The Salem Branch

This is a very interesting book. It bounces back and forth between Collinwood in 1971, and Salem back in 1692 during the Witch Trials.

First strength of the book is in the material on the witch trials. Someone has done their research for that section of the book gives a pretty good idea of just how little the men in Salem thought of all women in general, and just how stupid they were to believe spectral evidence and the stories told by a bunch of children. One of the moving factors in the trial was the greed of various men for land that belonged to someone else, especially women, and this is how it was in reality. The incredibly horrible prison conditions are also well presented.

Now here is where the book could become somewhat controversial and unsatisfactory for some readers. Barnabas has been cured of being a vampire, and there are fans of the series that find that quite upsetting. It does change the dynamic of the story quite a bit.

Also controversial could be how Angelique is handled in the story and how different she is in this story then she is in the other books about Dark Shadows.

The final controversial part is the relationship between Barnabas and Julia, and how that works out.

I liked the book, although I did have some trouble with the three things I've noted above.


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