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A review by mariahistryingtoread
A Path Begins by J.A. White
1.0
I have something called the YA rule. This specifically refers to the all too common practice of YA books not starting until halfway through. The reason for this varies depending on the book. Sometimes it’s because there’s a sequel in the mix so the author chooses to waste time to leave a tease for the next book. Sometimes it’s because the author truly has nothing else to write to fill the space. Sometimes the author is taking too much time to build suspense. Whatever the case may be, the outcome is the same - nothing of importance will happen until you approach the halfway mark and impactful plot motivating events will not occur until it passes. It’s not an exact rule as there is some wiggle room, but the basic idea has served me well so far.
Despite being middle grade, A Path Begins follows the YA rule to a tee.
For the first half of the book Kara is just playing at being a witch. She gets the grimoire fairly easily and spends this entire time mindlessly completing dull, inconsequential spells. We’re told weeks pass in this time. I hate loose timelines as I feel it’s a crutch by the author to make it feel as if a lot is happening without having to put in real effort to fill the days.
The magical system is boring relying entirely upon the grimoire rather than the strength of the person or the person’s work ethic. Most witch stories involve the witches having to do research or finding ingredients or memorizing special languages. I’d hesitate to even consider this a story of witchcraft under these kinds of circumstances. Literally anyone can do it and the only differentiating factor is how much the spirit behind the book can take advantage of you beforehand. Three out of four characters are unable to fight the pull to the grimoire yet it is never explained why the fourth character was able to do so despite how compulsive it is established to be. When one of the other characters breaks free it is similarly unexplained.
The fact that the magic is so dreary makes for a dull build up to the big inciting event. It’s made worse by the fact that there is no tension at this time either. Kara blatantly sends rats after a bunch of kids attempt to vandalize her barn at the 40% mark. This results in little more than a slap to the wrist even though Kara is highly suspected of being a witch by her entire community. There is no increase in hostility to her or Taff, no increase in fear or wariness, no nothing. In fact this moment only serves to highlight how poorly crafted the world building is. Descriptions of anything outside of Kara’s grimoire work have shrunk almost to zero. Her family is super poor, relying on the good will of others for slivers of payment, and Kara’s micromanaging of the household to get by yet how they manage to live during this time is completely ignored. All that matters is Kara’s weirdness with the grimoire.
I will say that once the book picks up it is a lot better. Though, there are still problems. Multiple characters that had disappeared due to the aforementioned YA rule suddenly reappear. Their function within the narrative was fine. Their sudden, abrupt inclusion was not. By this time so much of the book had passed I could not bring myself to care about them severely undercutting any tension White tried to create.
Several silly things happen in the latter half that just plain feel like poor storytelling. For example, Kara’s mother was a witch. She tells her father to raise Kara with the knowledge that her mother was an evil witch so that when she develops her powers she will be scared of being like her mom so she won’t engage in witchcraft. This doesn’t work for a couple reasons.
One, it makes much more sense to tell her the truth (there is more to this, I’m not going to spoil it) because then Kara would know what to expect coming into her powers. How does leaving your child to grapple with inexplicable powers in fear of being cast out of society make any sense?
Two, the magical system is directly tied to the grimoire, not to the person. So not telling her the truth is doubly silly as if you follow this train of thought Kara will never manifest any powers as she does not have access to a grimoire. Therefore, her mother encourages her father to lie for absolutely no reason. It’s not like Kara is a baby when her mother dies. She’s old enough to remember it. What is the benefit in not telling her when it would alleviate some of the trauma surrounding her loss? Thinking her mother was a murderous witch does not in any way make it easier to grieve her.
I hate when adults lie to kids in books, but at least I can understand why. This just doesn’t work for me because it’s only done in order to create drama in the book. It does not make logical sense in the confines of the narrative.
The resolution is fine. It makes sense. It concludes the story. What else can you ask for?
The atmosphere was really cool when I first started and that lured me into a false sense of security. It quickly became clear this book was not going to measure up to my expectations. I recommend you do not read this. I will be reading the sequel, but I encourage you to just read my write-up when I eventually get to it so you won’t end up as frustrated as I was because I do not see it getting any better going forward.
Despite being middle grade, A Path Begins follows the YA rule to a tee.
For the first half of the book Kara is just playing at being a witch. She gets the grimoire fairly easily and spends this entire time mindlessly completing dull, inconsequential spells. We’re told weeks pass in this time. I hate loose timelines as I feel it’s a crutch by the author to make it feel as if a lot is happening without having to put in real effort to fill the days.
The magical system is boring relying entirely upon the grimoire rather than the strength of the person or the person’s work ethic. Most witch stories involve the witches having to do research or finding ingredients or memorizing special languages. I’d hesitate to even consider this a story of witchcraft under these kinds of circumstances. Literally anyone can do it and the only differentiating factor is how much the spirit behind the book can take advantage of you beforehand. Three out of four characters are unable to fight the pull to the grimoire yet it is never explained why the fourth character was able to do so despite how compulsive it is established to be. When one of the other characters breaks free it is similarly unexplained.
The fact that the magic is so dreary makes for a dull build up to the big inciting event. It’s made worse by the fact that there is no tension at this time either. Kara blatantly sends rats after a bunch of kids attempt to vandalize her barn at the 40% mark. This results in little more than a slap to the wrist even though Kara is highly suspected of being a witch by her entire community. There is no increase in hostility to her or Taff, no increase in fear or wariness, no nothing. In fact this moment only serves to highlight how poorly crafted the world building is. Descriptions of anything outside of Kara’s grimoire work have shrunk almost to zero. Her family is super poor, relying on the good will of others for slivers of payment, and Kara’s micromanaging of the household to get by yet how they manage to live during this time is completely ignored. All that matters is Kara’s weirdness with the grimoire.
I will say that once the book picks up it is a lot better. Though, there are still problems. Multiple characters that had disappeared due to the aforementioned YA rule suddenly reappear. Their function within the narrative was fine. Their sudden, abrupt inclusion was not. By this time so much of the book had passed I could not bring myself to care about them severely undercutting any tension White tried to create.
Several silly things happen in the latter half that just plain feel like poor storytelling. For example, Kara’s mother was a witch. She tells her father to raise Kara with the knowledge that her mother was an evil witch so that when she develops her powers she will be scared of being like her mom so she won’t engage in witchcraft. This doesn’t work for a couple reasons.
One, it makes much more sense to tell her the truth (there is more to this, I’m not going to spoil it) because then Kara would know what to expect coming into her powers. How does leaving your child to grapple with inexplicable powers in fear of being cast out of society make any sense?
Two, the magical system is directly tied to the grimoire, not to the person. So not telling her the truth is doubly silly as if you follow this train of thought Kara will never manifest any powers as she does not have access to a grimoire. Therefore, her mother encourages her father to lie for absolutely no reason. It’s not like Kara is a baby when her mother dies. She’s old enough to remember it. What is the benefit in not telling her when it would alleviate some of the trauma surrounding her loss? Thinking her mother was a murderous witch does not in any way make it easier to grieve her.
I hate when adults lie to kids in books, but at least I can understand why. This just doesn’t work for me because it’s only done in order to create drama in the book. It does not make logical sense in the confines of the narrative.
The resolution is fine. It makes sense. It concludes the story. What else can you ask for?
The atmosphere was really cool when I first started and that lured me into a false sense of security. It quickly became clear this book was not going to measure up to my expectations. I recommend you do not read this. I will be reading the sequel, but I encourage you to just read my write-up when I eventually get to it so you won’t end up as frustrated as I was because I do not see it getting any better going forward.