A review by silver_lining_in_a_book
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

adventurous funny tense 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

4.75

 

It wasn’t freedom she wanted. It was belief in something—a prize big enough to run for and to fight for and to keep on reaching toward no matter what.

I am always somewhat hesitant to pick up older YA fantasy books due to the overuse of tropes such as not-like-other-girls, insta-love, women-hating main female protagonists, chosen-one, etc. However, something about this book just worked for me so so much. I really enjoyed reading this book and found the audiobook to stand-out particularly in my mind due to the narrator's use of different tones and accents in her reading - honestly, one of my favourite audiobooks though I can definitely see why it may well not work for other people.

A brief summary of my thoughts on the different aspects of this book:
- Plot: very fast-paced and engaging! I found it difficult to predict what would happen next and was constantly looking forward to learning more about the world and exploring whatever place we would go to next
- Characters: easily my favourite part of this book, I loved all the characters and enjoyed all the POVs equally, in fact, I would even be open to reading from more different perspectives
- Writing: again, really good and straight-forward, I did not find it to be over-the-top and would work equally well for younger and older readers
- Romance: somewhat obvious and insta-lovey but I'm a sucker for it so I cannot complain
- World-building: I know I am somewhat in the minority here, but I actually really enjoyed it. I think this was very much a case of show-and-not-tell because it took me a while to piece together different parts of this world, even though it is in no way complete in my mind yet. I cannot wait to pick up the next book!
- Friendship: fabulous! Exactly what I wanted - this book is like a better, more magical version of the Changeling series.

Overall, I loved this a lot more than I expected!