Books

The Witch's Daughter (The Blair Witch Files, Case File 1)

Average customer rating:

Really Good
A Page Turner
So-so.
Not as good as The Dark Room, but very intriguing.
"The Blair Witch" Fact or Fiction

The Witch's Daughter (The Blair Witch Files, Case File 1)
Cade Merrill , and Carol Ellis
Manufacturer: Bantam Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Popular Culture | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Movie Tie-Ins | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Horror | Teens | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Horror Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Teen Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Blood Nightmare (The Blair Witch Files, Case File 4)
The Dark Room (The Blair Witch Files, Case File 2)
The Drowning Ghost (The Blair Witch Files, Case File 3)
The Death Card (The Blair Witch Files, Case File 5)
Blair Witch: The Secret Confession of Rustin Parr

ASIN: 0553493620
Release Date: 2000-08-08

Book Description

Is Lee Papert the Blair Witch's daughter? Is she responsible for eight gruesome deaths?

Download Description

The mysterious mythology of the Blair Witch continues through the eyes of Cade Merrill, the cousin of Heather Donahue, one of the missing film students. The interactive features of this book lead readers to Cade's Web site to find more. Launched to coincide with a Blair Witch TV series and a new fall theatrical release.

Customer Reviews:

Really Good .......2006-04-30

This is a very good book, and its very intrguing, I read this and The Dark Room (a just as good read) all in one day. Really great books but I only have Blood Nightmare and after that I'm on my own, I can't believe some of the prices on the rest of the series, The Night Shifters is $70! Thats stupid and utterly ridculous! I wish these books were still in print!

A Page Turner.......2004-02-07

I bought this book at a dollar store and once I started reading it, I could hardly put it down. Cade Merrill is a talented writer. He makes you feel sympathy for the young Lee Irwin as he describes her life growing up in an abusive boys' orphanage. She eventually becomes The Blair Witch's chosen daughter then she gets her revenge! I felt the storyline was great but I feel the scene where the Witch takes Lee under her wing in the woods should have been drawn out more. There wasn't enough to show why Lee decided to follow in her "mother's" footsteps other than just seeking revenge. But Merrill did a fine job of making the conclusion unpredictable with plenty of suspense. I highly recommend this book. But if you read it at night, do so at you're own risk...

So-so........2001-10-23

When he was a child, Harper Kemp and the other orphan boys tortured poor Lee Irwin, leaving her miserable life in ruins. As the years went by, the boys grew up and died in bizarre "accidents", and a regretful Harper Kemp finds himself an old man, traped in a failing body hooked to hospital machinery.

The only hope is that grandson Justin Petit will find Lee Irwin before she finds Harper.

Let's start with the first weak link in the chain. Justin Petit is a two-dimensional, atypical horror hero. The Freddie Prince, Jr. of prose, Justin's a great fella, he simply lacks depth. He and his grandfather have no past relationship. His sole motivation for believing the tale is "It'll make him feel better." Yeah, sure. And as for Harper, all he does is rant and rave. "Get me out of here! She's coming!" I desperately needed some form of connection between these two!

The story takes an early twist when Justin meets a pretty young nurse named Leslie Wolf, but her intentions are painfully obvious and I often felt like smacking Justin upside the noggin! Things are slow with a few scares that have nothing to do with the plot, but the story almost picks up when the diary of Lee Irwin is found. Her capture by Rustin Parr, an important figure in Blair Witch lore, should be a wonderful obervation and descent into insanity, but the serial killer is reduced to a Leatherface-style redneck hobbling around at the bidding of a ghostly woman - the Blair Witch. Suspense is forgotten. Nothing new is explored. The opportunity is wasted.

The novel jumps back and forth between Lee and Harper in the past and Justin and Leslie in the present. It's nice, but could've used a little structuring so a form of contrast would come out of the developing plot lines. Instead, one plot develops for 30 pages, then another goes on for a while, then back to another. Ellis (* see note at bottom) doesn't even give me cliffhangers to build interest.

Lee Irwin's story is a tragic one and would've made a better novel on its own. It still suffers from bad writing, but the character is interesting. Following her parents' death by salmonella, Lee (Louise at the time) is dumped on her widowed aunt who, in turn, forces Lee to dress as a male and dumps her at the Oakbridge Home for Boys. Here's where trouble begins between Lee, Harper, and the other kids.

The scenes in the Orphanage are tense, but from cruelty rather than fear. The boys are brutal, completely lacking in remorse. This leaves them as cardboard characters with no differences beyond their names. Why couldn't some be her friends and some her enemies? All revenge stories need the person who didn't want to perform the crime but was forced into it. Where is he? We need him here!

What gets me is that Lee is the most sympathetic character. Harper never once does anything to make up for what he did to her. And Justin doesn't have anything interesting enough happen to him. I wish they would have kept Lee as a tormented soul rather than make her totally evil in the end. Yeah, she should be out for revenge, but the reader should still sympathize with her. Instead, she becomes the unlikely bad guy. A great twist would involve Justin realizing his grandfather is to blame, so he takes Lee's side. It would've wrapped things up nicely.

All in all, the whole thing feels rushed. A bit of polishing here and there, a bit more depth to the characters, and this could've been as good as the second book in the series, the unforgettable DARK ROOM. Speaking of DARK ROOM, why not make Cade Merril the hero and drop all this Justin Petit nonsense?

(* Note: each of these books were done by a different writer. For the identity of each guest writer -- in this case, Carol Ellis -- check out the first name on the acknowledgements page.)

Not as good as The Dark Room, but very intriguing........2001-07-08

I thought Blair Witch Files: The Dark Room was alot better than this book. Cade Merill barely has a part in The Witch's Daughter, which is disappointing since he is the one trying to uncover the legend. The books ending is also disappointing, resolving things easily and quickly - not as professionally as The Dark Room did - but somehow still leaving thoughts to the imagination. That said, The Witch's Daughter is a page-turner. You want to read it, you're interested in the plot and the characters are all descripted accurately, giving you a good measure of what they look like and how they feel. The best part of this book is Lee Irwin-Papert's diary, which is chilling to the bone and the most intriguing part. Cade Merill deserves a pat on the back for his great mythology work in this one, and even though - I've said it once, I'll say it again - The Dark Room is better, his first shot at the Blair Witch files is still one to be cherished.

"The Blair Witch" Fact or Fiction.......2001-03-08

Cade Merrill's cousin Heather Donahue was part of a student project to document a legend of the Blair Witch. After her disappearence, Cade had moved to the tiny town of Blair, Maryland to uncover the legend. He meets a young girl by the name of Lee Harper who seems to be just as interested as he in the myth. When weird and unworldly things start to happen, Cade begins to question all the information he has gathered. Is Lee really the Blair Witches Daughter? Or is she being pulled in to the abiss of the Blair Witch, and can Cade help her? I read a book from the Blair Witch Files called "The Witches Daughter." This book was very realistic in describing the events of the legend of the Blair Witch. I read another book in this seriese, and the way the author writes is amazing. Even in the dedications he is always living the myth. He dedicates his books to those who are lost or who die in the Black Forest. It really leaves you wondering weather or not this is actually fiction. I think compared to other books, this one is just as good if not better then most. The suspension in the end is very tense. The beginning starts out kind of slow, but if you hang on until the middle, then it's all worth the wait. If you are someone who loves action, horror, and suspense, and is willing to wait a little while for it, then this is definately a book for you. If you are someone whom is impatient and can't wait for action, you might have a little trouble with this one.

Books:

Books