THE WITCH'S DARK
by Ken Davis
Davis (The Devil Wants Finn Carey’s Soul, 2011, etc.) returns with a historical fantasy of witches and infernal spirits in Colonial Massachusetts, the first in a projected trilogy.
In 1736 Boston, authorities continue to hunt for witches—even though Salem was destroyed decades ago. Some people argue that Gov. William Whitelocke is holding on to such tyrannical methods in order to maintain his own power, and young Cate Allen and her family get caught up in a rebellion against him. Eventually, the situation forces Cate to unlock her own witchy powers. Meanwhile, the governor’s dissolute son, Grayson, is thrust into a position of authority when his dutiful brother, John, is assassinated. With the help of his brother’s military protégé, Henry Rigsdale, and the appointed magical practitioner of Massachusetts Colony, Grayson tries to discover the truth about a Whitelock family curse, and what really happened to the witches of Salem. Meanwhile, the dark sorcerer August Swaine attempts to advance the science of magic, not knowing what types of demons he might be summoning. Davis’ novel intriguingly sets classic fantasy tropes in a historical setting that readers don’t see too often, which results in an enticing blend of familiar concepts in unfamiliar surroundings. Unfortunately, the book’s main problem is one shared by many other first volumes in trilogies: It primarily provides a lot of setup for later installments, spread between the different characters, as Swaine gets in over his head, Cate realizes that she must take up the mantle of a revolutionary, and Grayson sets his sights on something higher than drink. Davis writes some entertaining action scenes, and gets points for giving his characters some reasonable dimension (so that the admirable military man, for example, also has a jealous side). Still, when mentor characters talk about the danger of the “shadowrise,” readers may expect it to play a bigger role in this novel.
A readable first installment, but future books will need stronger plotlines to pull readers through.