I approached "Witch King" with high expectations, drawn by the intriguing premise and the fact that Martha Wells, whose previous works I've enjoyed, was returning to the fantasy genre. However, after reading the book, I'm left feeling rather disappointed and underwhelmed.

While the concept of a demon prince with the ability to inhabit deceased bodies held promise, the execution fell flat. The alternating timelines, meant to add depth and mystery, only served to confuse and frustrate me as a reader. The convoluted plot, which I can appreciate if backed by engaging characters, failed to connect with me emotionally. Kai, the protagonist, lacked the depth and charisma necessary to truly invest in his journey. I struggled to feel any attachment or care for him as a character.

One aspect that particularly let me down was the writing style. Martha Wells' prose, which had previously captivated me in her other works, felt surprisingly dry and devoid of charm. The storytelling lacked the vivacity and spark that I had come to expect. Coupled with poor pacing, the reading experience became tedious, and I frequently found myself losing interest and struggling to maintain focus.

The world-building, while holding potential, felt muted and unrealized. I longed for a deeper exploration of the secondary world, its intricacies, and its impact on the characters and their motivations. Instead, I was left with more questions than answers, which left me unsatisfied.

Even the supporting cast of characters failed to make a lasting impression. The large ensemble felt overwhelming and lacked the development needed to evoke genuine interest. I struggled to form connections with them, and their individual quests and motivations often felt overshadowed and disconnected from the main narrative.

In conclusion, "Witch King" didn't live up to my expectations. Despite an interesting premise, the book lacked the charm, emotional depth, and engaging storytelling I had hoped for. The dry writing style, confusing plot structure, and underdeveloped characters made it a challenging read that left me feeling indifferent. As a fan of Martha Wells, it pains me to say that I cannot recommend this particular work. I suggest exploring her other, more captivating novels instead.

One of my most anticipated reads of the year, one that exceeded even my wildest expectations. Wells writes amazingly complex worlds with deep characters and intricate plots, to the point where I felt comfortable recommending Witch King even before I read it. Now, after reading it more than three times, all I want to do is write this review quickly so I can read it again. Kaiisteron is a prince of demons, living in a human body and instrumental in the overthrowing of the genocidal Hierarchs decades ago. With an important treaty coming up for renewal, Kai and his closest allies have been kidnapped and imprisoned, and Kai will do anything to see them freed. Kai is a complex demon - kind and loving, able to wither life and claim bodies, a hero and a legend and a nightmare all in one. His past is beautiful and traumatic, his motives simple - protect the people he loves, because he has lost too much to lose more. Rarely have I wanted a sequel to a self-contained story as much as I want one for Witch King - I badly want to spend more time in Kai's world. Read it, and share my new obsession.

Great news! I love Martha Wells in all her forms!
In some ways this is a HUGE deviation from the style of Murderbot, which is: extremely fast-paced (and short), very light on the lore and background, internal and existential, and also, oh yeah, sci-fi. What it does share: a protagonist who couldn’t give less of a flip, strong platonic relationships, and DELIGHTFUL wit and character!!

I also love the full commitment to blowing past “morally grey man begrudgingly adopts A Child” to just straight up “morally grey man meets abandoned child, immediately adopts and protects” yes ma’am!!! Maybe the secret is you don’t always have to learn to love, maybe you just love from the beginning and also murder people!!!

I’ll be honest: the lore and names in this are wild. I followed about 13% of it, rounded up. But I also didn’t care that I didn’t follow it at all, because the characters are fun and the journey is fun and it didn’t impact my story experience that I can’t explain The Heirchary or tell you definitively in Nient-arik is a person or location.

Overall: this book is a treat. If you enjoy the classic kind of fantasy with complex class systems and historical background, you’ll really like this. It’s witch and demon-based, not elf and wizard, but it feels like it’s in the same ballpark. If you’re looking for a Martha Wells entry point I still think All Systems Red is the way to go (how can it not be, with the greatest opening paragraph of all time), but also I’m not the typical reader of lore-heavy fantasy. If that’s your cup of tea, this is a delicious one.

Thank you NetGalley, thank you human embodiment of joy at TOR, thank you Martha Wells!! Please know I am not above begging for System Collapse, please and thank you

I absolutely adore the Murderbot books, so was very excited to read Martha Wells newest book.
There was a lot I enjoyed about this. Kai was a delightfully complex and clever character and Wells created an interesting, new world for Kai to exist in.
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Witch King drops you right into the story with Kai, our main character, waking up in what appears to be his tomb, and a mage attempting to make Kai his familiar. How did Kai end up here? Who wanted to imprison him? Where are the rest of his friends?

Switching back and forth between pre and post imprisonment, Witch King tells us the story of Kai (the demon) and we follow him as he tries to unravel the mystery of his own imprisonment and who has betrayed him. Since the book drops you right into the action it took me a little bit to get the hang of things and really latch onto the story and world, but once I did, I really enjoyed the book. I know Wells' writing from the Murderbot series, and the characters in this novel definitely have that same sarcastic and witty tone that I love. By the end of the book, I wanted to dive into so many more vignettes in this world and I hope I get to read those someday! Rich in political fantasy, an interesting magic system, and a great cast of characters, this was a solid read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved Martha Wells' murderbot diaries, but I knew going into this one that it would be different. Different it was, but no less enjoyable for the lack of similarities to Murderbot. Wells has an incredible skill for character that shines in this novel through the beautiful found-family dynamics and the way she isn't afraid to make her characters powerful. There's something special about reading a novel where characters get to be God-like while their struggles are focused internally.

My feelings towards this book are mixed. I really wanna like it but I just didn’t. Now that’s probably due to the fact I was in a reading slump and was forcing myself to finish this book. With that in mind, I really do want to go back and read this from the beginning again because I do think I will enjoy it. I liked the characters a lot and the plot seems pretty cool and unique. It was just all too much for what I was in the mood for and that severely effected my thoughts on it. So it’s gonna be a 3 star right now but that can change when I give it another shot.

4 stars

Goodness this was a lot of world building and boat words and unexplained magic and frankly it was very easy to lose interest in reading. However there was also an underpinning of grief and nostalgia and pain that made me invested in Kai's story and kept me going. There was absolutely no helpful info-dumping and no resolution and I'm not entirely sure what the plot was. But i don't know man reading about Kai the Demon's Very Bad Day and Also Boats (alternate working title - additional workshopping needed) was kind of great??

In short, don't ask me what the book is about but by the end you will probably want to hug a life-sucking demon.

I absolutely adore Martha Wells and I was absolutely out of my mind with excitement to get the ARC for this. Witch King is everything Wells does best: fascinating world building, compelling characters, a story that leaves you wanting more. This is told in two timelines and while it took a little time for me to understand how exactly the world worked, everything has fallen into its perfect place by the end of the book. I haven't seen any information yet about a sequel, but it feels like there has to be with where our characters, both in past and present, left off. Absolutely amazing!

thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher for this arc.

i tried to read this book at least three times, and i could never really get far enough to properly rate this. it's such a shame, because i know martha's writing is very well loved, but it just wouldn't work for me.

i do hope to try this one again in the future, and will update this review accordingly. i hope next time will be better!

This was honestly everyting I was expecting and more. Absolutely loved the characters and this is going to be a really good start to a series!

Well, I liked some of the imagery in this book, but I had absolutely no idea what was happening at ANY point and could not bring myself to enjoy or appreciate anything else about it.

The premise and the story world are very promising but the story isn't written in a way where the narrative kept me interested. The characters, they all sound the same. Too much description and too many details I don't care at all about, too little tension or even a more substantial plot to keep me interested.
I don't know if this was meant to be cozy fantazy but it didn't work for me. I unfortunately didn't like this nearly as much as Murderbot.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Murderbot, and Martha Wells definitely brings the same world building and humanity to this story. The concept is really interesting, and I can see a lot of "epic fantasy" readers loving it. The world building takes time, the understanding of the plot takes time, but it's time well spent. The payoff is there. Kai and Zeide were my favorites, but the found family is just lovely.

Full disclosure: Liking Murderbot is not a guarantee you will enjoy this. They are very different, but in a wonderful way that shows off Wells' range.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.

This took me a while to get into. Like a month. I started it and was just very confused about what was even going on. I ended up looking at other reviews to get more excited to push through this confusion. I’m glad I did-the book is very good! It just has a slow start.

tl;dr
Densely packed, unique world building with an exciting storyline that drives the narrative more than the characters do.

Thoughts
I initially was a little intimidated when I opened the book and was greeted with a list of names and titles from a world I didn't understand, but the characters are all described as they're introduced, such that I didn't ever need to page back to the list, so I worried for nothing. Martha Wells does an incredible job of fitting a lot of world building into a small space, doling out lore as necessary in a way that still sparks the imagination. And what a world it is! Layers of culture, powers, politics, and history unfold in two separate timelines with a scope that feels like a big adventure. Kai is a fun mix of snarky and competent, with other characters distinct, but not given quite as much attention. Overall, characters and their arcs to take a bit of a backseat to the plot and its mysteries. While this seems like it's probably a standalone book, I honestly wouldn't mind seeing these characters do more with a little more breathing room.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I just couldn’t get into this book. I was very excited for it, but just did not care about the characters or the plot. There were moments were cool stuff happened, problem was just that I didn’t care enough for it to hit its mark fully. Might try rereading this with a physical copy, but I’m unsure if it’ll make me like it more. We’ll see

I've read Murderbot previously and didn't quite vibe with it, so my main purpose with picking up this book was to see whether I would like her fantasy more. Sadly, this didn't work for me either.

I'll start with the positives: I found the worldbuilding interesting and very original, and in particular I loved the demon's and how demon "possession" (sort of) worked in this world. It was very nice to see a sweet depiction of demons. I would've liked there to be more explanations of the world and magic though - usually I don't mind when authors don't hold your hand, but here it was very difficult to grasp what was going on with the world and history of it, especially with the double timelines. There was just too much going on, and when nothing gets explained its impossible to keep track.

I also had a hard time connecting with the characters. The potential was there, and I felt like it was just out of my grasp all the way to the last page - but that connection just never came. It was all a bit too surface level, and the sidecharacters were hard to distinguish. I got sort of a found family vibe, but there were so few scenes where the characters just existed and spent quality time with each other that I never bought the found family element.

The plot felt rather pointless by the end, and I kind of wish I dnf'd it around the halfway point. I still think this will be great for those that like the authors other works, but ultimately I have to conclude that her stuff just isn't for me.

Witch King by Martha Wells book review.
⭐⭐⭐

Thank you Tor and Netgalley for an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review.

I love Martha Wells and this was not a great time to find out that I dont like epic/high fantasy.
I like our MC, Kai, and his magick abilities are unique. He starts the story entombed in water, breaks free, and sets out to find out who did it and why. He is very good at killing, and he can inhabit different mortal bodies, he can drain lifeforce.

But the plot, political intrigue, betrayal was all boring to me.

If you like epic/high fantasy you will probably love this one more than I did.

I was so excited for this book, but I think ultimately it was a little too dense for me to get through. I kept trying to push through, but I didn't connect with the characters and got a little lost in the information. I think this is a great book for people who love intricate high fantasy, but I couldn't get into it.