WITCH KING
Author: Martha Wells
Date released: May 30th, 2023*
Category: Fantasy
Synopsis: Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' Witch King....
After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.
But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?
Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
He’s not going to like the answers.
*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The UnReel Take:
Story: 5.0
Writing: 6.0
Characters: 9.0
Setting: 6.0
UnReel AR: 6.5
Bottom Line: Like a lot of readers, I am OBSESSED with Martha Wells’ Murderbot series, and was excited to pick up some of her fantasy. Unfortunately, Witch King didn’t work nearly as well.
To give credit where it’s due, Wells is a great character author. Kai, the eponymous Witch King, is literally a soul-sucking demon and his BFF is a witch who skins people, and they’re both super likable. Witch King also features several immortal characters, including our two leads, and I think Wells did a good job showing how immortality can make you 1) a force to be reckoned with and 2) freaking tired. My favorite character, Bashasa, didn’t get enough page time but was an absolute treasure whenever he popped up.
There is a found family element that I enjoyed as well, but it was too bogged down in other story elements to really shine.
Onto the rough stuff.
The plot of Witch King made no sense. There were a ton of holes, revelations didn’t land because you hadn’t even met the characters involved in them, and how three of the world’s biggest badasses came to be imprisoned wasn’t really explained. This book also includes a dual timeline that wasn’t incorporated well at all. It probably would’ve been better to split this into two books or a prequel novella and a book.
Y’all….the worldbuilding in this. I wanted to like it SO BAD. There are so many individual elements that are super cool (like an underearth inhabited by demons where everything is made out of smoke) but it just didn’t come together. Having read the book cover-to-cover, I couldn’t tell you anything about the antagonists or the various cultures represented. This is by design to an extent, but it left me feeling really disconnected from the story. I’m not sure if Witch King will be turned into a series, wherein the world could be fleshed out further, but I don’t know if I’d pick up book two. Also, a map would’ve been really helpful, but they might put one in the final release.
As with most ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) the text had numerous typos and grammatical errors that will likely be fixed before the final release. There’s also some really modern phrasing that didn’t blend well into the world and characters, diminishing the quality of Wells’ normally strong writing.
Ideal Reading Location: By the pool, with your feet dangling in the deep end. (If you know, you know).
Drink Pairing: Shiner TexHex Bruja’s Bew IPA, just to feel in on the action.
Maybe your experience will be different!