Did I enjoy parts of this? Yes
Did I hope to enjoy it more than I did? Also yes
I found the first 80% of this book extremely confusing.
The Plot
You know when you are starting a new fantasy book, and the character doesn’t know anything about the society they are entering, and you engage with that character slowly uncovering things?… yeah, this book is not like that at all. We start in the middle of the story with dual timelines. And when I say the middle I mean the MIDDLE. Kai wakes up in an underwater tomb with no memory of how he got there. I’m all for starting in the middle of the action, but I would have like a few clues about what was happening. Several words are used that have completely different meanings in the book, a pearl is not a pearl, and an intention is not an intention. We use the word Cadre, but we don’t get the meaning of this word until we hit the 70% mark.
“Kai hadn’t completely settled into his new brain yet and couldn’t understand what they were saying.” Same Kai, SAME.
I felt like this book was written from start to finish, complete with worldbuilding and descriptions and plot flow, and then someone took a knife to it and cut it in half and shuffled it. It takes a long time to figure out what is going on. I enjoyed the last 20% of this book immensely more than the beginning because I finally felt like I knew what was going on. Personally, I would have preferred to read this book in the linear format, I think it has enough going on that we don’t need to time jump around.
The Characters
FOUND FAMILY- a friendship between a demon, a witch, and an Immortal Blessed. So precious.
Kai is a unique protagonist, he’s a bit dark, very grumpy, and yet still likeable.
Ziede steals the show, especially when she drops in with “Let’s start the way we mean to go on. Whose skin am I going to peel off until someone tells me where my wife is?”
Lots of characters have similar names: like Bashat (bad guy) and Bashasa (good guy), this was confusing for me.
The Worldbuilding
It seemed as though there were a lot of descriptions of clothing. Lots of skirts for men and women, lots of generalizations about people from a particular region all having the same skin tone, hair etc. This created an additional source of confusion for me, as our main character sometimes resides in both male and female bodies throughout the story. He remains “he” and “prince” even when he is in a female body.

Overall, I am grateful I was able to read this book, I have heard wonderful things about Martha Wells Murderbot Series, and now I understand her writing style.
A special thank you to #NetGalley and TOR Publishing for the ARC of this book!

First and foremost I would like to give massive thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me access to this advanced copy of Witch King by Martha Wells.

If you LOVE MurderBot, you will really enjoy this novel! Fantasy at it's finest. This book is thought provoking, filled with adventure, found family, and what it takes to protect those you love. I really felt connected to Kai and Zeidi and enjoyed their storylines the most. For me to really enjoy my reads, I have to feel a sense of connection to the characters in the story, especially when it's such a character driven story. Wells makes it so easy to want nothing but the best for these relatable characters. I am definitely intrigued by that ending and am looking forward to the next installment.

Thank you again for allowing me access to this read! I recommend this book to anyone who loves witty, fast paced fantasy that has aspects of science fiction threaded through!

DNF
I have read many books where the author throws you right into the story, but this was way too much for me.
And the index in the first pages??? Info dumping like that? No.
Maybe for another time.

Witch King is the latest novel from one of my favorite SciFi/Fantasy authors, Martha Wells, who has recently hit a high mark in reader popularity and critical acclaim for her Murderbot series of SciFi novellas/novels. But, at the risk of sounding like a hipster, I was a fan of Wells even before her Murderbot success, with her Raksura series of fantasy novels featuring a group of incredible characters (Queer polyamorous shapeshifting creatures in a bee-like hierarchal society trying to survive among other fantastical creatures with their own civilizations and societies, some of which prey upon others and look similar to them) being among my faves, and her Ile-Rien series of fantasy/steampunk novels being tremendous fun as well. I've basically read every book of hers that isn't a tie-in novel (and I do want to get to those eventually) so I was super excited to hear about Wells returning to fantasy with her latest novel.

And yet I kind of wanted to love Witch King more than I actually did. The story is centered around Kai, a powerful "Demon" who the story makes clear at first was once part of a group of rebels who helped overthrow the Hierarchs, powerful and terrifying magical invaders somehow, and the story begins with him and one companion awaking to discovery they'd been unknowingly imprisoned by someone for some time, with their close friends/family members missing, and others hunting for Kai and his companion Ziede. The story then takes place over two timelines: first, the main timeline where Kai, Ziede and others they encounter search for answers while avoiding dangerous pursuers and second, a flashback timeline as to Kai's origins, his meeting with Ziede and those others, and how they began their fighting back against the Hierarchs. And while both stories have compelling moments, especially as you get a hang of the setting (which might take a few chapters), there's a substantial gap in time between those stories where relationships have clearly formed, characters have developed, and the world has changed, and as much as I enjoyed the characters here, I felt like I was badly missing that story from this novel, which would've made the developments, betrayals, and reveals more meaningful and given me a bit more to care about.

I'll try to give more specifics after the jump.



----------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------
Kai wakes up one day and knows something is wrong. He's surrounded by water and his feeling of his body feels wrong, and he doesn't know how he got there. Of the friends he is mentally connected to, he can still feel Ziede, but Ziede herself finds that she can't move and that she doesn't know where she is. And when he uses his powers to look at his body, he can tell it's been a year or around there since he was last aware, and that he's only woken up because someone is coming for him.

But Kai is no ordinary being. He is Kaiisteron, the immortal Prince of the Fourth House of the Underearth, known as a demon, the one called "Witch King", who years ago came from unknown origins to help Bashasa Calis and his allies rise in rebellion against the most dangerous and seemingly unstoppable invaders known to the world, the mysterious Hierarchs. Kai was once captured by the Hierarchs himself along with other demons, with his entire people, the Saredi, massacred around him. But when Bashasa rescued Kai, Kai found himself, Ziede, Bashasa, Tahren (a rebellious Immortal Marshall), and Tahren's lesser Blessed brother Dahin, in a desperate attempt at rebellion, one that would change the world entirely, and give him a prominence and power he never could have expected or wanted.

Now, an expositor of the kind who used to work for the Hierarchs is coming for Kai, seeking to obtain Kai's power for his own. But Kai isn't just any demon, he's The Demon. And this fool of an expositor will soon learn to regret waking Kai up from his prison and giving Kai the chance to escape, find out what happened to Tahren, Dahin, and the rest of the world, and to take action to get revenge and freedom from those who put him in this situation......
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As I mentioned above the jump, Witch King's narrative is split in two: its normal chapters deal with Kai, Ziede and others they encounter as they try to figure out what happened to them and their friends and what to do about it and then it features chapters titled "The Past", which tell at first Kai's origins and then the origins of the rebellion against the Hierarches and Kai's meeting with the found family he is trying to reunite in the present story. As you might imagine, the story interposes the flashback storyline such that it reveals events just as they become relevant to the main story, and the two storylines do converge as past characters and settings recur in the present. The timelines are each written well, with prose that is very readable and easy to get into, but the epic fantasy terms and aspects of this setting are thrown at the reader pretty much from the jump of this book, and that can be disorienting to a reader who is explaining some handholding or explanations for a while. But by the time you get to the quarter-mark of this book, you should be able to understand things well enough for all intents and purposes (mostly).

The story is centered naturally around Kai, since he's the perspective everything revolves around, and Kai is an excellent character in both story arcs. In the present, Kai is enormously powerful and confident in his own powers, yet he's extremely uncomfortable with his own feelings and the world around him: after all, there was only a small group of friends he trusted, as well as the Prince he once believed in, and someone - quite possibly that Prince's successor - had to have betrayed him to get to this point....and that group of friends is mysteriously separated and AWOL. That's why the biggest concern for him and Ziede is finding Tahren - not only is she Ziede's wife, but Tahren is one of the few people Kai and Ziede can absolutely trust and care about, as opposed to this strange new world which is not quite the world Kai and his friends once wanted to build. And in the Past, Kai is not at all comfortable in his powers, especially as he gains new ones through uncomfortable manners, finds himself losing the family and people who he expected to grow up with when the Hierarchs conquer the Saredi and imprison them and is thrown abruptly into a revolution on behalf of a prince he doesn't know at all. Kai does not want to be a leader in the Past - and honestly doesn't want to be in the Present either, although he's more used to it there - but momentum carries him, a boy whose people were destroyed around him, and whose closest people - the other demons - seemingly come to reject him (for reasons that become revealed in the past). And Wells writes Kai's and other character's dialogue and actions really well, so its easy to care for him in particular and to get some of the feelings the characters are experiencing.

And yet, while I enjoyed the plot and Kai as a character, I just felt for much of the book like I was missing something, and I realized near the end what it was: that there was a whole ton of things in the setting and in development of the characters and their relationships that the book omits, and it made it hard to really care as much as I wanted to about a lot of it. There's a fifty year time gap between the past storyline and the present storyline, during which a ton of things happen in the setting that really matter to the present plot: Kai and the others finished overthrowing the Hierarchs and set up a new world order of some sort, which some call a new Empire (to Kai's distaste), but . The Prince who united Kai and everyone else has died and his successor might be the one who betrayed Kai...but we never really get to know that successor or even the world order to really care about the global politics or the betrayal for it to really make much of an impact.

And even more importantly, there's a lot of character development that happens in between the two plots, that the book relies upon despite never showing it. So Ziede and Tahren get married, and while there's glimpses of their attraction in the past, we never get their romance or Kai's growing friendship with them; Dahin has a traumatic experience that results in him breaking off from the group that is only explained briefly but has an impact, and Kai and Prince Bashasa have some kind of relationship before the Prince's death, which is alluded to and has impact but we never really get to see it.

I don't mean to sound too down on this book, since Wells does make it work. But I'd honestly rather have read the story of those 50 years and how it all came together, than the present-time storyline we get here, since those character developments are really interesting, but we only see the end results here. Without those developments on page, it just feels like we're supposed to take the characters' words about their emotions for it without us really being able to understand them, which just weakens things a bunch. Witch King is still a solid book, but I just feel like there was more in this world that I would rather have read, which is an unusual feeling for a book by Wells.

When I opened this book to see a Dramatis Personae, my first thought was “uh-oh.” Dramatis Personae in high fantasy usually means I’m about to be extremely confused. More so than I usually am when starting into a new high fantasy world - it always takes me a while to understand what’s going on. And this one was no different. (I really need to learn to only do high fantasy on audiobook, I fare much better when the story just keeps going whether I understand it or not.) Anyway - a third of the way through the book I was still struggling but hopeful that I’d be able to break through, and by the halfway mark I was a little more into it, but then by the last 100 pages or so I was just going through the motions and ready for it to end. I felt like I couldn’t DNF because I got it from Netgalley. (For Netgalley copies I’ll only DNF if I find something offensive, though maybe I should revisit that policy.)

There are strong found family vibes in this book, which I always enjoy, but I feel like there were heavy emotional stakes I completely missed out on because I didn’t know what was happening much of the time. The worldbuilding is strong, but for me, it was dense to the point of being nearly inaccessible. A lot of the book seems to revolve around the politics between different factions, and I felt like when those elements were introduced, I didn’t really understand them, and therefore couldn’t retain it, and therefore stayed confused. The dual timelines – a structure I usually enjoy – sometimes made the story more interesting, but at other times it made it even harder to keep track of characters, events, and settings.

If it weren’t a review copy for Netgalley, I would have DNF’d at about 100 pages and waited for the audiobook instead. I am still planning on seeking out the audio, so for what it’s worth, I was interested enough in the story and the characters – and fond enough of the author’s other works – to want to try again in a format that might work better for me. I will also admit that the lack of reading comprehension may very well be a flaw on my part rather than the author’s. People who usually have little trouble acclimating to a new high fantasy world might not have the same trouble as I did.

Representation: POC characters, queer characters, disabled characters

Martha Wells is a masterful author. She built her world so seamlessly, using audience stand-in characters and subtle exposition. The characters are all so vibrant and unique. And I'm always a sucker for found-families. I loved the magic system she created and the ways in which she illustrated its uses. The back and forth between present day and past kept me rivetted to the whole story. Parts of the ending felt a little abrupt, but were still satisfying in the payoff. This was truly a wonderful read!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this at around 50%. I was not enjoying myself, so I had to make the move to put this down. I had never read Martha Wells, I am still interested in the Murder Bot series. The writing was enjoyable, but it was slowly paced.

I am going to focus on what I did like with this review.

I loved the characters and the premise of this plot. I like the relationships and friendships. The writing is very good and is easy to read.

However, this story was just very slow for me. I wasn't invested in the journey. I skipped a large portion of this book just to figure out what happens. Even then the ending was just okay to me.

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. I made it 45% of the way through this book and I still had no idea what was going on. I understand the different characters and how they fit into the story. But its almost like they beat around the bush and added all these meaningless details without actually moving the story further. I could not get into the storyline or the characters. I had no emotional or even mental connection to the characters or the plot line, and without being more invested in the outcome I could not bring myself to continue reading the book.
I love a book with a thought out and complicated plot. But this was just really overwhelming and confusing. The characters had no introduction or explanation, at any point of the story. We are sprinkled with details throughout the book, but we aren't given much, if any, clarification as to how they fit into the story. I have never DNF'd a book before and I tried so hard to get through this story. I wanted to like it and understand the story. I would love to know what happens. But, at this point I am not even sure what is currently happening in the story.
I received an ARC of this book for free from NET Galley, and am leaving a review voluntarily.

After about a year trapped in an underwater prison, Kaiisteron, known as Kai to his friends and Witch King to his enemies, surfaces to find an overconfident enemy spellcaster (called an expositor) trying to enslave his mind and will. However, Kai is by no means defenseless. As a demon from the underearth, he has the power to drain life through touch, inhabit dead—and occasionally, living—bodies, and heal himself. Over his long life of more than fifty years, he’s also had training in two other magic disciplines: cantrips, commonly used by Witches, and intentions, commonly used by expositors. Kai quickly dispatches his enemies, saving a little girl and former slave named Sanja. Sanja trails along behind as he saves his best friend Ziede, who was entombed with him. The three embark on a quest to learn more about their captors, understand the changing political landscape of their world, and save Ziede’s wife, Tahren Starguard. Tahren is a former member of a group of powerful, cult-like magic users that call themselves Immortal Blessed, so her capture is mysterious and unnerving, implicating that some Immortal Blessed might be involved in the plot.

The story is told in two timelines, in which Kai's present-day quest is interspersed with scenes from an important historical event that occurred approximately 50 years previously: Kai’s defeat of a group of genocidal conquerors called the Hierarchs. The two timelines allow us to understand Kai’s past: his childhood among the nomadic Saredi, his traumatic capture and imprisonment by the Hierarchs, and his fight, led by the enigmatic nobleman Bashasa, to overthrow them. After overthrowing the Hierarchs and building a coalition/empire called the Rising World in its place, it’s implied that Bashasa and Kai became lovers. Unfortunately, Bashasa dies in between the timelines, so we readers don’t get to learn more about this queer relationship.

Summarized here, the plot and world of Wells’ Witch King seem simple enough to grasp. But—as is typical in the fantasy genre—the influx of new names, nations, and historical references feels almost nonstop. Of course, hand-holding readers when it comes to worldbuilding is a drawback. However, while some novels do a great job of thrusting readers headfirst into new worlds, crafting storylines and plots that turn unfamiliar terminologies into exciting mysteries, the readers’ lack of knowledge about the world and Rising World politics makes the story cumbersome rather than engaging. Wells describes a vivid world full of exciting mythical creatures and cultivates a real sense of culture: each region has its own fashion, architecture, and scenery. However, between navigating two timelines every other chapter, being served a low-stakes plot, and having to flip back pages to remind oneself, “what are Imperial Marshals again?,” only serves to drag the pacing of the book to a slog.

The overall lack of suspense in the novel is attributable largely to this inclusion of a two-timeline structure. The constant skips means that we are never afforded time to grow to love our cast of characters, including Kai and his found family. Given that the present day timeline also establishes the convenient resolution to the stakes in the past, it is hard to be invested in either plotline. The Hierarchs are established as the Big Bad, but we enter the novel in the present day with the understanding that Kai has already defeated them—negating any tension involving the Hierarchs that Wells crafts in the past timeline. Alongside the resolved tensions with the Hierarchs, an already-established Rising World, and coexistence between demons, witches, and Immortal Blessed, it feels as though the alternating present day timeline is set in, arguably, the least interesting time.

Kai is a typical fantasy book protagonist; though he doesn’t literally fulfill a prophecy, he attains every type of magical power, and with it, the ability to fight his way out of any situation through grit and self-sacrifice. Witch King uses a soft magic system (i.e. it doesn’t focus on the rules of its magic, instead opting to just describe its effects), which generally serves the storyline well, allowing for a lot of dramatic magical destruction and escapes. However, one aspect of the magic system disturbed us: in order to avoid drawing on the same source of power that the Hierarchs use for their intentions, Kai uses his own (often self-inflicted) pain as a source of power. In battle, combined with his magical healing, he’s nigh unbeatable—after all, if he needs more magic, he can just stab himself. It’s clear that this repeated self-harm is a problem, but it is a problem that is never really addressed. Wells simply frames it as a necessity and leaves it at that. Kai’s friends express sympathy and distress, but they merely stand by while he does it again and again.

Kai is straight out of a YA novel: in the present timeline, he’s a sensitive, dark-haired man who can’t stop hurting himself. Someone should really teach him to love himself and find other solutions to his problems that don’t involve self-harm, but nobody does. This is, at best, a wasted opportunity for character growth, and at worst, an endorsement of an uncomfortably capitalist and competitive mindset—the idea that punishing our bodies is the path to success.

We’ve mentioned previously that Kai has a queer love interest, Bashasa, in the past timeline, though we don’t get to see whether they actually get together. The present day timeline also features a love interest for Kai: Ramad, a Rising World diplomat (called a vanguarder) who resembles Bashasa (possibly a distant relative). Ramad, an amateur historian, is very curious about Kai’s past, and Kai does find that he is attracted to him. However, after almost fifteen chapters of small gestures and tension, their relationship doesn’t go any further. Meanwhile, Zeide’s relationship with her wife is sidelined throughout the book. In the past timeline, Zeide and Tahren go from being reluctant, wary allies to suddenly caring for each other in between chapters. There is very little transition or buildup, and certainly no scenes of intimacy. In the present-day timeline, Zeide’s reunion with her wife at the end of the book is offscreen. For those looking for explicitly romantic or sexual queer relationships, this is not the book for you. There are some heartwarming scenes with Kai and Bashasa, as they first meet and find a connection, and Zeide’s fierce love for her wife is clear throughout. However, neither relationship is explored further.

Martha Wells’s bestselling Murderbot series has been lauded for its aromantic and asexual representation, but coming off that series, she struggles to depict queer relationships that are romantic (and, presumably, sexual). The queer relationships in this novel are more repressed than celebrated; despite being openly gay or lesbian, her characters aren’t ever given an opportunity to show their feelings openly on the page. There is definitely a place in queer SFF for crushes and pining and weird awkward friendships that could be something more. There are also great books that depict the flip side of the coin, in which characters feel uncomfortable being openly gay because of systemic or social repression. These are also important parts of queer life. However, Martha Wells doesn’t successfully write either of those scenarios. It’s unclear whether either of Kai’s relationships could be something more, or even if they should be. Moreover, even if she did write a kind of rom-com story line, would an epic fantasy about mature, immortal adults be the right place for it? One advantage of the two timelines is that we get to see Kai grow from a lost, grieving teenager to a decisive and jaded adult. In the past timeline, he is unsure of his place in the Rising World alliance and yearning for Bashasa’s approval, but by the present-day timeline, he is easily able to think up complex plans on the spot and kill his enemies without hesitation. We don’t get nearly the same amount of character development for Zeide, but she certainly develops a fearsome reputation between timelines. It’s disappointing to see powerful, capable queer adults in such superficial relationships. In 2023, with a burgeoning market for queer literature and representation, we expected more.

I really loved these characters, especially the main character Kai. I loved the beginning of the book, but as the story went on, I just cared less and less and it became a struggle to want to pick this book back up. This book has a lot of good elements, and I love Martha Wells writing, but I just wasn’t invested in this book the way I wish I could’ve been.

Really fantastic world building. Dual timelines. Characters are good, not great.

I’m not a huge fan of being immediately plopped into a story and starting behind and that’s how this felt. Figuring how the varying degrees of magic work or the different demons. Also, with the timelines, I struggled a little figuring out who was in each and wasn’t able to keep track as much as I like to.

3.5, rounded up.

I enjoyed the characters and their interactions and dialogue, but I found the story structure and pacing to be lacking. Kai, Ziede, and many of their friends, allies, and antagonists are charming, but I didn't find the past timeline to be engaging, and the constant switch between narratives caused the plot to drag.

I'm giving this one star because if it hadn't been a review ARC I would have DNFed it.

I am disappointed because I have both liked and loved the Murderbot books.

The biggest problem with this story is that Wells spent too much time describing setting, hair, and clothing; leaving the characters bland and the plot almost nonexistent. Another problem was everything and everyone seemed to be of equal importance to her. This meant some settings should have been given more detail and some less; and to be honest some settings didn't need to be mentioned at all. All the characters were basically given the same attention, so none of the important characters ended up being fleshed out enough.

There were way too many secondary and flat characters. Most of them had long similar sounding names, so they all started to blend together into one after a while, especially the ones who were switching bodies. I know she was trying to make some sort of a statement about gender, but the switching out of actual physical bodies and changing biological sex made things too complicated because gender is a social construct, and biological sex is not. I think she was trying to point this out, but it was lost in confusing mire.

Most of the task scenes were long and drawn out with too many extraneous steps. I would end up screaming, "Just do it already, my gawd," in my head.

There were too many different fighting factions with different types of government, with too many pacts and treaties, traitors, defectors, and spies for a standalone book. It would have been better to make this a duology with the earlier timeline being book one, but would she have used the extra pages to better define the political elements, explain the magical system, and more interestingly flesh-out the main characters? I doubt it. She probably would have just added more unnecessary abandoned cities to the travelogue.

What I was loving at first was the fresh take on demons and witches, and some intriguing magical elements, but nothing was ever explained, most not even in rudimentary terms. Explanations were basically "that's what witches do" and "that's how demons are" with no how or why given. I always say that if authors don't have to explain the magical systems they create, anyone can write a Fantasy book.

Terry Pratchett's writing advice, "Apply logic in places where it wasn’t intended to exist. If assured that the Queen of the Fairies has a necklace made of broken promises, ask yourself what it looks like. If there is magic, where does it come from? Why isn’t everyone using it? Fantasy works best when you take it seriously.”

Somewhere in the last quarter of the book I realized how much Wells was drawing from Full Metal Alchemist for some of the magical elements, especially transmutation circles, and this was solidified by the chimeras in the story being very much like misanthropic humanoids.

Was there a plot, not really, the storyline basically became following a crowd of characters traveling from one place to another in two timelines for reasons not well defined, with their hair and clothing overly described. Reading the conclusion was like eating soggy, room temperature cornflakes. Was this the author's idea of one of those ridiculous "no plot, all vibes" stories the publisher (Tor) has been trying to make trendy? Maybe she was asked to write one? At least be honest and publicize/promote it as one, so readers like me won't request review copies and then feel obliged to read the entire book.

It took me entirely too long to read this book because I kept going back to look for information I thought I had missed, only to find out the information was never given.

The way this book was written was incredible. Such an inventive story and world. I also loved that the main character is powerful - not a farm boy learning his powers. This is very different from Murder Bot, but the character work is just as good. Love necromancy? Love non linear plots? Check this out!

I loved this book! This is the first Martha Wells novel I've read (I'm late to the party, I know), and I really enjoyed the way the world in this book was put together. Kai is a compelling protagonist, and I found the magic system in this book very intriguing. By the end of the book, I was thoroughly invested and wanted to know more about the underearth and the Hierarchs. By the end of the book, though, I still had a lot of unanswered questions about Bashasa and Kai's relationship, and about the origin of the Hierarchs. This is not a problem if this book is meant to be the start of a series, and I'm really hoping for a sequel!

I for the most part enjoyed Witch King. It was by far one of the most original magic systems I've seen from a fantasy book. It definitely took a little bit to grasp all of the worldbuilding and politics fully. I feel like if it had just a little bit more exposition or even a glossary at the beginning of the book it would’ve been a lot easier to understand all the new terms. Having a list of all the characters at the beginning of the book was nice to keep track of them all though. I love Kai! One of my absolute favorite characters I have ever read about! He is such a complex character considering he is a ruthless demon but one you can’t help but root for throughout the book. The overall plot was intriguing, especially with the alternate storylines going back and forth between the past and present. Ultimately I would rate Witch King a 4 out of 5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and plot but it was just slightly confusing at times.

I received an early reviewer's copy of Witch King from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Here is the deal - this is Martha Wells at all of her fantasy, world building glory. I know a lot of people have only read her Murderbot series and are surprised by how intense her fantasy writing is (and has been). I started with Murderbot a year or two ago, and then I spent a whole summer with the Raksura and realized how intricate all of her worlds are.
So! With that being said, this is a solid entry into Wells's fantasy bibliography. One of the main reasons I love her fantasy books is because she just drops you right in the deep end. It's a great way to kind of, spurn a sense of wonder at the largess of the worlds she creates.
The world she has created in Witch King is expansive, not just physically (though her worlds are usually so large in distance), but in the concepts of what it means to be human - gender, sexuality, ability... Sometimes you're a demon in a new body and you're just having a bit of a Time. It's so refreshing to be able to read a big-F Fantasy novel and not cringe internally at homophobia, transphobia and general LGBTQ squeamishness.
Witch King is the kind of book that is an escapist's dream: a world where it isn't all a metaphor for a current/recent social issue. (Don't get me wrong, I love books on both sides of this, but sometimes you need a book to let you stop thinking about the world so you can relax for a second.) And while it is unfortunately still a world that will be taken as a "political statement" by some, just due to Wells's standard inclusiveness, it is really just a story you can get sunk right into and inhabit the world in your mind.
Also, if you are a new Wells reader from Murderbot or just finding her for the first time: if you liked this book, you are going to *love* her back catalogue.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Tor in exchange for my honest opinion.

Genre: Fantasy
Format: Third person, Dual timeline

This one was a little hard for me to get into.

The world building is complex and deep—it helps that there's a human who was saved from being sacrificed to give us other humans insight into the world of demons and witches. Kai is multifaceted, and an interesting character. I enjoyed the grandmother and her way of dealing with Kai and the family.

I never felt completely immersed in this novel. And I believe that's because it wasn't in first person—which I'm now more accustomed to reading.

If you're ready for a high fantasy, dealing with politics, social questions, and a fairly cerebral story, this is perfect for you!

Happy reading!

DNF at 61%. I like the concept of this book, and Martha Wells has an engaging writing style. However, the approach of this book did not really work for me at this point in time, especially with the dual timeline.