KayCee K. : July 2018

Hocus Pocus is beloved by Halloween enthusiasts all over the world. Diving once more into the world of witches, this electrifying two-part young adult novel, released on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1993 film, marks a new era of Hocus Pocus. Fans will be spellbound by a fresh retelling of the original film, followed by the all-new sequel that continues the story with the next generation of Salem teens.

Shortly after moving from California to Salem, Massachusetts, Max Dennison finds himself in hot water when he accidentally releases a coven of witches, the Sanderson sisters, from the afterlife. Max, his sister, and his new friends (human and otherwise) must find a way to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plan and remaining on earth to torment Salem for all eternity.

Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison's seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don't quite go as planned, it's a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches' latest death-defying scheme.

Review

I grew up with this movie so I'm going to do my best to not let nostalgia play to big of a part in this review. I enjoyed taking it in, in a different format. It’s a classic, so you can’t go wrong with it. I’m not going to talk about the first half as it’s just the original movie and doesn’t feel I need to say anything other than it’s such a fun read!

Now part two, the sequel!! I was over the moon happy when I saw this and I was hoping there would be a connection between the two and there is. The main character we follow is the daughter of someone from the first film. She’s a good character but her two friends are my favorites in this story. I enjoyed how this sequel reflected the first movie. There were so many characters who played a part in this story. I don’t want to say too much about this book or the plots but there is an LGBTQ character, it ’s well written and doesn’t read as a movie script, it’s a book, book. There is a twist that made this story good. These characters are clear and full of wittiness. If you like the movie, you will at less find something in the sequel that will make you smile. But in the end, you have to remember that this is a young YA Halloween, cheesy fun read.

I was giving a copy to review, so this is 100% my own thoughts.