Bane
Bane is the second in the coven series and tells the story of Jax and Egan traveling to Salem to try to find out the truth about the covens, Jax’s power and how to stop the evil for good. Too bad the rest of the world didn’t have the same plan….
Bane is the second of the Coven series, and so this review will contain spoilers for the first book, White Witch. If you haven’t read White Witch, check out my review :). After finishing White Witch, I was quite excited to see that Bane was also open for review copies, and had to keep reading and reviewin for this fun series!
Goodreads
Title: Bane
Author: Trish Milburn
Pages: 178
Genre-ish: Urban Fantasy with only witches
Rating: ★★★★☆ - fun read, minor flaws
Setting: The modern world, but witches are real, Salem pissed them off and made them bargain for true evil powers, and covens live in hiding, using mind control and killing anyone that finds or annoys them.
Premise: Jax was a dark witch, but fled from her coven in the first book. Now she has discovered she can take in and use white witch power, and has traveled to Salem to try to figure out what all that means for her life and the world.
Strengths:
- Same compelling writing as the first book. I just want to keep turning the page!
- Learning more about the other power that is out there and the other people who know about the covens was quite interesting.
- New friends! The secondary characters that appear were refreshing to the plot.
- No love triangle (yet). Keller and Toni are involved in Bane, and while there is angst, Jax doesn’t do anything too annoying in the romance department.
Weaknesses:
- The conclusion of Bane felt a little weak after all the build up, and there is obviously going to be another book. This is understandable for a second book, but it still would have been nice if it could have stood on its own a little bit better.
- A little bit too much teenage angst for me, but it is YA ;-).
- Bane had the same weird formatting and some spelling errors as White Witch.
Summary:
I was perhaps a little too excited to get a copy of Bane, and built up my expectations. A second book is rarely as strong as the first, and the plot was a little disappointing. The characters, old and new, however, were very strong and memorable. They made me very much enjoy Bane and I recommend everyone who likes YA fantasy to start or continue the series!
