The Void (Witching Savannah book 3)

Synopsis

An otherworldly energy runs through the city of Savannah, betraying its sleepy, moss-cradled charm. The old, beguiling streets look welcoming to most…but certain families know what lurks under their genteel surfaces. Families like Mercy Taylor’s, which has the most powerful lineage of witches in the South, know this all too well.

Mercy and her husband, Peter, are happily preparing to welcome baby Colin into their lives. But their excitement quickly becomes overshadowed by a gruesome discovery: someone has scattered severed limbs throughout the city. After a troubling visit from an old foe, Mercy learns dark magic is at play, and someone—or something—wants her and her unborn child out of the picture. To uncover the shocking reason why, the amateur witch must face a force beyond her power…or risk losing everything.

 The third book in J.D. Horn’s Witching Savannah series, The Void is a gripping adventure about the enchantment—and evil—that can lie just beyond sight.
 

Review

Well where do I start, it’s taken me a few days to sit and write this review, as I wanted to be a bit more rational about it, after I read the last page feeling ‘what the hell was that all about’. The book starts with the finding of different body parts strewn around Savannah, and the Taylors convinced there is a magical basis to it as they desperately try to find out what kind of magic is afoot. Evan Adam, who is investigating the ‘murder’ turns to them for help. Meanwhile Mercy & Peter are busy preparing for the arrival of their first child.

The first 50% of the book is how I would expect the story to go, as Mercy’s life starts to unravel around her. There is so much tragedy and death, along with family secrets being revealed. Then we hit the second part of the book, where I just don’t know what the writer was thinking. There are so many twists, turns & red herrings, which has the reader wondering what on earth is going on, and puts your head in a spin. \It’s so unexpected, when more deaths lead to a main character leaving, then Mercy is told her baby is an abomination and must be controlled, leading to yet another characters sacrifice. It seemed Mercy’s life was going to end in tragedy & she wasn’t destined for a happy ending nor too many of the main characters either.

She is tricked by her mother (still alive & has more lives than a cat) & Gudrun to try and bring down the line. Yet they didn’t reckon on Jilo making an appearance, I missed the character of Jilo in this book, so it was great to see her again even if it was for such a short time.

 The book was still making reasonable sense until 85% through, then I lost the plot and so did the author I think. Things started to be played out on different planes & timelines with characters who were dead coming back to life, whilst other dead characters came to Mercy’s aid and turned the readers beliefs on its head (about the story). Timelines were forced together, despite being very different, it just felt that what I liked about the whole story, were being altered into a completely different storyline that I didn’t recognise and could have been written by a different author.

 After all the twists, turns etc. the author still managed another twist to deliver the perfect happy ending that didn’t really fit with the story, and just felt like the author needed to tie up all the loose ends so everyone was happy. The main thing I felt after such an emotional journey to the end, that Mercy didn’t get the ending she deserved.  I'm still feeling very conflicted about it, even a few days after reading it, it’s a shame really, I know a lot of times the last book in a trilogy or series can leave readers feeling a little let down but it’s rare for one to leave you flabbergasted.

 I rate this book