Origins by Cate Tiernan

Title: Origins
Author: Cate Tiernan
Publisher: Puffin Books
ISBN: 0-141-31552-0
Pages: 184
Series: Wicca/Sweep #11
Type: Young Adult Paranormal
Source: Purchased
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In 1682 Rose MacEwan lived in dangerous times, more so because she was a witch. The daughter of her coven's High Priestess, Rose always felt that she was being held back from her magick by her mother. So when Rose meets the mischevious Diarmuid in the woods, she seizes the opportunity to work greater more powerful magick. But Rose's choices have consequences even she could never have predicted.

This is the eleventh book in the Wicca series (which began with Book of Shadows) and again is from a perspective other than Morgan's. In this installment, Morgan's ancestor Rose narrates the tale of the creation of the dark wave. Morgan and Hunter appear briefly in the prologue and epilogue but otherwise the entire book is given over to Rose's story.

The movement of the story to seventeenth century Scotland is an interesting choice. I enjoyed the opportunity to discover how and why the dark wave was created, and the circumstances fit well with the morality issues raised in previous installments. However, I didn't really warm to Rose as a character and the pace of the book is quite a lot slower than before. To this point the rest of the series is set over around four months, whilst this book is set over the course of almost a year. This means that a lot of the tension depends on the witch hysteria rather than Rose herself.

The romance angle between Rose and Diarmuid was also a little disappointing as she uses magick to capture his attention which always makes the relationship seem unbalanced. Rose's determination to maintain their connection is understandable but I have to say I wasn't really surprised when Diarmuid's true intentions are revealed.

All in all this was an interesting read and I'm looking forward to Eclipse.

Plot: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Ending: 9/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Cover: 9/10

Overall: 42/50