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A review by citrus_seasalt
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon
3.0
Well. I definitely liked “The Flicker” much more than this one, haha. (That was the book that got me to check out Edgmon’s backlist.) One of my book besties (hi, Alex) recommended me this and I feel like that one Dextor’s Laboratory audio of him crying at his locker and saying “I’m sorry, my mentor. I have failed you”.
Blah. I’ll preface this with that I read this on audio, narrated by the pretty cool Dani Martineck. I’m not used to listening to more than one audiobook by the same author within a month’s timeframe— I started this originally to ease some of my impatience around not having access to the Sir Callie book 1 audiobook, but then ended up finishing “The Witch King” not too long after the last 4 hours of Sir Callie. So if you’re wondering why I made a surface-level comparison between how those two deal with systemic oppression and monarchies… now you know, lol. I’ll include more bits of feedback on their narration throughout my review (I always do that), but I enjoyed the emotion they brought to the characters. Specifically, Tessa’s breakdown was one of my favorite parts, it sounded inconsolable in a way I haven’t heard from an audiobook before? Anyhow, I think my favoritism comes from Dani having a slightly less blunt-sounding “narrator voice” than others I’ve listened to (does anyone know what I mean lol??), but like, I think I’d have to listen to more clips of them talking out of character to know if that still stands.
(Also, the line from 18% in that says “He has no right to sound as angry as he does. I was fourteen, acne-riddled, and pissed at the whole world the last time he saw me.” made me laugh so FUCKING HARD, ESPECIALLY with how it was narrated, and I had to pause my audiobook for a moment)
Wyatt was an okay protagonist for me, he got hit with a bunch of development around 60% in, and while it was good, it also felt a little like whiplash. It’s probably just a me issue, though, that still happens at a relevant part of the plot and I was like, listening to a couple chapters to fall asleep, so. It was moreso the writing style that made me groan at some of his thoughts or dialogue. The 2020/2021 gay internet humor that I vividly remember seeing on reposted Tumblr screenshots is so dreadfully dated😭 I can’t quite tell if listening to the audiobook worsened or lessened the impact of the juvenileness. On one hand, sometimes the writing felt almost conversational, and I think it would’ve started to really grate on me if I’d only read it in text form. On the other, HEARING “little gay worm”, and some inconveniently timed thirsting, was agitating and a little embarrassing.
OH MY GOD SPEAKING OF IT BEING DATED I just remembered Gin saying “I’m what you may call a ‘theydy’” when talking about being a nonbinary lesbian😭PACK IT UP
(Did not help that the plot had some of my own icks, even if they were meant to be subverted. The Fated Mates thing, Wyatt trying to pretend he wasn’t in love with Emyr and so they have this sort-of-rivalry throughout that’s more pitiful than thrilling because the text reminds us several times that their dynamic only reached this point because of predetermined circumstances. I appreciate how the bioessentialism of the Fated Mates matching has to be dissected because of the protagonist literally being trans, but either the wording was repetitive or it was surface-level. Or both.)
I’m unsure what to think of the worldbuilding. Good lord though, I did not like how Asalin was established! There was so much worldbuilding done in the form of infodumping through flashbacks, and not only was this hellish to distinguish in auditory form, but this continued until the HALFWAY POINT? And anyhow, while I think H.E. Edgmon’s dedication to establishing a distinct culture for Asalin was super interesting, and I do love getting to read about fantasy food that isn’t basic (but still sounds delicious), the fairy world in general has a couple plot holes within how its kingdoms are distributed. In short: typical debut novel woes.
Another debut novel-typical issue I noticed was the pacing. There are entire chapters, particularly in that first half with the worldbuilding infodumps, where nothing will happen except for a lengthy plot-heavy conversation. Ugh.
Unsure how to feel about the other characters, but I did love Maritza and Paloma. They were fun, and I thought as much even before Wyatt did, plus their voices were nice to listen to. I can’t really think of any other favorites except for maybe Briar, she barely does anything wrong, the softness in some of her lines is narrated really well, and I was a little worried about how she was practically Wyatt’s rock, but she addresses that later on. (OMG!! the singsong “tell Emyr I say hello” was adorable. Silly and soft.) I was peeved by how unlikable Clarke was, but that’s much funnier after the ending.
And, of course, while I appreciate the moderately anarchist, “fuck the system because we can’t actually change it from the inside” allegory that’s barely an allegory (see: 2021 publication date), I didn’t think it was handled in a way meaningful enough to stick with me. Too many ideas were reiterated too many times.
Not sure if I’ll read the second book? If I do, it’ll likely be in physical form, but I’ll see how that prediction holds up.
Blah. I’ll preface this with that I read this on audio, narrated by the pretty cool Dani Martineck. I’m not used to listening to more than one audiobook by the same author within a month’s timeframe— I started this originally to ease some of my impatience around not having access to the Sir Callie book 1 audiobook, but then ended up finishing “The Witch King” not too long after the last 4 hours of Sir Callie. So if you’re wondering why I made a surface-level comparison between how those two deal with systemic oppression and monarchies… now you know, lol. I’ll include more bits of feedback on their narration throughout my review (I always do that), but I enjoyed the emotion they brought to the characters. Specifically, Tessa’s breakdown was one of my favorite parts, it sounded inconsolable in a way I haven’t heard from an audiobook before? Anyhow, I think my favoritism comes from Dani having a slightly less blunt-sounding “narrator voice” than others I’ve listened to (does anyone know what I mean lol??), but like, I think I’d have to listen to more clips of them talking out of character to know if that still stands.
(Also, the line from 18% in that says “He has no right to sound as angry as he does. I was fourteen, acne-riddled, and pissed at the whole world the last time he saw me.” made me laugh so FUCKING HARD, ESPECIALLY with how it was narrated, and I had to pause my audiobook for a moment)
Wyatt was an okay protagonist for me, he got hit with a bunch of development around 60% in, and while it was good, it also felt a little like whiplash. It’s probably just a me issue, though, that still happens at a relevant part of the plot and I was like, listening to a couple chapters to fall asleep, so. It was moreso the writing style that made me groan at some of his thoughts or dialogue. The 2020/2021 gay internet humor that I vividly remember seeing on reposted Tumblr screenshots is so dreadfully dated😭 I can’t quite tell if listening to the audiobook worsened or lessened the impact of the juvenileness. On one hand, sometimes the writing felt almost conversational, and I think it would’ve started to really grate on me if I’d only read it in text form. On the other, HEARING “little gay worm”, and some inconveniently timed thirsting, was agitating and a little embarrassing.
OH MY GOD SPEAKING OF IT BEING DATED I just remembered Gin saying “I’m what you may call a ‘theydy’” when talking about being a nonbinary lesbian😭PACK IT UP
(Did not help that the plot had some of my own icks, even if they were meant to be subverted. The Fated Mates thing, Wyatt trying to pretend he wasn’t in love with Emyr and so they have this sort-of-rivalry throughout that’s more pitiful than thrilling because the text reminds us several times that their dynamic only reached this point because of predetermined circumstances. I appreciate how the bioessentialism of the Fated Mates matching has to be dissected because of the protagonist literally being trans, but either the wording was repetitive or it was surface-level. Or both.)
I’m unsure what to think of the worldbuilding. Good lord though, I did not like how Asalin was established! There was so much worldbuilding done in the form of infodumping through flashbacks, and not only was this hellish to distinguish in auditory form, but this continued until the HALFWAY POINT? And anyhow, while I think H.E. Edgmon’s dedication to establishing a distinct culture for Asalin was super interesting, and I do love getting to read about fantasy food that isn’t basic (but still sounds delicious), the fairy world in general has a couple plot holes within how its kingdoms are distributed. In short: typical debut novel woes.
Another debut novel-typical issue I noticed was the pacing. There are entire chapters, particularly in that first half with the worldbuilding infodumps, where nothing will happen except for a lengthy plot-heavy conversation. Ugh.
Unsure how to feel about the other characters, but I did love Maritza and Paloma. They were fun, and I thought as much even before Wyatt did, plus their voices were nice to listen to. I can’t really think of any other favorites except for maybe Briar, she barely does anything wrong, the softness in some of her lines is narrated really well, and I was a little worried about how she was practically Wyatt’s rock, but she addresses that later on. (OMG!! the singsong “tell Emyr I say hello” was adorable. Silly and soft.) I was peeved by how unlikable Clarke was, but that’s much funnier after the ending.
And, of course, while I appreciate the moderately anarchist, “fuck the system because we can’t actually change it from the inside” allegory that’s barely an allegory (see: 2021 publication date), I didn’t think it was handled in a way meaningful enough to stick with me. Too many ideas were reiterated too many times.
Not sure if I’ll read the second book? If I do, it’ll likely be in physical form, but I’ll see how that prediction holds up.