Reviews

Witch King by Martha Wells

journeying_homeward's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

mschene's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

chelseacounsell's review against another edition

5.0

Martha Wells proves once again that she deserves to be my favorite author. The world building of Witch King is sumptuous and delightful in its ferocity. Its exploration of conquest and imperialism and the people who fight back is really… powerful. I feel emotions. I really liked Kai and Ziti and even Bacharta. The descriptions were greatly vivid, and the magic felt very intuitive, but I did lose some details along the way in terms of what happened in the sixty years between the present and “the past”. I wish there would be a sequel that went into some of that.

amphigorist's review against another edition

3.75

I feel uncertain about my rating. I have complicated thoughts about the politics of the book, though its heart is clearly in the right place. The world building is solid but not exceptional, and I largely feel the same about the characters (I like the core queer found-family gang and they're on average a touch more developed than the Preservation folks in Murderbot are, but Kai isn't Murderbot and Ziede isn't ART.)

tal42levy's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.25

sarahfa's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

This is the second book I’ve read by Martha Wells. I liked it because it reminded me of one of my favorite YA series I read as a teen, Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy. The main character of Witch King was similar to Bartimaeus in that he wasn’t human, used magic that humans can’t use, and was distrusted by most humans. Also he didn’t really have a gender like humans do. But both characters do care about the other characters who are mostly human. 

Witch Kind did the thing where it presented (what we would consider) non-traditional gender roles (for one community, women are traditionally warriors, also most men in the series wear skirts) and queer relationships as “normal”. Sometimes this doesn’t work and feels forced and like the author is trying to say, “Look at how good I am because I am writing my book this way!” But it worked here, but the details were not as fleshed out as in say Gideon the Ninth. 

I read a reviewer that stated that they were confused by the plot, and I def agree with that. But I wasn’t going to back to reread things when I was confused. Did the story tie up all the loose ends? I don’t know? Yes?

If you are wondering if all the questions the story raises are going to be finished by the end, the answer is they will not be. But I liked it. Solid vibes. I really don’t know if it will be a series, but it is good either way. I hope it will be!

goodbyerachel's review against another edition

I am so confused and now there are flashbacks and it’s just getting worse. This jumps immediately into action and the world feels a bit too complicated for that. I’m not invested enough to figure this out. 

ldgraca's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

gretchen_chloe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

mad_bandersnatch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

This feels like a solid start to a series.  There is a lot of intesting world building and magic system to be explained, which might have taken away a bit from developing some of the characters more.   Aside from the main character Kai and his friend/partner in crime Ziede we don't get a whole lot of character development. But what we do get has left me interested enough to find out more about them in a sequel.
The book flips back and forth between the past and the present, and I did find the past storyline to be far more intriguing than the present day.  
In general it was a slow burn to not a whole lot of pay off in the present day plot but some satisfying concussions to the past. 
As a stand alone I found it to be a bit meh with a lot of unanswered questions or character development but has promise as a starting point for future books.