Spellcaster Book Review - Just finished reading this book by Claudia Gray!

I just finished reading Spellcaster by Claudia Gray. I was in my local library looking for a new series to read, and I just happened to come across Spellcaster.

The description was intriguing and since I'm a huge fan of stories about fantasy and magic, I decided to give it a go.

The story seemed exciting, and after reading this first two pages of the book, I was hooked! Claudia got right into the dirty details of magic, from the point of view of a Witch that seemed very likeable.

I won't give too much away (yet), but after reading the novel, this book is definitely one of those best-sellers that I'm sure will be popular soon.

This book was published in 2013, so I'm guessing the hordes of magic-lovers haven't found this book yet.

Don't worry if you haven't read the book yet: I will include spoiler alerts so that you know what parts to skip.

I hate reviewers that don't do this, so I'll make sure not to do it to you. There are some juicy plot twists and surprises that spring out at you, and you'll find yourself not putting this book down.

The story takes place in a very small and dreary town called Captive's Sound.

The people there are close-knit, somewhat bigoted, and a little depressed. Nadia (the main protagonist of the story) describes the place as being broken, as if the very life of the city was getting sucked out by something.

Overall, it's a great plot with a little mystery to keep the readers intrigued. I just didn't like the fact that I couldn't see Captive's Sound in my mind.

I mean, sure, you got the high school, the houses, the beach, some restaurants and the hair salon, but I can't imagine how the setting actually looked like. I wish the author would have expanded more on the setting so the story would seem more immersive.

Right now, it just feels like an unimportant backdrop.

That's it. I can't visualize how any place in Captive's Sound connects with each other. It just seems like everything was placed randomly around the town in one small cluster-fudge.

You can argue that Claudia Gray made the place look mundane and boring on purpose, and that's understandable, but I just wished that I can visualize myself walking down the streets of Captive's Sound.

At the moment, it's too 2D for me.

What Claudia Gray does very well is the development of the characters, which all seem very real and relatable.

You got Nadia, the hot semi-witch with black hair and a tan to die for.

Mateo, the hot and dangerous dude with a motorcycle.

And Verlaine, the trendy goth-girl that no one seems to give two cares about.

Well, in hindsight, these characters do seem very Mary-Sue, but I swear they go beyond visual appearances. You can really tell what these characters are feeling since Claudia makes great use of italics for showing what the characters are thinking.

Then, of course, you got the minor characters, such as Cole (Nadia's little baby brother), the Dad, the counselor, the high school pricks, etc.

See, I tried to draw them as best as I could, but I think I made Verlaine look more messy than trendy.

Nadia has the swimmer-suit body with he heart-shaped, Mateo with the letterman jacket and jeans, and Verlaine, who has vintage wear.

They're all very different characters that seem to work very well together. My personal favorite is Verlaine, since I can relate to her a lot more than perfect-Nadia and perfect-Mateo, hah!

I have already mentioned how 2D the setting seems to be in Spellcaster, but other than that this novel went pretty smoothly.

Spellcaster is a great book with an interesting plot. It's a page-turner, so expect to be reading this book from start to finish, perhaps in only one day of reading (like I did). Expect to feel both hopeful and disappointed, happy and sad, but satisfied once you're done reading it.