Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

3.5 round up

I had high hopes for Martha Wells' "Witch King," especially given my fondness for her captivating "MURDERBOT" series. However, my experience with this novel left me somewhat unsatisfied. While Wells introduces an intriguing premise, the execution fell short for me.

One of the main hurdles I encountered was the abrupt feeling of being thrust into the middle of a story without sufficient background. It almost felt like starting with the second book in a series, leaving me struggling to grasp the full context. The narrative spends considerable time delving into past events to justify present circumstances, almost as if there should have been a preceding book to provide necessary context.

Wells ambitiously incorporates multiple timelines, which, although aligned cohesively, occasionally disrupt the flow of the story. Certain sections felt like unnecessary detours, slowing down the pacing to the extent that I found myself questioning the purpose of certain plot threads.

Although the magic system presented great potential, it felt underutilized, primarily serving as a plot device to maneuver characters rather than fully exploring its intricacies. Looking back, it's challenging to pinpoint the overarching goal or significance of the story, which detracted from my overall enjoyment.

Unfortunately everything that drew me to Martha Wells' books is what led me away from this one. The characters didn't draw me in, the world felt bland, I just wasn't a fan and was so sad about it.

I love Martha Wells, but I really struggled to immerse myself in this story. I’ve tried putting it down and coming back to it a few times, but I think i’ll have to pick up the physical version of this book. The world building was a bit too hard to grasp via audiobook.

I find it difficult to rate this book. It's a captivating read, but the frequent time shifts didn't work for me. Switching between different timelines can enhance a reading experience. However, in this case, it felt like Martha Wells wanted to write a trilogy, and her publisher shot down the request, so she wrote this book instead. Like, the first book took place in the flashback chapters, there was no second book, and the third book was in the remaining chapters.

Reading the flashback chapters and then going back to read the present chapters helped me with my understanding of the world and characters.

I wish this book were a proper trilogy, allowing the author to flesh out the world and characters more. I enjoyed the characters and would love to see more of them.

The narrator did a great job. I liked the dry humor he infused with the characters.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

As someone who enjoyed Wells's Murderbot Diaries, I was excited to check out a new novel that is fully fantasy after so much of her sci-fi work. I found the book interesting and I thought the audiobook was done well, but there were a few parts that fell short for me.

The novel follows the consciousness of Kai, a higher being also known as the Witch King, who awakens to realize that he has been murdered (bodily) and trapped (psychically and magically), and his allies and companions are missing. The story chronicles Kai's attempts to determine what precisely happened to him and why, and to reunite with his allies to fight against rising powers.

Kai is a delightful, murderous protagonist much in the realm of what I expected from Wells's writing, and I enjoyed the worldbuilding she did. I also liked the use of the flashbacks to lend context to Kai's story. However, the pacing of the book dragged in parts, and the emotional connections to the characters fell short for me. I think this is a great fantasy read for 2023, and certainly worth checking out if you've liked Martha Wells but prefer fantasy over sci-fi. For me, I still think my heart lies with Murderbot Diaries.

I picked this up because I LOVED the Murderbot series and the premise for Witch King sounded good.

I first picked this up and set it aside- thinking that my mood may have impacted how well I was connecting with the book. I waited until the fall season where I crave all things dark and witchy. But even then it did not help me. I just wasn't connecting.

I finished it this time and thought that it may pick up. It did not.

I think With Martha Wells, I enjoy reading her Novellas the best. She writes really well in the short form. It's her longer books that tend to trip me up (even in the murderbot series). and unfortunately, this is one didn't have a series I loved building up to it and so it's a bit of a "womp-womp" for me.

This book follows multiple storylines. It was definatly entertaining. It feels like a cross between sci-fi and fantasy. If if that's your vibe read this one.

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Where to start with this? It wasn’t inherently bad, but I was definitely disappointed as I was really looking forward to seeing what this author would do in a fantasy world after loving her sci-fi works so much.

Witch King is a long ride for sure it starts with our main character checking murked, but it’s cool because he’s a demon so not really.

What this does functionally is spilt us into a couple different timelines both with huge cast of characters that I found hard to keep up with and I typically love an ensemble cast.

There is a lot of investigative things happening and political intrigue happening as Kai tries to discover who “killed” him and ever his friend’s wife is.

Honestly I think this book was trying to tackle too many approaches in too few pages. Had the ideas had more page time to mature and be set up I think it could’ve been more impactful.

The writing itself is good though, you can’t deny that Wells has a talent with words and she does found family really well.

I’m definitely open to reading other worlds from her even if I don’t return to this one.


The narration in the audiobook was also not my favorite, definitely not the worst I’ve heard but I’m not going out of my way to find more books from this narrator.

I guess at the end of the day I’m left with having both too much chaos in this story but also not enough in terms of worldbuilding. Which is a weird place for me to be as a seasoned fantasy reader

Witch King by Martha Wells is my favorite fantasy of 2023. It begins in the decades after a war of resistance against an aggressive empire from the far north, The protagonist Kai, is a demon prince who was given the honor of living among nomadic mortals in the steppes. Kai is the epitome of “looks like a cinnamon roll and could kill you.”
My favorite part of the book is the world building. Wells took care to research societies that aren’t western European and use their histories as inspiration without appropriating or tokenizing. It’s a refreshing, exciting book that should be moved to the front of your to read list.

I did not like the narrator for this book. I thought it was difficult to understand and would have liked a little more emotion.

Excellent narration and beautiful world building. This story is very different from the Murderbot diaries that introduced me to Wells' writing, but just as enjoyable. This is an immersive and well thought out story filled with diverse and interesting characters. The beautiful narration really made the story shine. Highly recommended.

Fresh off the many lessons garnered from the Murderbot series, Martha Wells steps back into fantasy with an epic tale, rife with wonderful worldbuilding and fleshed out with charming and sarcastic characters. Often timeline shifts can leave a reader in distress when listening to an audiobooks but this was not the case in the slightest due to the superb and clear writing.

I was so very excited about this one and may try to pick it up again one day but sadly, I tried the audiobook ARC and really could not stand the narrator. I feel awful even saying that but it was a struggle just to listen and the character and place names were complex and large in number. Again, maybe I will pick it up again some day but this one was not for me at this time and I had to DNF. Thank you for the review copy.

As a fantasy, Witch King sets a very different tone from Wells’ Murderbot series, yet it is still replete with her distinct sarcastic characters and richly detailed world-building. The story follows Kaiiesteron, also known as Kai, a demon who awakens in a water-coffin cutting off his ties to the underearth. Trapped in the prison as well is his good friend, a witch named Ziede. Someone has captured them, but for what end he’s not sure. The story is told in two timelines, the present chronicling Kai and Ziede’s escape and subsequent quests to find Ziede’s missing wife, Tahren, and take vengeance on those who had betrayed them. Kai has seen terrible things in his long lifetime, and the other timeline follows his history, of watching his people be massacred and fighting a losing war against the Hierarchs. The book is full of narrow escapes and daring plans, a unique magic system, and the unyielding support of found families.

Ended up having to DNF this halfway through. Just wasn't invested in the characters as much as I would have liked to be. I enjoy Wells' writing style but this one wasn't for me.

WITCH KING by Martha Wells
Publication: 5/30/2023 by tor.Com
Page Count: 430
Audiobook by Macmillan Audio
Narration: Eric Mok
Length: 13 hours , 9 minutes


A sweeping epic fantasy populated by a multitude of characters … with the main protagonist being Kaiisteron (Kai), the demon witch king. Kai awakens suddenly from a curse that kept him trapped in stasis … he is disoriented and separate from his body… apparently having been murdered and betrayed. His best friend Ziede’s wife, Tahren, has gone missing. Obviously political machinations are operant in his present situation.
Both Kai and Ziede set off in a quest across the empire, eventually leading them to the palace where his enemies previously held him captive …where he was beaten and tortured. The narrative takes place in two time lines … present and recent past. Interesting enough, Kai has the ability of taking on the form of recently deceased mortals. Kai will need to solve the mystery of his death. Unfortunately the multilayered plot lines and crisis did not captivate my attention., and the world building appeared disjointed. I had difficulty divorcing myself of my enjoyment from the Murderbot adventures. Wells does explore gender and sexuality in her quest for diversity. Demons and magic abound.
I personally switched back and for the between the kindle and audiobook version. The narration provided by Eric Mok was enjoyable and brought to life the convoluted tale in the theatre of my mind. The inflections of different characters was a welcome relief. Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom and Macmillan Audio for providing an Uncorrected Proof and advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I think I’ll stick to Well’s science fiction works, and pass on the Witch King’s lyrical prose.

The narrator was fine although I did find my listening at 1.5 speed. The audiobook was confusing to follow as apparently the book layout was alternating chapters of present tense and past tense which did not translate well at all. I thought the book slogged along and I couldn't get past that the entire book was about them trying to find out who betrayed them. That's it.

Witch King by Martha Wells shows just how much range this author has. I've loved the Murderbot series and this book is different but equally as compelling.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Format: Audio (Netgalley via publisher)

Narrator: I really enjoyed the narrator. I thought his voice was perfect for the setting and he did an excellent job helping me connect with the story and the characters.

Story: This story was complex in all the best ways. While some may find it difficult to follow since the timeline shifts between the present and the past, I thought this was the perfect way to maintain tension and suspense while slowly giving the reader answers as to the character's motivations and the root causes of the conflicts. Some of the political and character names were hard to follow, but overall it was pretty easy to keep track of who we were rooting for and who we trusted.

I thought the characters were well-developed, and as always, I am a huge fan of Martha Well's writing style. I love how she weaves in natural ways to provide exposition (oh, you have a new person in the group who has no idea what's going on? have them ask questions of the MCs!). I am also a fan of how she creates powerful, but not overpowered, characters who are dynamic and resilient enough to get pretty beat up and keep going. I enjoyed this book a lot and will likely read it again.