Red Queen (Witch World Book 1)

Warning: contains spoilersI write this review with a heavy heart. I love Christopher Pike; I've been obsessed with his works ever since 6th grade when I discovered the Final Friends series, and The Last Vampire series (reprehensibly retooled as "Thirst") helped shape my adolescence--I've re-read Sita's adventures several times since, well into my late 20s. I've recently been reading some of Pike's adult fiction and really liked that too, so when I stumbled upon Red Queen (for $1.99 on kindle no less), I was like "hey, why not?"I wanted to like this book. Like I said, I'm obsessed with Pike's books. The first 3 chapters go by quickly, and there's definitely potential. What others have said, though, is 100% accurate. Let me explain why things fall apart:1) Jessie/Jessica (our heroine) is not a likable character. Part of the reason is that she is flat--like so one-dimensional it's physically painful. But her age--particularly due to her life trajectory and the feats she accomplishes--makes her feel particularly "fake". Let me explain. Jessie is supposed to be 18, fresh out of high school. But we learn she's got this daughter in an alternate world, and she's got all these intuitions that lead her to all these uber dangerous places, and you're like "wait how can she only be 18?" Like, her experiences don't match her age, while her emotions are actually stunted even for a teenager. I'll reference the Last Vampire series quite a bit, because A) I found myself internally comparing the two as I read and B) another reviewer had already likened Jessie's actions at the end of the book to something Sita might do. From the first page of TLV, we understand Sita--her motivations, her sense of morality, and, despite the fact that she's an ancient vampire who's killed thousands, we see her humanity. I still haven't figured out if Jessie is a human or not. She never has any strong feelings or emotions. She has no strong motivators (other than what other characters tell her to have), and we have to be explicitly told she's a sweet girl--none of her actions--even pre-"connected"--ever indicate anything about her character.2) My biggest complaint about Jessie's flatness is when she is reborn as a witch, finds Russ and her dad, and learns about Witch World, witch genes, the fact that she's a witch, and the fact that she's the mother of a perfect witch baby. A normal person, I would think, would find all of this pretty incredulous. I try to never project myself into the characters, but, come on! At the very least, I would have expected Jessie to be like "No way I don't believe you" and take some time for self discovery, research, angry teen defiance--anything! But instead, flat 'ole Jessie just accepts everything without question--just like that. Her lack of confusion, or questioning, or even frustration kind of soured me to her and the story in general. Bottom line: if you have a flat character--particularly your MAIN character--you don't like that character. And if you don't like that character, you neither root for them or really care what happens to them in the end.3) I never really believed in the Witch Wolrd universe. Now, a lot of that has to do with what I mentioned in #2: Jessie's blind faith in everything that everyone tells her about witches and Witch Wolrd without question. But Pike never really does a cogent job of explaining how the two worlds worked. I just could never wrap my head around how a witch could live two separate lives, but then once she is Connected there's only one of them, but then there's not? I ended up being more consumed with the "whys" instead of the story, and it ended up being very distracting. Like, what happens to the other personality when a witch is connected in one world and that personality travels between the two worlds? Does that personality just disappear? Saying "you get their memories" is a very unsatisfying answer. Again, I think of TLV series--I followed Sita all over the world, back in time, and even to the stars in a magical spaceship. And I believed it all--everything made sense in her universe because you were invested in her character and her reminiscing of the past throughout made the time travel seem natural. But I don't believe anything that happens in The Red Queen. If Pike would have just spent a little more time on character development and rules of the universe, I feel like I would have been less distracted and would have been more open to believe what I was reading. Again, I know this is fiction--the issue isn't the "realism" as compared to reality, but as compared to the universe Pike attempted to create.4) I felt nothing when any of the characters died. The ancillary characters were far more interesting that Jessie, partially because they had interesting back stories, and partially because they felt feelings. But part of the reason that you feel something when a character close to the main character dies is because you care about the main character and don't want her to suffer. But, again, I never really felt that Jessie cared about any of the other characters (even her beloved Jimmy), and so when people died I was just li,e "oh well s/he's dead now; I guess that happened". It's a real shame, because I think back to Sita, and how devastated she was when she had to kill Yaksha, and even though he was evil you care about him because of the emotions she is experiencing. But with Red Queen there is no emotion, and so I ended up just not caring.All this reminiscing about Sita makes me want to re-read the Last Vampire series for a 4th time, and that would be my suggestion to you, oh avid review reader. Save your brain for something with heart :)

Deja vu happens to us all, but never do we actually think it's because things have actually happened before. At least not for me. But in Jessie's world, that is exactly what it means. Jessie and her friends are graduating high school, and they decide to go crazy. Gambling, drinking, finding the right hook-up... it's all on the itinerary. What Jessie doesn't bank on is meeting a dark stranger who will change her life forever. And it all starts with the game of twenty-two.This is a book that I will pick up and read time and time again. And not just because Christoper Pike wrote it. The story was solid, the characters had depth, the pacing was spot on, and I never guessed the ending before I got there.When we first learn about Witch World, I was scratching my head, trying to figure out the mechanics of this world, especially with how the time works in this reality. What I really enjoyed was the imagery he gives to the readers. For anyone reading this who thinking about reading, or preparing to read, this book, remember the mirror scene. You will know what I'm talking about when you get there. How Pike describes things, and SHOWS us - it really gives us a great idea of what is going on, how the worlds work with one another.Jessie asks many of the same questions in the book that I had in regards to this new world. It was great knowing that I was on the same page as the protagonist. I really felt like I was able to connect with her. I felt her heartbreak, I felt her joy and confusion. After reading so many books that have disappointed me lately, it was nice to finally find one that satisfied me as a whole. Usually, I will find something in a book that I wish the author had done differently (who hasn't?), but there are few books that hit it spot on for me, and this was one of them.Anxiously looking forward to book two. Thanks, Mr. Pike, for another perfect escape.

Jessie Ralle heads off to Las Vegas for the weekend with her entire senior class in celebration of graduating from high school. She's riding with her friends, Alex, Debbie, and Ted (who has a crush on her), oh and her ex, Jimmy, who left her for a cheerleader. They get to their hotel and JIMMY is staying in their room, due to not being able to find his own room. Jessie and Alex go to the casinos after dinner, using fake ID's to play blackjack. There they meet a guy named Russ, who seems to win no matter what. Alex leaves, out of frustration because she can't win. But Jessie stays. And Russ helps her win. Almost 60k and then he gives her 100k. They go back to the hotel Russ is staying at and they bond. I think a day later she goes back and gets a crazy taxi driver. He takes her to the middle of nowhere and she bolts at a red light. She gets picked up by a lady and OMG I'm not going to spoil it. Hours later...... Russ takes Jessie to Witch World. Everybody has a counterpart. Jessie is Jessica, Russ is Russell, Alex is Alexis, etc. And in there is good and evil. I loved this book and I literally read this the entire time after school on Thursday. I got this on the 10th and finished it on the 13th. And I started & finished at around 6:00PM. Scroll back up, buy this book and read it. If you don't have any way of buying it off of Amazon go to your bookstore or library and GET THIS BOOK NOW. Get this book and remember to stay #Nerdy. So you like that catch phrase comment down below.

I enjoyed it certainly, but it may be missing that special Pike ingredient. Not in the same league as the 'The Last Vampire' 'Sati' 'Witch' 'The midnight Club' and the 'Remember Me' trilogy. Worth a read though? Yes!

Really great creative page turner yet again from Pike, some bits seemed rushed but the story generally is brilliant! Always sparking up curiosity for the next part of the story.

Absolutely loved this book! I couldn't put it down, I finished it in a week

I really enjoyed this book, I left it could have been better and I hope that book 2 will be an improvement I also hope that the lead character changes her boyfriend as I found him really boring. It has a lot of sad parts in it and some of the most likable characters meet sad endings in the last big fight which is abit of a downside but I can't wait to read the 2nd book.

I loved this book from beginning to end! Constantly grabbing your attention page after page! Think it's going one way, and ends up catching you completely off guard!! Can't wait for the next book!!