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piendorabox's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A bit hard to get into, but I grew to care for the characters that when the book ended I was sad it was a standalone. Overall it felt like watching 5 episodes of the 6th season (there are 9 seasons overall) of a very obscure tv series that isn't available on any streaming platform, and those 5 episodes are all you could find, and you could only get vague ideas of what came before from flashback scenes and was completely in the dark about what came after, but you enjoyed the watching experience nonetheless even though it was nothing like you'd ever had before. A good book. Will definitely check out Martha Wells' other works later.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, and War
softanimal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Confinement
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.75
I liked the general plot and the characters (Martha Wells makes such compelling characters), but the worldbuilding is a lot to try and memorise as you read. I feel like if I reread this and made graphs and diagrams as I went, I'd enjoy it more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Genocide, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
Minor: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Self harm
msawyer77's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Violence
scifi_rat's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Plot: 4★
Prose: 4★
Pace: 3.75★
Concept/Execution: 4★/5★
Characters: 4.5★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 4.25★
Prose: 4★
Pace: 3.75★
Concept/Execution: 4★/5★
Characters: 4.5★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 4.25★
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, War, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Self harm
Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Torture, Colonisation, Grief, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, and Vomit
silea's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Murder, Child death, Slavery, Genocide, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Self harm
chris_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Murder
Minor: Self harm, Slavery, and Trafficking
emzhay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- 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? No
3.75
Definitely enjoyed this book, but I felt quite detached from it all. I like dual timeline, but couldn’t quite connect with the characters. They had likeable personalities, but I never felt like I got to know them. We saw the beginning and “beginning of the end” of their storylines. There’s a good bit of character from KaiEnna since the book is told from his perspective, but I still felt detached from his journey as a reader.
The writing itself is lovely and atmospheric. I listened to the audiobook and the sentences flowed together nicely. I liked the world and world building, but sometimes the infodumps got to be a bit too long and some of the politics got lost within it all. I’m not sure if this is standalone, but I wouldn’t mind reading more from this world and these characters.
The writing itself is lovely and atmospheric. I listened to the audiobook and the sentences flowed together nicely. I liked the world and world building, but sometimes the infodumps got to be a bit too long and some of the politics got lost within it all. I’m not sure if this is standalone, but I wouldn’t mind reading more from this world and these characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Slavery, Violence, War, and Death
Moderate: Genocide
laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
The Witch King is a stand-alone fantasy novel set in two timelines, both following Kaiisteron, a demon. In the earliest timeline, here positioned as a backstory, the novel follows Kai's emergence into the mortal realm into his first human body, his meeting most of the supporting characters, and his participation in an uprising. The later timeline begins with Kai awaking from imprisonment and needing to figure out who betrayed him and to what end. Both timelines are, effectively, adventure stories, complete with magic artefacts, dangerous terrains, outmaneuvering enemies, and the need to keep complicated, messy coalitions and allegiances together.
This novel does a lot of things that I love: multiple timelines used effectively, political intrigue that isn't predictable, wonderful relationship dynamics between characters. It is worth noting that this is not entry-level fantasy - Wells throws the reader into the world with a list of characters and not much else to go on, and the reader must navigate a ton of new terminology (for peoples, organizations, forms of magic, etc.) without any real guidance. The benefit of this is that there is zero 'info-dumping' here. The drawback, I think, is that it can feel a bit hard to get into at the beginning. It's worth it: when it comes together, it's wonderful.
While not the focus of the book, there are ways that gender is addressed that are worth paying attention to -- demons (at least all the ones we meet throughout the book) seem to have fixed gender identities (Kaiisteron is unambiguously 'he' throughout) but may of course occupy any and all kinds of bodies, and the different cultures in this fantasy world do (or don't) distinguish gender in different ways (ex. sometimes dress is a distinguishing factor, sometimes it isn't).
This novel is, as I understand it, written as a standalone and it absolutely works as one: it is self-contained. I will say, though, that given the depth of this world-building, I'd love to see more works by Wells set in this series, whether with this same cast of characters or otherwise.
Content warnings: violence, murder, death, injury detail, war, colonization, forcible confinement, blood, torture
This novel does a lot of things that I love: multiple timelines used effectively, political intrigue that isn't predictable, wonderful relationship dynamics between characters. It is worth noting that this is not entry-level fantasy - Wells throws the reader into the world with a list of characters and not much else to go on, and the reader must navigate a ton of new terminology (for peoples, organizations, forms of magic, etc.) without any real guidance. The benefit of this is that there is zero 'info-dumping' here. The drawback, I think, is that it can feel a bit hard to get into at the beginning. It's worth it: when it comes together, it's wonderful.
While not the focus of the book, there are ways that gender is addressed that are worth paying attention to -- demons (at least all the ones we meet throughout the book) seem to have fixed gender identities (Kaiisteron is unambiguously 'he' throughout) but may of course occupy any and all kinds of bodies, and the different cultures in this fantasy world do (or don't) distinguish gender in different ways (ex. sometimes dress is a distinguishing factor, sometimes it isn't).
This novel is, as I understand it, written as a standalone and it absolutely works as one: it is self-contained. I will say, though, that given the depth of this world-building, I'd love to see more works by Wells set in this series, whether with this same cast of characters or otherwise.
Content warnings: violence, murder, death, injury detail, war, colonization, forcible confinement, blood, torture
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, War, Murder, Blood, and Torture
blacksphinx's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is my second Martha Wells book and I can't help but notice their endings both do the same thing - the linchpin of the plot occurs off screen, where no present characters see it, and the audience is told about it afterward - and if this continues to be a pattern in her writing I don't know how many more books of hers I'm going to wind up reading.
However... This one is so full of heart with such a unique world that I'm wrestling with the rating. I think it's a little too much, with all its rich cultures and three different magic systems (and all the various Fantasy Words used to describe them), but I can't fault her for having a big and varied world? The danmei influence upon this work is powerful and welcomed. But the actual plot is so thin. "Nothing really happened, but it was beautiful and made me feel a spark of hope" is such a hard thing to assign a number between 1 and 5 to.
However... This one is so full of heart with such a unique world that I'm wrestling with the rating. I think it's a little too much, with all its rich cultures and three different magic systems (and all the various Fantasy Words used to describe them), but I can't fault her for having a big and varied world? The danmei influence upon this work is powerful and welcomed. But the actual plot is so thin. "Nothing really happened, but it was beautiful and made me feel a spark of hope" is such a hard thing to assign a number between 1 and 5 to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Torture, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Death, Child death, Murder, Confinement, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Genocide, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcohol