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puddlemud'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
4.75
Graphic: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, and Child abuse
Moderate: Pedophilia and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage
librarianlayla'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
If you're looking for a fantasy book with a trans protagonist, diverse characters, a slow burn romance peppered with sarcasm and wit - The Witch King is for you.
A take on the fae world as I haven't seen before and a truly twisting plot, I struggled to put this book down.
I cannot wait for the sequel!
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
princess_peach'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
2.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Grief, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
mollivz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Police brutality, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
lgbtq+therainbowshelf's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Ableism, Violence, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Homophobia, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Child abuse, Blood, and Drug use
Moderate: Racism
sauvageloup's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
pros:
- there's a lot of description, which does really help with imagining the characters, the setting and visualising the scene, making it vivid. (The beautiful art on the front also really helped).
- although there was perhaps a bit much, I did like how Edgmon included Wyatt's strong sexual attraction to Emyr was brought up repeatedly and centralised. It didn't skirt around the physical side of Wyatt's attraction and that was neat.
- Wyatt's friendship and closeness with Briar was nice.
- the setting of Asalin, with the dragons, Boom the hellhound, the magic, was all pretty cool.
- and of course, the diversity of characters was excellent.
- oh and I liked Wyatt's backstory; that was original and dark and cool.
- i appreciated also that Wyatt's deadname was never given. I thought at one point that it had and was gutted, but no. It makes sense a trans author would get this but I was glad all the same.
- oh and I appreciated how Wyatt wearing a binder and his feelings about his body were described and handled. The issue wasn't dealt with too heavy-handedly but it got the point across and that was cool.
cons:
- somehow the book didn't *quite* work. It was disjointed, a bit slow, a bit amateurish. The plot didn't come together neatly enough, with some plot points coming out of nowhere
- I'm not sure if there's due to be a sequel (there's no mention of one) but it feels unfinished and the ending a bit rushed.
- the plot was also just a bit weak.
- then there was Wyatt's character development, which wasn't too bad, but it wasn't the best either. Somehow, he didn't seem to really connect deeply with Emyr. I got the sexual tension between them, but why Emyr put up with Wyatt's shit so much, I didn't really get. Also, Emyr forcing Wyatt to come to Asalin at the start was pretty out of character compared to how he was in the rest of the book.
- OH, so this is more of a personal thing, but Wyatt was grateful several times for Wyatt getting his pronouns right, even when talking abt a past story and,, I think this should be taken for granted?? I don't know, I understand that people can mess up, but in an ideal world, everyone would get the right pronouns and that wouldn't need to be appreciated i guess is what I'm saying.
- finally, I thought a lot of uh,, message? political stuff? was too on the nose. I understood the link between the guards' brutality and police brutality, about witch discrimination and queer people's discrimination, etc. just fine without it literally being spelled out on the page and I thought Edgmon could've given the reader more space there, rather than assuming the reader had exactly zero critical thinking skills. Maybe a me thing though.
Overall, I did enjoy it. I feel like Edgmon has some growing to do as a writer, but they have a lot of potential and I loved the descriptions. I would compare this book to Out of Salem in themes and tone, but I would say that I think Out of Salem did it better overall, with more originality, better writing and more engaging characters. But this was still a worthwhile read. It's always good to see more lgbt writers and stories being told and this definitely felt like a very contemporary, 'right now' story.
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse
Minor: Transphobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts
rey_therese07'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
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Deadnaming
Minor: Drug use, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
caseythereader'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
4.0
- Though the book is a wild ride through the fae kingdom, it also covers a lot of hard topics, too: cruel parents, trauma recovery, broken friendships, racism, trying to burn the system down.
- You know I love a book with a prickly protagonist, and that's Wyatt. He makes a lot of bad choices and says a lot of hurtful things impulsively, but much of this book is about him and his friends growing through it together.
- THE WITCH KING is just such a unique book for so many reasons that I can't fit it all here. If you love queer fantasy, put it at the top of your list!
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Genocide, Infertility, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Transphobia
lagiven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Rep: white gay trans male MC, Black male love interest (Wyatt-sexual/aspec), fat indigenous (Seminole) bi-asexual female side character, sapphic nonbinary side character, sapphic side characters, achillean side characters,
CWs (from the authors website): Violence (including gore, arson, attempted murder, and murder), Misgendering (accidental and intentional, including deadnaming—however, the deadname is not written out), Abusive parents, Childhood sexual harassment and assault (harassment is graphic, assault is not), Grooming/predatory behavior between an adult and a teenager, Infertility and miscarriage mention, On-page panic attack, Suicidal ideation and brief mentions of suicide, Drug use.
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Suicide attempt