Reviews

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon

calidareads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

2legit2witt's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

jennireadsmaybe's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-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

The Witch King is such a strong start to a fantasy duology featuring a trans witch MMC, his fae childhood best friend and fated mate, his fat Indigenous new best friend, and so many more fun characters. H.E. Edgmon explores repression and indigenous in both the fae kingdom and the human world that Wyatt flees to prior to the start of the series. 

A queer normative fae world is the most powerful aspect of The Witch King, because so much of fae fantasy romance revolves around cishet fated mates. Wyatt is unapologetically trans and not falling for the pressure to become the baby-making mate the kingdom needs him to be. I loved everything about it!! 

I'm excited to see what's to come in the second book after where things left off. 

This book is perfect for anyone looking for queer fantasy, messy and chaotic trans/queer characters, and just a funny time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Minor: Child abuse

katie1031's review against another edition

3.0

3.5

I absolutely love the representation in this book LGBT+, a plus size woman of color, queer slow burn romance, etc.

The book starts and we're thrust into the world, into a situation with the main character (Wyatt) and his "fiance" without even a prologue. Because there isn't much build up the first part of the book has a ton of info dumps.I know there needs to be lots of exposition in world building especially with Fantasy but this just felt unnatural.

However, once I got through the info dumps I really did fall in love with the characters and the world. It's been so fun to read

thanthorn007's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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

katt's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

i enjoyed the book but hated that they treated dragons as favored and intelligent pets while also eating them for dinner.

smokedshelves's review against another edition

3.0

tbh, still between if i’m gonna rate this a 3 or a 4 in the end.

duology pacing is SO hard to get right and this one… kinda got a little rough in the last 1/3. or maybe it was the sheer number of characters that i literally couldn’t keep straight (beside the like main 3 people). yeah… idk about this one yet. i do still want to read the sequel though to see the ending!

butteredgarbage's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• 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

4.25

saintburns's review against another edition

5.0

The Witch King is a delightful new adventure into a fae world that seems both familiar and different than one's we have seen before. This fae world is an awesome blend of the old and the new, including fighting with swords and spells through text. The main character Wyatt goes on a journey that many of the queer readers will feel mirrors their own. Wyatt discovers who they are really are while navigating a place that doesn't believe he has a right to exist. As the reader explores the power dynamic between Fae and Witches, Wyatt has to discover what he really wants from this world and what he is willing to sacrifice to achieve it. The prose is wonderfully precise and each description feels like a photograph. This is also a journey through Wyatt processing their own trauma as they go back to a world that gave them so many scars. This is perfect for the reader who hasn't been able to see themselves in fantasy literature before and wants to explore what that world would look like.

I got this arc through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

pjworsham99's review against another edition

Didn't connect with the writing style.