Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch
J.E. Hunter
What Nessa knows won’t hurt her, right? When her father dies, she finds herself causing strange watery issues and then she is packed off to a deserted island with just her crazy grandmother for company.
Nessa is an interesting character with her own mind, and she truly grows throughout the novel. It’s not just plot driven, there is definitely character development. Not to mention some very nice world-building of the island and its inhabitants.
Don’t you love the cover? It fits in perfectly with the novel, which is that the author has perfectly meshed a ‘normal novel’ into a fantasy world that I could believe exists only minutes away from me. At first I thought the use of a ‘real photograph’ was a bit tacky, then I realised that it was perfect. Have I said perfect enough times?
The title is a little posh for what the novel contained. ‘Tales’ puts in mind multiple stories, when really this is just one. It holds a traditional book plot graph for me, as in several small events keeping the reader’s interest with the novel, finishing with a breathtaking confrontation near the end.
I could have sworn I had made some notes about this novel, but in fact perhaps I only wrote them in my head. I’ve given it 4 strong stars though, because it’s an excellent teenage fiction novel that has the right touches of fantasy to keep a reader’s interest.
