she learns, the more she wants to be done with this unnatural job. To go back to the safety of her friends and fellow thieves. But Julia is entangled in a struggle between forces more powerful than she'd ever imagined. Escape will come at a terrible price.
Julia Defiant by Catherine Egan Pages: 464
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on June 13, 2017
Series: Witch's Child #2
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy & Magic
Source: Paperback ARC from Publisher
Julia and a mismatched band of revolutionaries, scholars, and thieves have crossed the world searching for a witch. But for all the miles traveled, they are no closer to finding Ko Dan. No closer to undoing the terrible spell he cast that bound an ancient magic to the life of a small child. Casimir wants that magic will happily kill Theo to extract it and every moment they hunt for Ko Dan, Casimir s assassins are hunting them.
Julia can deal with danger. The thing that truly scares her lies within. Her strange ability to vanish to a place just out of sight has grown: she can now disappear so completely that it s like stepping into another world. It s a fiery, hellish world, filled with creatures who seem to recognize her and count her as one of their own.
So . . . is Julia a girl with a monster lurking inside her? Or a monster wearing the disguise of a girl?
If she can use her monstrous power to save Theo, does it matter?
I have been totally loving reading books in a series back to back. This is the summer of the binge read for me. So I decided to do that with books one and two in the Witch’s Child series. So this is a combined review for books one and two in the Witch’s Child series by Catherine Egan.
The first two books in the Witch’s Child Series by Catherine Egan are Julia Vanishes and Julia Defiant. The books got a beautiful new cover change for the release of the second book. While I really liked the original covers, I love the new covers. I am a big fan of the cover change and now I want to get both books with matching new covers. #BookBloggerProblems lol The Witch’s Child series is a really interesting one for me, because it is one of the few series that I ended up liking the second book way, way more than I liked the first book.
I found the first book, Julia Vanishes to be an interesting read, but I found it to be kind of confusing in a lot of places and kind of slow at the beginning. The book picked up a bit as it went on, but it was only an ok read for me. That was not the case at all with the second book. I really enjoyed Julia Defiant. The book takes place in a different location than the first book, which I thought was really interesting. I don’t know of too many series that do that, but because of the new location, and some new characters, the whole book felt different to me. Even the writing felt fresh and different.
To be honest, I think Catherine Egan stepped up her game with Julia Defiant…big time. I liked everything about Julia Defiant so much more than the first book. I liked the writing, the setting, and it was less confusing for me because I already had some concept of the world and what kind of witches they were. But there is still so much mystery surrounding the characters that I was continually interested in their adventure. The plot and pacing also felt faster and more exciting in Julia Defiant. You do need to read these books in order, and in Julia Defiant our group of characters sets out to find someone. (I don’t want to give too much away.) I really enjoyed the world in created in the witch’s child series. You aren’t told much, you have to piece together the magic system and who all the players are. That was the tricky, and fun, part of the first book. In this world, most witches cast their spells by writing them down, which I thought was a really cool take on a witch’s powers. And witch’s are persecuted heavily in this world, so they are all in hiding.
Fans of stories featuring witches and fans of European adventure stories that have a historical feel to them will really enjoy these atmospheric books. They are plot driven novels, and I have to say the second book was really really great. If you read Julia Vanishes, and you didn’t fall in love with it, I would really urge you to continue on in the series because I found Julia Defiant to be a better overall story than the first book. I enjoyed it a lot!
Note on the rating: I gave Julia Vanishes 3 stars and Julia defiant 4 stars, which combined is a series rating of 3.5, so far. 🙂
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And be sure to check out the rest of the tour
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
6/5/2017- The Cover Contessa– Interview
6/5/2017- Booklove– Review
6/6/2017- Don’t Judge, Read– Excerpt
6/6/2017- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review
6/7/2017- Novel Novice – Guest Post
6/7/2017- Read. Eat. Love.– Review
6/8/2017- Fiction Fare– Spotlight
6/8/2017- Take Me Away To A Great Read– Review
6/9/2017- Two Chicks on Books– Interview
6/9/2017- Seeing Double In Neverland– Interview
Week Two:
6/12/2017- Wandering Bark Books– Guest Post
6/12/2017- A Dream Within A Dream– Review
6/13/2017- Tales of the Ravenous Reader– Excerpt
6/13/2017- Smada’s Book Smack– Review
6/14/2017- Crystal’s Chaotic Confessions– Spotlight
6/14/2017- Page Turners Blog– Review
6/15/2017- Wishful Endings– Interview
6/15/2017- Bibliobibuli YA– Review
6/16/2017- Book Briefs– Review
6/16/2017- BookHounds ya– Review
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Linda Townsend
I enjoy witchy reads! Thanks for the giveaway!
Angelica Dimeo
These books look good
Dianna
I think I’d love this book! Most of the time, my daughter and I share books, so I’ll be sure to tell her about the Julia books.
Karen Gagnon
This author & series is new to me. I have a friend who loves this trope so will show her this review!