Scan barcode
erazonasarah's review against another edition
4.0
This book had so much going on that it was at times hard to follow, but my goodness... what a wild ride!
pleasantandminty's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
npolidoro24's review against another edition
3.0
More of a 3.5-3.75*
The ending was good. I read the last 145 pages in less than a day and it took me over a month to get through the rest of the book. I love the wide variety of characters and all the different magic but the middle of this book was so boring. Nothing happened and I feel like we made no progress to the goals of the characters. I think this book could’ve been 200 pages shorter.
I think I would’ve felt different and enjoyed this more if I remembered what happened in the first and second book. This is just another reason I’m never listening to fantasy on audio. I really loved the ending (last 50 or so pages) though, so that saved it for me.
I do still plan in reading the other books in the series.
The ending was good. I read the last 145 pages in less than a day and it took me over a month to get through the rest of the book. I love the wide variety of characters and all the different magic but the middle of this book was so boring. Nothing happened and I feel like we made no progress to the goals of the characters. I think this book could’ve been 200 pages shorter.
I think I would’ve felt different and enjoyed this more if I remembered what happened in the first and second book. This is just another reason I’m never listening to fantasy on audio. I really loved the ending (last 50 or so pages) though, so that saved it for me.
I do still plan in reading the other books in the series.
book_koala's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Viva’s chapters were kind of a cockblock to the main action of the novel but I still like her, she’s a good girl boss
bri_lliantlybookishef669's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
jasmine_elizabeth's review against another edition
5.0
What an amazing addition to the Witchland series. I loved learning more about Aeduan. I loved seeing some plots that we saw begin in book one come into light. I loved seeing characters we haven’t seen since book one and i LOVED the reunions. There was not a single weak plot every characters plot line was important to the overall story.
jjvaldezbooks's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I read it in one 5 or 6 hour sitting right after picking it up off of my doorstep. The first three novels in this series (Truthwitch, Windwitch, and Sightwitch) captured my eye at their library with their unique and intricate magic system, and next thing I knew I was hooked! All of the plot threads left off in the first three books are picked up in Bloodwitch and things start to get resolved -- meaning things get INTERESTING. All of the characters I had fallen in love with over the course of the last year not only learn and grow in this book, but work together as best they can to survive the growing war. No one is safe but everyone has a chance to be a part of doing what's right.
This is a multiple POV series, which I already adore because readers get the chance to see the world through many different sets of eyes. This pays off very quickly in books 1 and 2 when you learn that certain characters have been painted with critical brushes that disallow you from seeing their humanity until much later. In Bloodwitch, it's used incredibly effectively to keep the pace of the book near unstoppable. War is upon the Witchlands and we are barreling through a few short days in the lives of these characters, desperately moving from one to the next and hoping everyone survives until we return to them.
Even the non-POV characters are so well rounded that I can't help but hope to get inside their brains sometime too. In particular, Leopold the prince, Owl the little girl, and a new character I won't spoil spent this book being fleshed out so well that I found myself fervently rooting for them and worried about them even when it wasn't in the main characters' best interest to solve their issues right away.
Finally, the political power struggles. Fantasy often involves "war" stories, and that often means dull scenes of characters sitting in a war council while faceless soldiers get sent to places I as the reader know and care nothing about yet. Susan Dennard is not that kind of writer, though! I am always impressed by the intricacies that play out between the many nations, as well as her ability to write it in a way that makes me care about every leader and faction-- to the point where I'm poring over the map at the front of the book, not because there are too many nations to name or battle hotspots I can't place, but because I genuinely want to think through the war strategies being discussed. I know enough to care about every nation already, but I also still want to know more about their peoples and cultures. The perfect sweet spot of mid-series world building.
Susan has said in interviews that she sees the Witchlands series as having no true villian. That concept is in full play throughout Bloodwitch as we learn more about the "bad guys" of the world. Everyone is complex, and the reader gets to see just how much a war can corrupt a man. I'm very ready for the next generation of leaders-- the main characters of the Witchlands-- to rise up and get shit done in coming books.
This is a multiple POV series, which I already adore because readers get the chance to see the world through many different sets of eyes. This pays off very quickly in books 1 and 2 when you learn that certain characters have been painted with critical brushes that disallow you from seeing their humanity until much later. In Bloodwitch, it's used incredibly effectively to keep the pace of the book near unstoppable. War is upon the Witchlands and we are barreling through a few short days in the lives of these characters, desperately moving from one to the next and hoping everyone survives until we return to them.
Even the non-POV characters are so well rounded that I can't help but hope to get inside their brains sometime too. In particular, Leopold the prince, Owl the little girl, and a new character I won't spoil spent this book being fleshed out so well that I found myself fervently rooting for them and worried about them even when it wasn't in the main characters' best interest to solve their issues right away.
Finally, the political power struggles. Fantasy often involves "war" stories, and that often means dull scenes of characters sitting in a war council while faceless soldiers get sent to places I as the reader know and care nothing about yet. Susan Dennard is not that kind of writer, though! I am always impressed by the intricacies that play out between the many nations, as well as her ability to write it in a way that makes me care about every leader and faction-- to the point where I'm poring over the map at the front of the book, not because there are too many nations to name or battle hotspots I can't place, but because I genuinely want to think through the war strategies being discussed. I know enough to care about every nation already, but I also still want to know more about their peoples and cultures. The perfect sweet spot of mid-series world building.
Susan has said in interviews that she sees the Witchlands series as having no true villian. That concept is in full play throughout Bloodwitch as we learn more about the "bad guys" of the world. Everyone is complex, and the reader gets to see just how much a war can corrupt a man. I'm very ready for the next generation of leaders-- the main characters of the Witchlands-- to rise up and get shit done in coming books.