A cynic would say that Ravenwolf doesn't do anything Gardner didn't do — i.e. make shit up that felt right, borrow liberally from others, and then claim ancient provenance for it. It seems a little rich to claim one can do it and the other can't ...
That said, the criticisms of Ravenwolf with regards to the lack of depth, disregard of consequence, and a willingness to write with an authoritative air regardless of depth of knowledge or lack of it, are all well-founded, in my opinion.
A brighter future for a darker age.
Agreed about the first comment (mostly). I think the encouragement that kids lie to their parents bugs me less than the other problems because hey...some parents ARE bigoted and perhaps a teen should be able to pursue his or her own religious beliefs. I was lucky in that I didn't have to hide my spirituality from my parents but some kids I knew definitely did.
The thing about revenge is that I generally assume that's against the Rule of Three which she outlines in her books (then again most kids will skip right past that part to the spells chapter). Also, invoking deities you've never worked with before (especially ones like Kali and Hecate) and expecting them to help you is pretty foolhardy. She gave me a pretty warped view of what Wicca actually was. Even just the transition from Teen Witch to To Ride a Silver Broomstick showed me that Wicca was very different from what I thought it was. And then the transition from that to Scott Cunningham, that to Starhawk, that to Gardener, etc.
I think people don't necessarily get that witchcraft is the practice of spells and Wicca is a religion. She tells you there is no difference and if you're 14 you probably believe her. But there is one. I wish I had grown up with the bookstore we have in our town where actual occultists will help you find the book that is best for your needs. I wouldn't have just started with whatever was at Borders then. Sitting on the shelf, Teen Witch just looks so forbidden and exciting and dark and cool when you're a kid.
I don't know much about Gerald Gardener's authenticity but at least in The Meaning of Witchcraft he seems to know generally what he's talking about. At least better than Silver does.
I think people who are interested enough in Wicca or witchcraft to read a book on the subjects will tend to read more than one author.
Agree with Sibilation but when people are just starting off it can confuse them/give them a strange idea when they're teens.
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Don't be fooled.
What most people who aren't in the know about Ms. Ravenwolf don't know is that she writes fiction. Everything she writes is fiction, her status as a 'witch' is laughable. Please, for all that is sacred, don't let her tell you what Wicca or witchcraft is. ( And please don't let her tell you they are the same, they aren't) She doesn't know. She spreads lies and bigotry, and encourages children to lie to their parents. Her information on the pagan holidays is often just plain WRONG and her ideas of rituals tend to be chanting over a candle to whatever deity you read about online yesterday. She advocates invoking Kali and Hekate to get revenge on someone who has 'wronged' you. If you see someone impressionable with her work, please, do them a favour and ask them to google "problem with Silver Ravenwolf" and read the articles that come up. Then they might want to check out Sacred Texts and read what works by Gerald Gardner, the FOUNDER of Wicca, which began in the 1950's, no matter what Siilver says, and get to know about the things he valued. They will be surprised.