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A review by paxyquiltan
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
2.0
A Guide to the Witchland World: (because god knows I needed one)
The map above is the area where Truthwitch takes place. There are three large empires that take the most space in the map and of course the resources. They are: Dalmotti empire, Cartorra empire, and the empire of Marstok. Alongside that you have a host of smaller countries surrounding the empires (Those of which include Nubrovna, home of Prince Merik). We enter the Witchlands during a period known as the end of the 20 year truce. Basically before the truce was signed all the countries in the Witchlands were at war with one another, and the countries were starting to feel the weight of the war as it was getting really bad. And so because of that a treaty was signed between the countries, this meant that for twenty years there will be no war. But of course despite it being a 'time of peace' there is a lot of political tension.
People in these lands may be born with gifts (witchery). This gives those people powers, and so these powers come from the same 'elemental' sources. So you have Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Aether, and Void. Basically witches have diverse powers (Seawitch vs Waterwitch) but all there powers no matter how rare or diverse will fall under those six classes (both fall under the element water but both are still different with how powerful they are).
Scattered across these lands, we have magical wells that are linked to the above elemental sources. They have magical powers such as healing.
The Cartorra empire is home to Safiya who is a truthwitch. She can tell lie from truth and she can tell someones true intentions (although she was doing a very bad job at that if you ask me). Being a truthwitch is extremely rare and everyone wants a hold of her (again if you ask me threadwitch sounds way more important than truthwitch). Safiya is also what is called a Domna which I'm assuming has a similar meaning to Lady.
Cartorra empire is a wealthy empire ruled by Emperor Henrick (i think thats how you spell his name).
We follow four characters in this book: Safiya who is a truthwitch, Iseult who is a threadwitch, Merik who is a windwitch, and Aeduan who is a bloodwitch.
You will find threadwitches only in the Nomatsi people (Iseult's people). They see the threads of emotion and feelings and strong relationships of a person. Each emotion or feeling is expressed in different colors. I got very confused in the beginning when Iseult would mention colors with emotions like angry red and so on.
A bloodwitch is very rare and very dangerous. It's considered Voidwitchery because of its connection to death. Basically a bloodwitch can control another person’s blood. They're also great trackers as they can smell your blood and track to the ends of the earth. They also have creepy red eyes when they're using their powers.
There is something called Cleaving as well, that even after finishing the book I still don't understand the what, how, and why's.
I did not enjoy this book. All the above information was basically dumped on you the first 50 pages. It was very confusing. The world was very hazy and did not make sense to me. I had to read the first 100 pages twice, write down and highlight and annotate, and read witchland wiki to understand what was going on. I found so hard to imagine the world. And I did not care much about the characters because I was busy trying to understand the world. I had to go back and forth to understand certain things.
Maybe if I had come into this book with a more understanding of the world I could have enjoyed it more, or at least paid a little more attention to the characters.
Truthwitch had a lot of elements and tropes I usually enjoy when reading books. But I did not enjoy it.
Not sure if I'm going to continue with the series.
The map above is the area where Truthwitch takes place. There are three large empires that take the most space in the map and of course the resources. They are: Dalmotti empire, Cartorra empire, and the empire of Marstok. Alongside that you have a host of smaller countries surrounding the empires (Those of which include Nubrovna, home of Prince Merik). We enter the Witchlands during a period known as the end of the 20 year truce. Basically before the truce was signed all the countries in the Witchlands were at war with one another, and the countries were starting to feel the weight of the war as it was getting really bad. And so because of that a treaty was signed between the countries, this meant that for twenty years there will be no war. But of course despite it being a 'time of peace' there is a lot of political tension.
People in these lands may be born with gifts (witchery). This gives those people powers, and so these powers come from the same 'elemental' sources. So you have Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Aether, and Void. Basically witches have diverse powers (Seawitch vs Waterwitch) but all there powers no matter how rare or diverse will fall under those six classes (both fall under the element water but both are still different with how powerful they are).
Scattered across these lands, we have magical wells that are linked to the above elemental sources. They have magical powers such as healing.
The Cartorra empire is home to Safiya who is a truthwitch. She can tell lie from truth and she can tell someones true intentions (although she was doing a very bad job at that if you ask me). Being a truthwitch is extremely rare and everyone wants a hold of her (again if you ask me threadwitch sounds way more important than truthwitch). Safiya is also what is called a Domna which I'm assuming has a similar meaning to Lady.
Cartorra empire is a wealthy empire ruled by Emperor Henrick (i think thats how you spell his name).
We follow four characters in this book: Safiya who is a truthwitch, Iseult who is a threadwitch, Merik who is a windwitch, and Aeduan who is a bloodwitch.
You will find threadwitches only in the Nomatsi people (Iseult's people). They see the threads of emotion and feelings and strong relationships of a person. Each emotion or feeling is expressed in different colors. I got very confused in the beginning when Iseult would mention colors with emotions like angry red and so on.
A bloodwitch is very rare and very dangerous. It's considered Voidwitchery because of its connection to death. Basically a bloodwitch can control another person’s blood. They're also great trackers as they can smell your blood and track to the ends of the earth. They also have creepy red eyes when they're using their powers.
There is something called Cleaving as well, that even after finishing the book I still don't understand the what, how, and why's.
I did not enjoy this book. All the above information was basically dumped on you the first 50 pages. It was very confusing. The world was very hazy and did not make sense to me. I had to read the first 100 pages twice, write down and highlight and annotate, and read witchland wiki to understand what was going on. I found so hard to imagine the world. And I did not care much about the characters because I was busy trying to understand the world. I had to go back and forth to understand certain things.
Maybe if I had come into this book with a more understanding of the world I could have enjoyed it more, or at least paid a little more attention to the characters.
Truthwitch had a lot of elements and tropes I usually enjoy when reading books. But I did not enjoy it.
Not sure if I'm going to continue with the series.