Review: A Witch Called Red (The Red Witch Chronicles Series Book 1) by Sami Valentine

A Witch Called Red by Sami Valentine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions are my own.

I’d probably give this a 4.5 stars if I could.

A woman wakes up in a hospital bed, unable to remember her name, her history or anything about the last 7 years of world events. She has fang marks on her neck and came in with nothing but the clothes on her back. She was found by Vic, a hunter with the Brotherhood of Bards and Heroes, an organisation that goes after the things that go bump in the night. With no resources or memories, she asks Vic if she can be his intern. Newly, and less than imaginatively christened, Red, she spends the next year learning the trade and fetching coffee. She also discovers a small ability for magic.

The body of the story starts in LA, where they have headed to help out a friend of Vic’s, a souled vampire called Quinn. They get drawn in to helping to solve a series of murders, whilst trying to maintain peace during the coming Blood Summit. All while trying to work out why she has the face of a woman from a hundred years ago that was involved so closely with the people involved in the investigation.

I really enjoyed this book. It was cleverly thought out and well paced. The characters were intriguing with plenty of hidden history to uncover. With vampires, there is always more history to uncover.

Red is an interesting lead, she has a mixture of strength and uncertainty. She has found a way to contribute to society and prevent more cases like hers occurring, but at the same time she has no roots in which to base her character. She knows what she thinks is right and wrong, but she has no reason as to why she thinks that way. It leaves her slightly unbalanced all the time. However, she is is still intelligent and curious, blended with determination and spirit which give her all the ingredients for a good hero.

Red’s history with the vampires of LA gives the story an extra dimension. The vampires feel like they know her, even if she isn’t the same woman. They have an instant bond that she doesn’t necessarily feel, but it’s hard to resist the pull of people who are trying connect with her, when she has no roots. However, it’s hard to trust their feelings for her.

I like her relationship with Vic, he’s such a great character. He’s easy going, funny and they have a light hearted and strong friendship. He’s a good mentor, who has become like a brother.

The world building is really well done. I like the idea of having vampires that have souls as well as those that don’t. There is mention of other beings, but this book solely focuses on vampires. This gives the author time to build up the characters without having to focus on a too extensive world building scenario, which stops the characters and plot being smothered.

Overall, this is a great mystery and there are plots within plots for Red and Vic to uncover. It definitely kept my interest. Whilst the murder mystery is solved at the end of the book there are still many questions to be answered about Red and the people who knew the woman who had the same face and I can’t wait to read about it in future books.

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