Beneath the Jacket Reviews: Review: The Skinwalker's Apprentice by Claribel Ortega

The Skinwalker's Apprentice

by Claribel Ortega

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: February 24, 2014
Edition: Ebook
Page Count: 120
Source: via author Claribel Ortega

Goodreads Synopsis: “Welcome to The Empire State, where banshees, witches, and skinwalkers wait…”

Margo Pennyfeather is being hunted. The 16-year-old witch has always been an outcast, in her home back in England, and now in the village of East Hampton, New York, where her family has settled. No one but her family has ever cared for Margo, but now the most important witch in the magic world wants her as an apprentice, giving her a chance to bring her family out of poverty.

Before long, Margo realizes things aren't what they seem, least of all, what kind of witch she really is. Now, the young witch must face a terrifying monster on her own, and the reverberations will reach farther than she could have ever imagined.

More than three hundred years later, in 1984 Emerald Kipp is a high school senior in New York City. A troubled teen with a rebellious streak, Emerald can't seem to figure out what to do with her life, and unfortunately for her, “witch” isn’t one of the available career choices in her guidance counselor’s office. As she struggles to figure herself out, Emerald is faced with the threat of being stuck in school and missing her final summer with her three best friends. Her last year of high school is turning out to be the worst yet, and Emerald thinks it can’t possibly get any worse. Unfortunately for her, she’s dead wrong.

And there’s something else, something far more sinister stirring in Emerald’s world, and she’ll have to believe in herself if she wants to get through it alive.

Two witches, three hundred years apart, one inescapable fate.

The Skinwalker's Apprentice is a prequel to the upcoming novel, Emerald Kipp and The Riddle of The Timekeeper, a terrifying magical scavenger hunt through the gritty streets of 1980’s New York City,set to a killer soundtrack, and perfect for fans of Harry Potter and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Part of The Empire Witch series.

Review: I have the great joy of being a new member of Claribel Ortega's street team. This is my first time to do anything like this, and I am very excited about it. Due to this, I was sent an ebook copy of this novella so that I could begin the journey into what I can tell is going to be an amazing series. I have not read many novellas, or many prequels of books for that matter, but I enjoyed this story immensely and I think that it was a great help in setting up for the start of the series.

In the novella we are introduced to two characters; Margo Pennyfeather is from colonial America in 1650. She is a teenage witch who is thrilled to be put into a position where she can master her skills with the Priestess. Every time I read about Margo and her story I felt like I was actually there with her. I felt her fear as she was learning, her anxiety as she tried to develop her personal gift, and her joy when she was successful and proud of herself. She was an extremely likeable character, and it was nice to get to see into her world.

The other character is Emerald Kipp, a high school teen growing up in New York City in the 1980s. We see her going to school, having friends, and getting into trouble as she tries to master being a witch and keeping it quiet so that no one else knows. I related very well to Emerald, probably because her story is written closer to the time we are currently in. One thing is clear, these characters are going to go through a whole lot as we get more into this series.

I loved how Ortega wrote the novella going back and forth between the two girls and their stories. While this does not work in some cases, I felt that it was a very successful strategy to use in this short book. Ultimately, this novella has me eagerly awaiting the release of the first full-length book in the Empire Witch Series, The Riddle of the Timekeeper. I would certainly recommend this novella to fantasy fans. Ortega is a wonderful debut writer, and I cannot wait to continue her story.

Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Edition: Ebook
Source: Netgalley via Publisher (Thank You!!) - See more at: http://beneaththejacketreviews.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-torn-away-by-jennifer-brown.html#sthash.AvfC2AKY.dpuf