Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Written By: Mark Rosendorf
RRP: £12.99 / $10.21 (Paperback) | £3.59 / $4.99 (Kindle)
Reviewed by: Sebastian J. Brook
Following on from our review earlier this year for Mark Rosendorf's The Witches Of Vegas, we were incredibly excited to get stuck into its new sequel; Journey To New Salem.
Set a year after the events of the first book, the Vegas show is bigger than ever, and things are equally going just as strong for teen witch Isis and her magician boyfriend Zack. That is until Isis begins suffering from seizures that have destructive effects...
In order to save Isis, they must travel across the globe to the titular New Salem, where they hope to find another coven of witches, and with it an unlikely figure as a potential remedy for her seizures.
We can't hide the fact that the evil Valeria is back and we simply love the polarity between her and Isis. It's such a typical good vs evil, principal vs absolute, driving force that elevates the story.
There's a perfect peppering of suspense and some surprising plot twists which build strongly on the precedent that Rosendorf set in The Witches Of Vegas. In fact, worthy of note is how many other breadcrumbs the author has been scattering, that come into play here in book 2. Kudos for his masterplan for world-building, and subsequently, its masterful execution.
Although the actual journey to New Salem is a relatively short one (thanks to some handy witchcraft), the true journey is the one that the characters go on both individually and in wholly in aid of Isis.
Speaking of characters, the ones you loved from the first book are built upon even more here; some even have new-found abilities, and you love them even more. There's also a new set of characters to love (and hate). Zack has a more central role in this book, and we're all for it, as Rosendorf has written an incredibly lovable hero in Zack, who really comes into his own here.
It's very rare that a sequel is considered even better than the first in the series, but that's exactly what Rosendorf has done with Journey To New Salem. It's a tighter, more suspenseful, more impactful book, that is pushing towards a greater arc. The stakes are higher and by the closing chapter, you are dropped in the middle of a bittersweet predicament that will have you clawing for book three.
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