Warning: contains spoilers.

If you’ve ever read the Malleus Maleficarum, then you’ll have some idea what to expect from this book. It’s explosive, deadly and very, very intense (and also a little slow moving at times).

Burnt Snow takes the concept of the ‘burning times’ and brings them forth into a modern small town in Australia; and although the beginning sets the story well, the plot is a bit too slow paced, trying to cover a lot of twists and turns as well as build up tension for the story to come.  This is a book that would make a great TV series, and each episode would be explosive and exciting and you wouldn’t get enough of it; in a book it drags, and requires too much suspension of belief.

The characters individually are quite believable, if a little clichéd, new girl normally geeky, decides to try and get into the popular crowd but always feels like a fake, geek girl best friend, popular girl with arsehole popular boyfriend…. Clichés work, they give you an instant understanding on which to base a character on, then the author can develop that character from a level playing field, but too many cliché’s in a story tend to be distracting.

Despite the slow pacing I was prepared to say I enjoyed this story, right up until the last 20 pages. My heart was racing and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough; unfortunately, I also thought I was going to be sick. The violence wasn’t graphic, and teenagers reading this will be far less affected than me, but I’m afraid I really was horrified. Burn Snow does mention the Malleus Maleficarum at one stage, and the basic premise of the story is the Sophie Morgan is a witch, who only learns this in the last third of the book. From this point she also discovers that the witch finders (known as “The Finders”) are in town trying to find the witch that’s causing all these magic disturbances. We take a couple of Wiccan call cries (never again the burning times) and add in scenes from the “Hammer of the Witches”, mix it all together with some teenage angst, and out pours our story.

The lack of a happy ending was very distressing. We’ve just gone through absolute horror, and yes, Sophie is safe, but there is no contented ending. I know this is book one, but if book one leaves me anxious and unsatisfied, I am unlikely to want to see what happens in book two. After the intense fight/flight scene the reader really needed a chance to take their breathe and reassess the story; the reader should be comforted by the author, not left to contemplate the cold stark existence of the blank back cover.

Burnt Snow is well written, with good dialogue and an interesting premise; but for me it was a topic I’ve studied and am horrified by so does not make an enjoyable read.

Expect to lose a lot of sleep when you pick up Burnt Snow! This debut novel by Van Badham is an astounding mix of YA romance, Hitchcockian suspense, Graham’s Green-ish wordsmithing and paranormal skullduggery!

How’s that for trying to sum a book up! Let me explain.

Burnt Snow gives us Sophie Morgan, a year 11 student relocating from Sydney to a NSW South Coast town when her father gets a new job. Within the first few pages of the book we already have a growing sense of menace and dangerous secrets as Sophie looks around the town and starts at school.

Despite being introduced to quite a range of people at school, each one has a definite personality and role within the plot. I’m used to peripheral characters being caricatures of school-types, so it was refreshing to have such a large cast be quite natural and believable. Well, it was refreshing and it also inspired a few nightmares because while I quite enjoyed school, Van Badham’s characters brought back the fear of teenage social humiliation with a vengeance!

While there’s a certain inevitability in Sophie’s attraction to the bad boy Brody Meine this is developed with a matching level of both teenage fascination and suspenseful danger. Their interaction is wonderfully explored and, as with the rest of the book, you completely believe in this pair as they try to work out just what is happening.

Even out of school we have both honest and surprising characters. Sophie's emails, texts and calls to her best friend Lauren provide an opportunity for Sophie to both reflect on what is happening and hear some home truths when needed. Her mother is controlling, weird and yet it’s clear that she loves Sophie. However she is also quite frightening.

Sophie is resolute, loyal and also has her eyes completely open about the choices and compromises she makes in order to fit in at school. Even though she is involved in escalating threats and attacks, her primary focus is always on how to get through the school day without making a fool of herself or giving her secrets away. There is an honesty to this that simply resonates throughout this book. At times I must admit I would have liked to 'cut' some of the classes, because we pretty much live through every class of every day, and it would have been good for Sophie to break out of the English/History/Art steotype and maybe do some IT, Commerce, Science or Legal Studies - or even pay attendion in Maths - but her subject selection really isn't relevant so this was just a personal whinge.

While I was completely ‘with’ Sophie at school, it was the increasing level of menace that absolutely made my neck start to spasm with anxiety. Can I just say that Hitchock’s The Birds completely freaked me out and when Van Badham brought a crow into the plot I was ready to hide under the bed. Yes, I’m a wuss with a vivid imagination, but with each page of this very long book I could feel the tension compounding.

The natural dialogue, the vivid descriptions and well planned plot were all very much in evidence throughout, but it was only once I started re-reading the book (which I did immediately!) that my appreciation for Vanbadham’s writing clarified for me. There are repeating symbolisms and a synchronicty of when various characters appear and what they add as the plot evolves, that I had been unaware of on my first reading.

Basically Van Badham is a professional wordsmith and this shines through in this YA paranormal romance that she has crafted. There is not a single false note in the book, from the herblore, spell crafting and school day horrors, through to the minefield of teenage relationships.

Yes this is a long book but I don’t know how it could have been shortened without disrupting the pace and details that are so integral to making this the book it is.

My only concern, being a wuss, is that this is firmly targeted at the YA audience. I was on the emotional roller-coaster with Sophie and completely involved with her story. Perhaps I’ve simply forgotten how prosaic teenagers can be, but frankly, I got scared. And I can’t wait for the sequel!