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paxyquiltan's review against another edition
2.0
A Guide to the Witchland World: (because god knows I needed one)
The map above is the area where Truthwitch takes place. There are three large empires that take the most space in the map and of course the resources. They are: Dalmotti empire, Cartorra empire, and the empire of Marstok. Alongside that you have a host of smaller countries surrounding the empires (Those of which include Nubrovna, home of Prince Merik). We enter the Witchlands during a period known as the end of the 20 year truce. Basically before the truce was signed all the countries in the Witchlands were at war with one another, and the countries were starting to feel the weight of the war as it was getting really bad. And so because of that a treaty was signed between the countries, this meant that for twenty years there will be no war. But of course despite it being a 'time of peace' there is a lot of political tension.
People in these lands may be born with gifts (witchery). This gives those people powers, and so these powers come from the same 'elemental' sources. So you have Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Aether, and Void. Basically witches have diverse powers (Seawitch vs Waterwitch) but all there powers no matter how rare or diverse will fall under those six classes (both fall under the element water but both are still different with how powerful they are).
Scattered across these lands, we have magical wells that are linked to the above elemental sources. They have magical powers such as healing.
The Cartorra empire is home to Safiya who is a truthwitch. She can tell lie from truth and she can tell someones true intentions (although she was doing a very bad job at that if you ask me). Being a truthwitch is extremely rare and everyone wants a hold of her (again if you ask me threadwitch sounds way more important than truthwitch). Safiya is also what is called a Domna which I'm assuming has a similar meaning to Lady.
Cartorra empire is a wealthy empire ruled by Emperor Henrick (i think thats how you spell his name).
We follow four characters in this book: Safiya who is a truthwitch, Iseult who is a threadwitch, Merik who is a windwitch, and Aeduan who is a bloodwitch.
You will find threadwitches only in the Nomatsi people (Iseult's people). They see the threads of emotion and feelings and strong relationships of a person. Each emotion or feeling is expressed in different colors. I got very confused in the beginning when Iseult would mention colors with emotions like angry red and so on.
A bloodwitch is very rare and very dangerous. It's considered Voidwitchery because of its connection to death. Basically a bloodwitch can control another person’s blood. They're also great trackers as they can smell your blood and track to the ends of the earth. They also have creepy red eyes when they're using their powers.
There is something called Cleaving as well, that even after finishing the book I still don't understand the what, how, and why's.
I did not enjoy this book. All the above information was basically dumped on you the first 50 pages. It was very confusing. The world was very hazy and did not make sense to me. I had to read the first 100 pages twice, write down and highlight and annotate, and read witchland wiki to understand what was going on. I found so hard to imagine the world. And I did not care much about the characters because I was busy trying to understand the world. I had to go back and forth to understand certain things.
Maybe if I had come into this book with a more understanding of the world I could have enjoyed it more, or at least paid a little more attention to the characters.
Truthwitch had a lot of elements and tropes I usually enjoy when reading books. But I did not enjoy it.
Not sure if I'm going to continue with the series.
The map above is the area where Truthwitch takes place. There are three large empires that take the most space in the map and of course the resources. They are: Dalmotti empire, Cartorra empire, and the empire of Marstok. Alongside that you have a host of smaller countries surrounding the empires (Those of which include Nubrovna, home of Prince Merik). We enter the Witchlands during a period known as the end of the 20 year truce. Basically before the truce was signed all the countries in the Witchlands were at war with one another, and the countries were starting to feel the weight of the war as it was getting really bad. And so because of that a treaty was signed between the countries, this meant that for twenty years there will be no war. But of course despite it being a 'time of peace' there is a lot of political tension.
People in these lands may be born with gifts (witchery). This gives those people powers, and so these powers come from the same 'elemental' sources. So you have Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Aether, and Void. Basically witches have diverse powers (Seawitch vs Waterwitch) but all there powers no matter how rare or diverse will fall under those six classes (both fall under the element water but both are still different with how powerful they are).
Scattered across these lands, we have magical wells that are linked to the above elemental sources. They have magical powers such as healing.
The Cartorra empire is home to Safiya who is a truthwitch. She can tell lie from truth and she can tell someones true intentions (although she was doing a very bad job at that if you ask me). Being a truthwitch is extremely rare and everyone wants a hold of her (again if you ask me threadwitch sounds way more important than truthwitch). Safiya is also what is called a Domna which I'm assuming has a similar meaning to Lady.
Cartorra empire is a wealthy empire ruled by Emperor Henrick (i think thats how you spell his name).
We follow four characters in this book: Safiya who is a truthwitch, Iseult who is a threadwitch, Merik who is a windwitch, and Aeduan who is a bloodwitch.
You will find threadwitches only in the Nomatsi people (Iseult's people). They see the threads of emotion and feelings and strong relationships of a person. Each emotion or feeling is expressed in different colors. I got very confused in the beginning when Iseult would mention colors with emotions like angry red and so on.
A bloodwitch is very rare and very dangerous. It's considered Voidwitchery because of its connection to death. Basically a bloodwitch can control another person’s blood. They're also great trackers as they can smell your blood and track to the ends of the earth. They also have creepy red eyes when they're using their powers.
There is something called Cleaving as well, that even after finishing the book I still don't understand the what, how, and why's.
I did not enjoy this book. All the above information was basically dumped on you the first 50 pages. It was very confusing. The world was very hazy and did not make sense to me. I had to read the first 100 pages twice, write down and highlight and annotate, and read witchland wiki to understand what was going on. I found so hard to imagine the world. And I did not care much about the characters because I was busy trying to understand the world. I had to go back and forth to understand certain things.
Maybe if I had come into this book with a more understanding of the world I could have enjoyed it more, or at least paid a little more attention to the characters.
Truthwitch had a lot of elements and tropes I usually enjoy when reading books. But I did not enjoy it.
Not sure if I'm going to continue with the series.
emilyb_chicago's review against another edition
3.0
As a first book in what will obviously be a series, this did a decent job of world building and giving an understanding of the rules of magic without compromising story pacing or becoming a lecture. The characters were light and fun when they should be and multilayered and evil where appropriate. The two main characters are obviously set up with room for growth, which will be interesting to follow.
The story was a well written, fast paced adventure with a splash of romance. All in all, I found this a pretty traditional fantasy book. I’m looking forward to the next one.
The story was a well written, fast paced adventure with a splash of romance. All in all, I found this a pretty traditional fantasy book. I’m looking forward to the next one.
prisigtr's review against another edition
I think I’m getting too fantasy heavy in my reading; try again later because I could not focus on the audiobook. The story seems really good though.
paigeturner04's review against another edition
5.0
This is the most beautifully writen book!!! I was hooked by the first sentence!
paigeturner04's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
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
harleyrae's review against another edition
3.0
I have VERY mixed feelings about this book. There were some stuff I liked and some stuff I didn't. It also didn't help that it took me forever and a day to finish this book.
The Good
One of the couple things that kept me reading was the world building and the magic system, I found it to be interesting and I just wanted to keep meeting more different types of magictype. I also liked all of our main characters, they were each so completely different and unique. I wanted to know more about them, especially Merik and Aeduan.
The Bad
I found the pacing of this book to be INCREDIBLY slow, for most of the book I really could have cared less about what was happening. Frankly I was quite bored when reading this book. When I had walked away from this book I had no desire to pick it back up, I also kept forgetting what happened earlier on in the book(though this might be cause to it taking me SO LONG to read this).
All in all I had multiple issues with this book, and I am still unsure of my final thoughts on this. I really wanted to enjoy this, but in truth I didn't enjoy it like I was hoping too. As of right now I'm not sure I will be continuing on with the series.
The Good
One of the couple things that kept me reading was the world building and the magic system, I found it to be interesting and I just wanted to keep meeting more different types of magictype. I also liked all of our main characters, they were each so completely different and unique. I wanted to know more about them, especially Merik and Aeduan.
The Bad
I found the pacing of this book to be INCREDIBLY slow, for most of the book I really could have cared less about what was happening. Frankly I was quite bored when reading this book. When I had walked away from this book I had no desire to pick it back up, I also kept forgetting what happened earlier on in the book(though this might be cause to it taking me SO LONG to read this).
All in all I had multiple issues with this book, and I am still unsure of my final thoughts on this. I really wanted to enjoy this, but in truth I didn't enjoy it like I was hoping too. As of right now I'm not sure I will be continuing on with the series.
nilla_beanie19's review against another edition
2.0
2.5. I enjoyed some aspects and didn't like others. I will continue since I think the series has a lot of potential.
karakalla's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- 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
3.5
k_shanahan's review against another edition
2.0
Bit disappointing in general. I found myself not really caring about any of the characters besides Iseult for maybe 70% of the book. Aeduan surprised me near the end and I'm almost ready to read the sequel just for him and Iseult. The entire concept of the witchery and how it is divided into sections of magic is super interesting; a great concept, although all of the name places, etc confused me until the end of the story :') I think I'll leave it a bit and maybe carry on the series at a later date.
Decent read, but I wouldn't introduce anyone to fantasy with this.
Decent read, but I wouldn't introduce anyone to fantasy with this.
sanne6je's review against another edition
3.0
A book about witches; what more could you want?
Well for me, I’d say a clear plot, not feeling like I’m missing information, and checking 3 times if I indeed have book 1 and not 2.
The book starts off with action. It’s unclear what exactly is happening but it might get clearer. So I kept reading. It got clearer but still, it felt like I was missing something. This went on the entire book. If certain things (like the major plot) were more explained, then I would have given it more stars and picked up the next book.
It’s not that I’m not curious for book 2, it’s that it was so badly explained or, not explained at all, what is going on. Am I going to waste my time trying to get into it once more without it actually paying off? No.
Now the positive points,
If I understand it correctly (which is unclear) the story is very intriguing, the characters develop quite a bit and there is some mystery.
I think that there are definitely people that might enjoy this book very much
Well for me, I’d say a clear plot, not feeling like I’m missing information, and checking 3 times if I indeed have book 1 and not 2.
The book starts off with action. It’s unclear what exactly is happening but it might get clearer. So I kept reading. It got clearer but still, it felt like I was missing something. This went on the entire book. If certain things (like the major plot) were more explained, then I would have given it more stars and picked up the next book.
It’s not that I’m not curious for book 2, it’s that it was so badly explained or, not explained at all, what is going on. Am I going to waste my time trying to get into it once more without it actually paying off? No.
Now the positive points,
If I understand it correctly (which is unclear) the story is very intriguing, the characters develop quite a bit and there is some mystery.
I think that there are definitely people that might enjoy this book very much