Review: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Plot: Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her. (Summary from goodreads.com)

First sentence: "Felicia Miller was crying in the bathroom."

Cover: I really like the US cover with the reflection of Sophie in the water, but it also gives the impression of a light and funny read, which is true for the first half of the book. I'd take it over the UK cover any day, though.

My opinion: I picked Hex Hall as my next read because I wanted a funnier and more light read. I fear that it might not have been fair on Hex Hall to read it right after Nightshade, because that was some big shoes to fill. That said, I enjoyed this novel but I feel like I somehow could've enjoyed it even more. However, I did finish it in less than two days so that has to count for something.

Like in all first books of a series, a lot of time is spent building and explaining the world and I guess I've just read too many first books lately because I get a bit bored with that, although it is important. It just kind of slows everything down. But just like with Nightshade, this novel also picked up pace after a while. The second half of the novel kicks some serious butt.

The story is a first-person narrative told by Sophie, who is just wonderful. She's witty and sarcastic and kills with her one-liners. She is also sort of the underdog at Hex Hall, being a rather sucky witch having been raised by a human mother not knowing much about the magic world and I just love David- beats-Goliath-stories. As chance will have it, Sophie also befriends the least liked student in the entire school, the vampire Jenna. As for Archer, the love interest, I wasn't infatuated with him but I still hope he might show up in the sequel. He sure has some potential.

I pride myself in often being able to guess where stories are going but this I'd never seen coming. That makes me really curious as to what the next installment in the series will bring. I'll definitely read it, but I think I'll wait until it comes out in paperback (I just want all books in the same series to be of the same format).