Book Review: The Witchfinder by J. Todd Kingrea

     It has been almost 1000 years since the Cataclysm where part of the moon crashed to the Earth and great weapons of mass destruction were released on the planet. While plants and animals were unaffected by the great sickness people were not so lucky. Their one sanctuary was The Church. The Church is God. The mantra became ingrained in them and anyone who does not follow God must have their souls redeemed by being burned then their bodies left for one year before removal. This is enforced by the great and just Witchfinder Imperials, but when The Church turns it's back on their biggest up and comer their biggest secrets are revealed. Everything Thorne ever knew will be called into question. Will his faith remain intact after everything?

    I received a copy of this eBook from the author in exchange for an honest review. Anyone who has read my reviews for any length of time knows that I am not a religious person and I don't enjoy reading traditional religion books. They bore me and frankly I had enough of it in the first 18 years of my life to last. So to say I had some reservations about this book was an understatement. 

    While there is religion in this book it is not traditional. Wellllll I won't go that far. It is a weird mix of crusades and religious persecution and the Salem Witch Trials. This book is like if you took the time period of the crusades as well as the mindset of those individuals, added in the religious singlemindedness of the Marco Polo era, then hunted using the Salem Witch Trials. Read like that, all strung together in a sentence, it's odd and doesn't sound pleasant. While the situation isn't and I would literally die if I lived in this book the story itself is an interesting read. 

    We follow a man who has been a devout follower of The Church, their God, for his entire life. He blames himself for the death of his mentor and low-key hates his accomplishments as a result of this death. While chasing an escaped heretic a lower member of The Church in another town persecutes Thorne with the charge of necromancy. Now, outside of the loving embrace of his religion Malachi must determine if he will find a way to clear his name or if he will turn to the free-thinking ways of those he has spent his life persecuting. 

    This book is technically a post-apocalyptic. It takes place roughly 1000 years after a part of the moon crashed into the Earth setting off nuclear weaponry. How radiation failed to impact plants and most animals is beyond me. Frankly that doesn't make sense, but it's a book, so they don't always have to. All in all this book isn't a bad read. I really liked Teska, but I almost always love the red head in books. They're always my default favorite. I love her personality, but the romance in this book just feels forced. Like the author felt there needed to be romance, but wasn't sure how to get from point a to b. 

    This book is available on Amazon for $7.99 by clicking here.