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brianneh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
There were also quite a few mentions about pregnancy, specifically unwanted and/or forced, which wasn’t marked in the content warnings here on StoryGraph.
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy
Minor: Abandonment
karcitis's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Dysphoria
aexileigh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and War
literelli's review
5.0
Graphic: Xenophobia and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment
theblerdnewsletter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
urlocalhethey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
bookwormbi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Before I start, I would just like to say: afab people using binders, do NOT use a binder the way Wyatt does. He contemplated sleeping in one and I nearly had a stroke. Don't sleep in your binder, don't exercise in your binder, don't wear it for more than 8 hours, take it off if it starts to hurt. Be safe.
Normally when I like a book, I don't bother with a super detailed review, because I'm lazy. In light of the extremely mixed reviews on this one, however, I've decided to take a different approach. THE WITCH KING isn't for everyone. It's unabashedly queer, it's written in the voice of a terminally online abuse survivor who's difficult to love at times, and the humor can be a little--to quote some of the 1 star reviews--cringe.
All that being said, I ADORED this book.
I think if you were raised on MG/YA books like Percy Jackson, like I was, you may have been a little spoiled. Despite all the magical bullshit and no therapy, Percy and his friends remained lovable, relatable, quirky kids we could find ourselves in. Wyatt is not that guy. I didn't really start to like him until about 70-80% of the way through, and even then, it was frustrating to keep reading in his pov because it was so clear that his dynamic with Briar was not sustainable and that Emyr loved him, but he wasn't doing what he needed to do to get better. But that's life, isn't it? You go through some terrible shit, and sometimes you don't rise above. The self-hatred makes you a worse person, unable to see what's in front of you, unable to see who you are and what you can do. And so, you lash out. You make the wrong choices. You depend on other people to take care of you when you really need to take care of yourself.
To tell the truth, I think a lot of the reason I didn't like Wyatt at first is that he reminded me too much of me. Not the parts of myself that I like, not the parts of me that are lovable and relatable and quirky. The hard parts. The parts of me that build codependent friendships and push away love and make deals with the devil. I read to escape that, not to confront it. I think it speaks to Edgmon's skill as a writer that even though I didn't like Wyatt most of the time I was reading this book, I got him, and I wanted to know what would happen to him next. Moreover, I think Edgmon deliberately putting forward a difficult protagonist (and admitting that he felt very close to this character!) speaks to their courage. It would have been far easier (and probably more profitable) to write a story with a bland, vaguely likable protagonist in which the heroes upheld the status quo and saved the monarchy. That's not what Edgmon chose to write, and I'm immensely grateful. By the end of the novel, Wyatt has conquered (most of) his demons and made a commitment to love and to be better, and while it was a long journey to that point, I'm so happy to have been a part of that. I really think Edgmon is going places. With everything going on in the world right now, we need writers who encourage their readers to heal themselves and dismantle these systems in the process.
And they did it so well! My jaw was on the floor when Spoiler he revealed that Briar was part-witch and had opened the door to Faerie. I truly think that was some of the most masterful writing in the book. Wyatt's voice contributed so much to the effectiveness of that twist: he thinks of Briar as this perfect angel who can do no wrong, as a fragile human he needs to protect, and so we as the audience are lulled into this way of thinking along with him. The illusion breaks, and we see her, really see her, at the same time he does. Absolutely fantastic. THIS is the kind of writing I want to see from up and coming authors.
To briefly touch on what I didn't like: the book dragged for a little bit after the crew got to Asalin, there was one part where Wyatt describes a Black woman's hair as looking like an "elegant bird's nest" which I'm sorry, no, unacceptable, and Spoiler the twist with Clarke was not NEARLY as well set up as the one with Briar like Clarke was saying "oh everyone's already pieced it together" bestie no I did not because you being evil came COMPLETELY out of left field . But overall, I'm really impressed with this, and I'm excited to read the next book!
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
onthesamepage's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I enjoyed Wyatt as a character overall, but he didn't always feel consistent. One moment, he'll profess not to care about something, and 50 pages later, it's suddenly a problem. He's angry at
Emyr one moment, and horny for him the next. Being in his head is a roller coaster, but I didn't mind it for the most part. I enjoyed his interactions with Emyr and his relationship with Briar, which was really sweet. I do think we're never really shown the depth of either relationship though, just told about it, which is unfortunate.
The two weakest parts of this book are the plot and the writing. The initial premise is already pretty shaky: Wyatt strikes a deal with Derek, Emyr's enemy/rival for the throne, to make such a mess of things that everybody will be against Emyr marrying him. And then he proceeds to supposedly cause chaos, but in a way that he's never caught at it, so nobody actually knows he's messing anything up. Wyatt definitely didn't understand the assignment.
There's also no sense of urgency; even big events get swept away under the rug in a very anticlimactic manner that makes one wonder why it was included at all.
The ending doesn't make any sense, even after it gets explained. I still don't understand what exactly happened, or how the explanation we're given matches with the actual events that occurred.
The writing doesn't really leave room for the reader to interpret anything by themselves. Everything is spelled out for you, from how Wyatt feels about what's happening now, to the parallels we're supposed to see between the human world and the faerie world.
There's also a lot of overexaggerating. For example:
It takes a minute for me to realize what he's talking about, and when I do, I desperately regret ever learning how to read.
The story is written in first person POV from Wyatt's perspective, which is common enough for YA. However, lines like:
But I'm not sure I should now. No, I probably shouldn't. Do I really want to--
Oh, it would appear I'm already pulling the deck out of my bag.
make it feel more stream of consciousness, which isn't really my preference when it comes to fantasy. I'm not interested in every single thought Wyatt ever has about everything, but that's kind of what I got.
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts
itsmeeryn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Racism and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Transphobia
alexiab's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is a pretty solid fantasy story with some pretty impressive world building for a teen book, even though a lot of the language definitely feels like Youth Speak that will probably age very poorly. I really enjoyed the characters, it has all the best tropes, and the conflict was pretty solid for the most part. I've never seen a fantasy-world-hidden-in-modern-world story where the narrator wonders how the outside world has affected the fantasy society, whether racism and homophobia have leaked in where they otherwise wouldn't have away from our world, and I thought that was a really unique and interesting thing to see as part of the story.
There's a couple plot things that made me wonder if I wasn't paying enough attention to catch the foreshadowing or if it was just random, so I can't say if that's the book's fault or my fault lmao. All in all not bad. It opened pretty strong and had me interested and invested pretty quickly, and the few bumps in the road didn't completely derail my enjoyment of the story. I'm curious where the second book will go.
Graphic: Deadnaming and Transphobia
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment