Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Witch King by Martha Wells

76 reviews

briely's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Slavery, Violence, and War

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Body horror 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.

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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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Violence

roseleebooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• 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? No

5.0

I first discovered Martha Wells through her book The Wizard Hunters. Since then I've hoped she would return to fantasy writing as that series was so beautifully written and her characters so likeably flawed. This book gave me the same feeling of discovering a world and characters that would stay with me long after I finished reading.

The story centers on Kai, a demon who has built a family in the world above the Underearth. The narrative includes both the present - in which Kai and his close friend Zeide wake up in an underwater prison - and the past when Kai first met Zeide, Tahren, and Bashasa. It's ultimately a book about keeping promises to those we love, told via a cleverly paced journey through a well-crafted world. I appreciate that Wells doesn't spend excessive time on explanations that wouldn't fit with the character's experience of the world. As a reader it takes a little more attention and intuiting but helps the story flow more smoothly.

My only wish for this book was that there was more of it. I would love another novel in the same world that followed some of the other characters introduced here. Regardless, this book is fantastic as a stand alone and will be on my reread list along with Wells' Ile-rien series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Genocide

Moderate: Slavery and War

Minor: Child death

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

I thoroughly enjoyed this! This wasn't an easy book to get into. I learned pretty quickly that I had to keep tabbed the list of names and times and play really close attention to everything and everyone because Martha Wells spins a complex world in these pages and among two separate timelines that initially felt like they would be hard to follow. But the action picked up fairly quickly and you were drawn right into the conflict of the main character and his friends who have been taken captive and are trying to piece their found family and life back together to figure out how the heck it even happened.

This book felt more like an introduction to this world and to the political turmoil that is likely to play a huge role in the main character's future. While I don't see an indication on storygraph that it would be part of a series, the ending does set up a sort of an opening for a sequel and I am hoping it is because while a lot happens, it is still set up to read like a beginning of something bigger than what was in this book.

It is a pretty heavy info-packed book and it might take some tries to get into but when I stuck to it, I found the characters to be a whole mood ("I don't need rest, I'm fueled by spite"). Kai is straight up Le Tired, and Ziede wants to find her wife -- a relationship, by the way, that you get to see blossom in almost a mini arc between the two weaving timelines. The one is definitely worth a reread and I see it approaching the same level of "epic fantasy" as a lot of great ones published in the past.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide and Confinement

Minor: Slavery

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★

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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

atompomb's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Body horror, Murder, and Gore

lbelow's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

4.0

I enjoyed this book, especially the parts in the present. The magic system felt unique and complex, which is something difficult to find in fantasy these days. The world also felt full in ways that made me want to explore further. I'll definitely be re-reading this in the future. 

The only reason I'm not giving it a higher rating is the flashbacks. Don't get me wrong, they were entertaining enough, but ultimately the book could be read without them without losing context. In other words: they didn't add to the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Torture, War, and Kidnapping

gabrielle_reads_a_lot's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Murder, and Violence

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

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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