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A review by betharanova
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
3.0
2.5 stars. This book was such a 50/50 split for me. There were elements and characters that I really enjoyed, but there were also plenty of problems significant enough to interrupt the reading experience.
Dennard’s writing style is all right. It’s quick, in the style of YA, which means it’s full of sentence fragments, italics, and all the em dashes you could want. It’s very vibrant. It can sometimes go over the top with the verbs (at one point water was “slippering”), but overall it’s fairly enjoyable. There isn’t much to say about the plot. It’s a long chase across a fantasy realm; the protagonists are pursued by various forces. I don’t think they stay much of anywhere longer than twelve hours. Several major plot-relevant decisions don’t make any sense.
The worldbuilding makes you guess a lot, which I personally am fond of. Names and concepts are brought up and left to be explained later. The magic system is fairly vast, and there are plenty of countries and major players. The one complaint I have is that some things are introduced out of order, in a sense: your growing perspective on the world, as the reader, ends up skewed before you can really get a handle on it. And Truthwitchery in particular is so unclear in form and function. That said, I like the variety in the setting, and the witch powers seem fun to play with.
The characters really split it 50/50. The two main characters are Safi and Iseult, best friends and threadsisters who are forced to run all over the continent to escape world leaders who want to use Safi’s Truthwitch powers in their courts. Each girl is given a love interest, and the book boasts a focus on female friendships.
For all that, the central friendship is lopsided and, dare I say, toxic. Safi and Iseult clearly love each other. BUT. Iseult is parted from her family with no support except Safi, discriminated against for her race, withdrawn, and responsible. She’s clever and thoughtful but can freeze up in dire situations. She’s not very good at her Threadwitch magic for reasons that become more intriguing and ominous as the story goes on. Her viewpoint is complex and interesting. And she is constantly made to either clean up or suffer for Safi’s messes. Safi is nobility running wild. She’s sassy, loud, and impulsive. She largely does whatever she likes, crime included, presumably because she has rank, family, and always, always Iseult to bail her out. Her Truthwitch magic does whatever she needs it to at the time.
The narrative likes to talk about how they balance each other out, but it’s all Iseult patiently propping up Safi’s bad habits. Their friendship consists of Safi creating a terrible situation and Iseult going along with it out of loyalty. At first, I thought this would be a deeply interesting dynamic to explore, but it’s clear the first book has no intention of exploring it. This is genuinely being presented as a winning female friendship. Unfortunately, Iseult gets the short end of the stick constantly, and she’s the half of the duo that I like. Safi I can’t stand.
Their love interests are also half and half. Merik is a prince of another nation, desperately trying to obtain resources for his starving people without provoking any empires or turning to piracy. He has a wild temper but also proper priorities. His motives and efficiency make him very fun to follow—until he meets Safi and they suffer insta-love. The forced banter and multiple scenes in which they awkwardly fell on top of each other were unbearable. And the narrative blatantly takes Safi’s side in their disagreements, despite all sense.
Aeduan is a rogue mercenary monk hunting the girls down. Iseult spares his life despite the fact that he has tried and will continue trying to kill both her and Safi, and this sparks yet another insult against Best Girl. Aeduan manages to be a POV character without a personality. His chapters might as well be in a random passerby’s POV for all the insight you get, except for the occasional “I’d like to kick a puppy” line to remind you that he’s evil. (He’s not. He does not kill a single person over the course of the book.) He has not a single thought or opinion. There’s nothing here.
In the end, the only dynamic that really sold me was the friendship between Merik and his threadbrother, Kullen. They were both mature, focused on the same goal, and comfortable and familiar with each other. You could really feel the mutual care there. Dream team~.
Many of the side characters were incredibly interesting and well worth reading about: Mathew and Habim, the girls’ mentors; the Puppeteer, a villain who gains an interesting connection to Iseult; and Leopold, the foppish yet cunning prince of Cartorra. It felt as though they had a lot to do with the larger plot that we didn’t get to see.
I decided to continue the series for the interesting worldbuilding and for the characters I did grow attached to. Yes, I hate Safi and Aeduan and both of the main romances, but I love Iseult and Merik so much. There’s certainly potential here, and I ended the book believing in it, even though the novel itself was flawed.
Dennard’s writing style is all right. It’s quick, in the style of YA, which means it’s full of sentence fragments, italics, and all the em dashes you could want. It’s very vibrant. It can sometimes go over the top with the verbs (at one point water was “slippering”), but overall it’s fairly enjoyable. There isn’t much to say about the plot. It’s a long chase across a fantasy realm; the protagonists are pursued by various forces. I don’t think they stay much of anywhere longer than twelve hours. Several major plot-relevant decisions don’t make any sense.
The worldbuilding makes you guess a lot, which I personally am fond of. Names and concepts are brought up and left to be explained later. The magic system is fairly vast, and there are plenty of countries and major players. The one complaint I have is that some things are introduced out of order, in a sense: your growing perspective on the world, as the reader, ends up skewed before you can really get a handle on it. And Truthwitchery in particular is so unclear in form and function. That said, I like the variety in the setting, and the witch powers seem fun to play with.
The characters really split it 50/50. The two main characters are Safi and Iseult, best friends and threadsisters who are forced to run all over the continent to escape world leaders who want to use Safi’s Truthwitch powers in their courts. Each girl is given a love interest, and the book boasts a focus on female friendships.
For all that, the central friendship is lopsided and, dare I say, toxic. Safi and Iseult clearly love each other. BUT. Iseult is parted from her family with no support except Safi, discriminated against for her race, withdrawn, and responsible. She’s clever and thoughtful but can freeze up in dire situations. She’s not very good at her Threadwitch magic for reasons that become more intriguing and ominous as the story goes on. Her viewpoint is complex and interesting. And she is constantly made to either clean up or suffer for Safi’s messes. Safi is nobility running wild. She’s sassy, loud, and impulsive. She largely does whatever she likes, crime included, presumably because she has rank, family, and always, always Iseult to bail her out. Her Truthwitch magic does whatever she needs it to at the time.
The narrative likes to talk about how they balance each other out, but it’s all Iseult patiently propping up Safi’s bad habits. Their friendship consists of Safi creating a terrible situation and Iseult going along with it out of loyalty. At first, I thought this would be a deeply interesting dynamic to explore, but it’s clear the first book has no intention of exploring it. This is genuinely being presented as a winning female friendship. Unfortunately, Iseult gets the short end of the stick constantly, and she’s the half of the duo that I like. Safi I can’t stand.
Their love interests are also half and half. Merik is a prince of another nation, desperately trying to obtain resources for his starving people without provoking any empires or turning to piracy. He has a wild temper but also proper priorities. His motives and efficiency make him very fun to follow—until he meets Safi and they suffer insta-love. The forced banter and multiple scenes in which they awkwardly fell on top of each other were unbearable. And the narrative blatantly takes Safi’s side in their disagreements, despite all sense.
Aeduan is a rogue mercenary monk hunting the girls down. Iseult spares his life despite the fact that he has tried and will continue trying to kill both her and Safi, and this sparks yet another insult against Best Girl. Aeduan manages to be a POV character without a personality. His chapters might as well be in a random passerby’s POV for all the insight you get, except for the occasional “I’d like to kick a puppy” line to remind you that he’s evil. (He’s not. He does not kill a single person over the course of the book.) He has not a single thought or opinion. There’s nothing here.
In the end, the only dynamic that really sold me was the friendship between Merik and his threadbrother, Kullen. They were both mature, focused on the same goal, and comfortable and familiar with each other. You could really feel the mutual care there. Dream team~.
Many of the side characters were incredibly interesting and well worth reading about: Mathew and Habim, the girls’ mentors; the Puppeteer, a villain who gains an interesting connection to Iseult; and Leopold, the foppish yet cunning prince of Cartorra. It felt as though they had a lot to do with the larger plot that we didn’t get to see.
I decided to continue the series for the interesting worldbuilding and for the characters I did grow attached to. Yes, I hate Safi and Aeduan and both of the main romances, but I love Iseult and Merik so much. There’s certainly potential here, and I ended the book believing in it, even though the novel itself was flawed.