Saturday, December 12, 2015

Sage's Eyes

Sage's Eyes by V.C Andrews
  • Series: Forbidden  
  • Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Pocket Books (January 26, 2016)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1451650914
  • ISBN-13: 978-1451650914

The blurb ...

From V.C. Andrews, bestselling author of Flowers in the Attic (the first in a series of Lifetime movie events about the Dollanganger family), comes the tale of a young girl kept under the watchful eye of her adoptive parents, as if they fear who—or what—she’ll become…

Sixteen-year-old Sage is a lonely child. Her adoptive parents watch her obsessively, as if studying her for warning signs of…something. And maybe they’re right to—even she can’t make sense of the strange things she sees and hears. She possesses knowledge that other teenagers don’t, that her parents and teachers—no adult—could possibly have. So when Sage finally makes a friend who understands her alarming gift, he becomes her confidant, a precarious link to the truth about who she really is. For Sage and the alluring new boy at school share many things in common. Perhaps, they’ll learn, far too many things.

****
Ugh! Seriously? The first 50% of the book took some getting used to, and didn't have enough conflict to keep me interested. I had to put the book down for a while and read something else before picking it back up again. After a few times of doing this, it became more interesting. I had all sorts of theories going on in my head trying to guess the ending and tie everything together, but I have to admit that the ending was possibly the cheesiest, most bogus ending I had ever read before. I was totally expecting much more from a V.C Andrews book. 

** SPOILERS**

I am going to say for the record that I am a Pagan, and a practicing witch, although not 'Wiccan' and this book was equivalent to the nonsense in the movie 'The Craft.' The least that the author could have done was research the topic a bit more. I understand that this book is fiction, but even fiction is best received when well known religions aren't exploited and totally fabricated. I will not let my teenagers read this book because it puts silly ideas in their heads like the following excerpts from the book: 

'We are all Wiccans. We were born into it. You were born of a mother who wasn't one of us, but your father was." 

Seriously? and ...

"We're both old enough to be beyond our Wiccan powers. They weaken with age but not for the first hundred years or so," he said."

First of all, one is not simply born Wiccan. Any religion that one follows during their lifetime is a choice. We all have the same blood running through our veins, and this implies otherwise. Some of us are born with special gifts it is true, but this doesn't make us Wiccan or any other religion.

Secondly, Wiccan isn't the name given to ancient practices of witchcraft, but instead it is the new age movement, and the first recorded use of the word didn't appear until 1962, even though the 'Wiccans' in this family are immortal (apparently) and beyond 100 years old. 

The story would have been better received by me had it not used the word 'Wicca' or 'Wiccan' at all. One can be a witch and not be Wiccan. 

All the silly symbolism in the book and special emphasis on the 'pentacle' and 'pentagram' made it more phony. You can write a good story about witches and having powers etc without throwing in ridiculous stereotypical stuff. Witches from a hundred years ago didn't wear industrial produced jewelry with pentacles on them, and had they lived an immortal life, they wouldn't concern themselves with such symbols just because they could. Instead they'd probably find them quite useless. 

The way that the parents critiqued Sage's every move was too strange and repetitive. It was the only thing that kept the story moving forward, and the entire plot of the book. Is she good or bad? Will she be one of us, or won't she? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The whole time I was reading I expected them to be shapeshifters or vampires or something more inspiring. This book is a big let down. The author is apparently running out of ideas. Two thumbs down.

This book was given as an advanced copy to review by NetGalley, my review is written with honesty and without any ties to the author. I did not receive any monetary gain from doing so.


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