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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
Witch King by Martha Wells
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Read for the 2024 Hugo Awards.
Witch King centres on Kai (short for Kaiisteron), a Demon Prince who, for decades, has been inhabiting a few different human bodies, and takes place in a secondary fantasy world that has been devastated by a continent-wide war, where various long- (to very long-)lived, and magic-wielding races, or ethnic groups – such as Witches, Blessed Immortals, and Demons – live in a precarious state of balance.
It is told in first person, from Kai’s sole point of view, and through two different timelines: a present one, in which Kai wakes up from a 'magic coma', then tries to make sense of lost time, and an accompanying political intrigue. And a past timeline, in which unfolds Kai’s personal backstory, as well as some of his homeland’s history – especially as it pertains to the great war it went through, decades before the present timeline.
I appreciated Martha Wells’ prose, and descriptions, which I found, overall, very evocative, and effective in making her world come to life, and feel real. The world of Witch King, such as it was portrayed, did not lack for texture, sounds, smells or colours, and the author managed to provide several different, yet more or less equally compelling sketches of her various ethnic groups, or humanoid races.
The book’s world-building – or the glimpses I got of it, at any rate – was, for its part, pleasantly tantalising. I loved the creative way the author re-interpreted classic, supernatural figures such as those of the witch, or demon – or even, arguably, those of angels… though it must be said I think the world-building, as a whole, could have been fleshed out a lot more than it actually was. In terms of theming, I’ll concede there were, yes, a couple of threads, here, on personal identity, given Kai’s body-hopping, and cultural identity, given the atrocious, genocidal war the story referenced (and only briefly featured directly). But these threads didn’t run particularly deep either, nor were they compellingly developed all that much. Most of the story’s characters were, yes, impassioned by a need and desire for justice, and the creation of a better world, but this related aspect of the book’s theming also felt rather superficial overall.
Which brings me to character work. Kai received a good amount of character development, as the story’s protagonist, but the character work flagged a little when it came to the tale’s secondary players. Worse, however, was the portrayal of its character relationships. These were mostly fine in the book’s present timeline, but the author then failed to properly establish the reasons why her core cast became entangled, in the first place, in her past timeline. There was a glaring lack of necessary character motivations, and it felt to me as if the present timeline’s characters had only become fast friends, or partners, in the past, because the plot – or rather present timeline – needed them to be… because it just said so. This issue was compounded by the fact I never got a solid grasp on the passage of time in the story; a few chronological markers would’ve been very helpful here. As it stands, the best I could do was surmise the story spanned several decades – but I’m not even entirely sure of that.
Finally, the fact is I was ultimately disappointed by the story itself, and frustrated by its conclusion. The plot, in essence, never really came together for me; its threads were, ultimately, stretched a little too thinly across its two different timelines. I feel the main problem here was one of page-count management, because I actually think this story could’ve benefitted from an increase in its length – rare as that is. Witch King really could’ve been a chonkier novel, or even a duology. Or, conversely, it could’ve been downsized to a more tightly-focus novella – perhaps. Things were just too scattered here, which is a shame because I really did thoroughly enjoy the novel’s world-building, specifically.
So, all in all, this novel was decent to good, and I wouldn’t not recommend it, but it also definitely suffered from a certain case of “unrealised potentiality”. That being said, the overarching feeling of ‘competently delivered secondary world fantasy storytelling’ – I know what I mean here – it left me with actually makes me want to read Martha Well’s The Books of the Raksura series, in the future, even more now, so that’s definitely a positive!
PS: I also liked the fact Witch King featured informative, world-building epigraphs – I’m always a fan of that, honestly.
Witch King centres on Kai (short for Kaiisteron), a Demon Prince who, for decades, has been inhabiting a few different human bodies, and takes place in a secondary fantasy world that has been devastated by a continent-wide war, where various long- (to very long-)lived, and magic-wielding races, or ethnic groups – such as Witches, Blessed Immortals, and Demons – live in a precarious state of balance.
It is told in first person, from Kai’s sole point of view, and through two different timelines: a present one, in which Kai wakes up from a 'magic coma', then tries to make sense of lost time, and an accompanying political intrigue. And a past timeline, in which unfolds Kai’s personal backstory, as well as some of his homeland’s history – especially as it pertains to the great war it went through, decades before the present timeline.
I appreciated Martha Wells’ prose, and descriptions, which I found, overall, very evocative, and effective in making her world come to life, and feel real. The world of Witch King, such as it was portrayed, did not lack for texture, sounds, smells or colours, and the author managed to provide several different, yet more or less equally compelling sketches of her various ethnic groups, or humanoid races.
The book’s world-building – or the glimpses I got of it, at any rate – was, for its part, pleasantly tantalising. I loved the creative way the author re-interpreted classic, supernatural figures such as those of the witch, or demon – or even, arguably, those of angels… though it must be said I think the world-building, as a whole, could have been fleshed out a lot more than it actually was. In terms of theming, I’ll concede there were, yes, a couple of threads, here, on personal identity, given Kai’s body-hopping, and cultural identity, given the atrocious, genocidal war the story referenced (and only briefly featured directly). But these threads didn’t run particularly deep either, nor were they compellingly developed all that much. Most of the story’s characters were, yes, impassioned by a need and desire for justice, and the creation of a better world, but this related aspect of the book’s theming also felt rather superficial overall.
Which brings me to character work. Kai received a good amount of character development, as the story’s protagonist, but the character work flagged a little when it came to the tale’s secondary players. Worse, however, was the portrayal of its character relationships. These were mostly fine in the book’s present timeline, but the author then failed to properly establish the reasons why her core cast became entangled, in the first place, in her past timeline. There was a glaring lack of necessary character motivations, and it felt to me as if the present timeline’s characters had only become fast friends, or partners, in the past, because the plot – or rather present timeline – needed them to be… because it just said so. This issue was compounded by the fact I never got a solid grasp on the passage of time in the story; a few chronological markers would’ve been very helpful here. As it stands, the best I could do was surmise the story spanned several decades – but I’m not even entirely sure of that.
Finally, the fact is I was ultimately disappointed by the story itself, and frustrated by its conclusion. The plot, in essence, never really came together for me; its threads were, ultimately, stretched a little too thinly across its two different timelines. I feel the main problem here was one of page-count management, because I actually think this story could’ve benefitted from an increase in its length – rare as that is. Witch King really could’ve been a chonkier novel, or even a duology. Or, conversely, it could’ve been downsized to a more tightly-focus novella – perhaps. Things were just too scattered here, which is a shame because I really did thoroughly enjoy the novel’s world-building, specifically.
So, all in all, this novel was decent to good, and I wouldn’t not recommend it, but it also definitely suffered from a certain case of “unrealised potentiality”. That being said, the overarching feeling of ‘competently delivered secondary world fantasy storytelling’ – I know what I mean here – it left me with actually makes me want to read Martha Well’s The Books of the Raksura series, in the future, even more now, so that’s definitely a positive!
PS: I also liked the fact Witch King featured informative, world-building epigraphs – I’m always a fan of that, honestly.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence
War is part of the plot.