The Last Witchfinder - James Morrow

I really wanted to like this book. I really did. I started and stopped three or four times and I finally finished it because I didn't have anything else in the house. It's not that it's terribly bad, it's just that it's so not as good as it could be.

It's hard to explain, first of all the story is narrated by a book. Wicked cool idea no? And yet, I feel like the invention wasn't developed and explored in ways I had hoped. I enjoyed the sections the book "narrated" but I wanted more of them.

The Book, which is Newton's Principia Mathematica is taken by Jennet Stearne after her dear Aunt, who has been her teacher, is hanged as a witch - by her father. Her Aunt implores her to use the PM along with Aristotle's elements to disprove witchcraft once and for all. Immediately following her father is sent to the colonies to do his witchfinding there. He is apprenticing his son and takes his work very seriously. Jennet, who is not convinced, hides her research and she attempts to slowly work out how she will what her aunt wants. The rest of the novel is an exploration of reason against superstition with some religion thrown in to boot. This is the kind of stuff that generally gives me goosebumps.

I can't put my finger on what it is that put me off about the novel. There's a great cast of well developed characters, Jennet is true to form throughout the novel, her adventures - if not a bit fantastic - are fun to read. I want her to succeed even though I don't particularly like her. Maybe the story is just too long and ultimately takes too long to get where I know we are going. Maybe I was just in a mood, but something about this novel didn't click for me.