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A review by asreadbykat
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon
4.0
True Rating: 4.5/5
Content/Trigger Warnings (as stated in the book): violence, child abuse, childhood sexual harassment and assault, allusions to pedophilia, suicidal ideation and mentions of suicide, misgendering, drug use, and mentions of infertility and miscarriage.
There are times when I want to read a fantasy story involving queerness, and there are times when I want to read a queer story involving fantasy. "The Witch King" is definitely the latter, and is worth every second of reading it.
As someone who is Ace, I can completely sympathize with Wyatt's plight of a contracted marriage where he is basically only seen as a baby machine. While it's a different situation for him, as a trans character, I almost felt his rage and disgust on a physical level. Wyatt is a very real, very relatable character, no matter what magical heritage and powers he has, and readers can feel every emotion as he goes on his journey. Edgmon did a fantastic job with his main character, who is so very flawed and real that at times I honestly forgot I was reading a fantasy.
I also like all of our other characters; how no one is who you expect them to be, everyone with their own flaws. Even our villains have some sympathetic points, while still being pretty despicable -just like villains in real life.
And don't let how easy this novel is to read fool you -it makes some really hard, heavy-hitting arguments that I fully stand behind. The arguments are intended to make the readers think, and I would LOVE to see this book being used in a classroom for a discussion of YA literature. It works especially well because even though Edgmon uses the fantasy elements as metaphors and symbolism for real-world problems such as prejudice and discrimination, homophobia, and abuse, he also has the characters state the problems in full sentence facts. Readers aren't left with only the metaphor and symbolism; the problems and arguments are put out there in a way that no one can ignore.
The only reason this work isn't a full 5 stars is because even though I could see how much Emyr and Wyatt cared for each other, I did think by the end it was being a bit rushed. Yes, they have a history together, but that history is also tainted by misunderstandings and it would take more than a few days to overcome almost a lifetime of that, especially when combined with Wyatt's trauma. So while I was rooting for the two of them by the end, I would have liked to see a little more work being put in emotionally, especially since their relationship is kind of crucial to bits of the plot.
Overall, this is a really enthralling read and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting more queer fantasy. Just please heed the content warnings, because this is NOT a lighthearted novel.
Content/Trigger Warnings (as stated in the book): violence, child abuse, childhood sexual harassment and assault, allusions to pedophilia, suicidal ideation and mentions of suicide, misgendering, drug use, and mentions of infertility and miscarriage.
There are times when I want to read a fantasy story involving queerness, and there are times when I want to read a queer story involving fantasy. "The Witch King" is definitely the latter, and is worth every second of reading it.
As someone who is Ace, I can completely sympathize with Wyatt's plight of a contracted marriage where he is basically only seen as a baby machine. While it's a different situation for him, as a trans character, I almost felt his rage and disgust on a physical level. Wyatt is a very real, very relatable character, no matter what magical heritage and powers he has, and readers can feel every emotion as he goes on his journey. Edgmon did a fantastic job with his main character, who is so very flawed and real that at times I honestly forgot I was reading a fantasy.
I also like all of our other characters; how no one is who you expect them to be, everyone with their own flaws. Even our villains have some sympathetic points, while still being pretty despicable -just like villains in real life.
And don't let how easy this novel is to read fool you -it makes some really hard, heavy-hitting arguments that I fully stand behind. The arguments are intended to make the readers think, and I would LOVE to see this book being used in a classroom for a discussion of YA literature. It works especially well because even though Edgmon uses the fantasy elements as metaphors and symbolism for real-world problems such as prejudice and discrimination, homophobia, and abuse, he also has the characters state the problems in full sentence facts. Readers aren't left with only the metaphor and symbolism; the problems and arguments are put out there in a way that no one can ignore.
The only reason this work isn't a full 5 stars is because even though I could see how much Emyr and Wyatt cared for each other, I did think by the end it was being a bit rushed. Yes, they have a history together, but that history is also tainted by misunderstandings and it would take more than a few days to overcome almost a lifetime of that, especially when combined with Wyatt's trauma. So while I was rooting for the two of them by the end, I would have liked to see a little more work being put in emotionally, especially since their relationship is kind of crucial to bits of the plot.
Overall, this is a really enthralling read and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting more queer fantasy. Just please heed the content warnings, because this is NOT a lighthearted novel.