A review by inknox
Witchshadow by Susan Dennard

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.5

The Witchlands books are a favorite of mine.  That being said, I do often take a while to get into the books due to the way the story is written.  The writing is by no means bad, but there are sections in which I was pulled out of the narrative due to the fact that some bits were awkward or just plain stiff.  WitchShadow seems to have more of this issue, though,  especially when dealing with Iseult.  Her character development this book is all around her magic that she has newly figured out and how she feels about that magic. Being that it is void magic.  Iseult for a majority of the book has accepted her new status as The Puppeteer and is working on expressing and processing emotion.  The issues mostly start when

Corlant captures her and then reveals himself to be her father.

Iseult perhaps five times says that now she finally understands what is going on and what it means for her to be what she is and that she is a fool for not seeing it earlier.  Often these revelations will contradict the revelation before and so on.  It cheapened Iseult's whole ark in the last part of the book because it feels more or less like the author doesn't really want to make a strong character choice in fear of it being received poorly.  Overall the book felt like a reiteration of Bloodwitch in terms of plot. 

Iseult and Safi were separated and trying to get back to each other (Iseult on the run and traveling with Owl, Safi trapped in a court and trying to find a way out), Vivia is trying to prove that the crown is hers, and Stix is following the voices (trying to figure out what they want and make them go away).  The book felt more centered around progressing the larger plot that includes the Paladins and how the past is affecting now; but, the fact that many of the other characters didn't have anything to do with that made it feel like they were just sitting around and not really getting much done throughout the book.