Abigayle Claire's Reviews > Incantation

The length of this book was a blessing. I enjoyed it, but really only because it mystified me as I read. With cryptic language and almost ethereal imagery, I could picture things, but it was almost as if the author did not want to present the situation as wholly real. The formatting was also unique, being divided by parts and scene breaks alone. I actually grew to like this and it assisted me in reading the book so quickly. (Looking at another of Hoffman's books, I believe it is a style she utilizes again.) The setting of the Spanish town and the determination of everyone to be devoutly Catholic, so as not to be thought Jewish, was riveting and tense. I believe this was the first book I had read in the Spanish Inquisition. Overall, it did not disappoint, and the story weaving engaged me, but I felt that I never truly got to know the characters before something drastic happened to them. Often the poetry of the language would lead me to doubt the details of the occurrences when it dipped into something that couldn't be real. I've never read a book and felt like the entire world it presents through the main character is in a haze. It was very queer, but the atrocities of the era were impacting. For rather blatant drama, violence, and rituals, I would recommend this for 15+