I'm very torn on this book. The story is good. Not VERY good but engaging and interesting, the world is interesting and makes me think. But. There was no point where I really lost myself in it at all.

I don't LOVE the MC, I think he is a good MC, on paper (as it were) I think the other characters are too. But overall, it just never really gelled for me. I kept stopping, and thinking how much I WANTED to love this book (I absolutely adored the authors Murderbot books) and I think it was mostly loyalty to the author and curiosity about what timeline I was even on and hope I'd figure out the overall lay of the land that kept me going.

Again, the story is GOOD.... BUT... I think there are two things keeping this book from being great. One, there's no humor, and in a book like this a little goes a long way. Two, the way the timeline is laid out is confusing. I am still not exactly sure what happened. At the beginning, I thought we were having flashbacks hundreds of years but it seems like it was maybe just everything leading up to where the book started which I usually love as a mechanic, but somehow it just wasn't clear to me until the end and even then I'm still only about 85% sure I'm right about it.

I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator is absolutely lovely. I would listen to him again any time, I think he was perfectly chosen for this role, even though I did not gel with the character, if he had been more likable I think this narrator absolutely would have done him justice. He did an excellent job.

Overall, I think this book will stick with me a bit because of the magic system which was clever and interesting, and that's about it. I wanted to LOVE this book. I REALLY REALLY did, I have been anticipating this book for a while and I think what I'm most sad about is how ultimately, I didn't.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of this book.

I will be completely honest: I was totally intrigued and totally confused in the beginning of this book. I would like to think that I have plenty of experience in the fantasy/science fiction genre, but this was hard to swim through the world. But saying that, I appreciated that the author did not hold your hand. It made the uncovering of both the world and the characters' pasts made it that much more satisfying. The beginning has a long of world and character building, but man, when things got rolling, they didn't stop! Highly recommend (just don't expect Murder Bot...)

This was everything I wanted. I fell in love with Martha Wells while reading her MurderBot diaries series. This book was just as amazing (if not better). She always has a way of writing her characters that makes them feel so real. I was invested in these characters and their journey from page one. This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023 and I cannot wait to be able to snag a physical copy for myself

WOW. Martha Wells knocked this out of the park!! Such an incredible world and magic system. Overall just a joy to read, I have to say I’m actually really sad to see it end!

I was so impressed by the storytelling in this book. Usually a fantasy this intricate is a much denser read, but I flew through this much faster than I was expecting to. I’ve never read any Martha Wells before (despite knowing that the murderbot series is supposed to be immaculate.) Let me tell you that I will be rectifying that ASAP. The world building is gorgeous and the plot gripping. More than anything though I really got attached to the characters and their makeshift family. I’d love to see more in this world!

Audio - 4/5

The names are a LOT to grasp right away.
That’s certainly not a point against the audio in any way, just a warning if you’re like me and can have a hard time mixing up names. Actually, I’d like to give the narrator props for consistent pronunciation and relatively smooth integration of a fair amount of unique language.
This in my opinion was certainly not an easy listen but definitely an enjoyable one!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a free ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was disappointing for me. I loved Murderbot, so I stuck it out and finished it, but I wish I had DNFed it. It's not that this book is BAD; it's just that I felt myself not caring about anything that was happening or any of the characters. The only character I felt I "knew" or had any emotional investment in was Kai. I appreciated the nonbinary worldbuilding and having a gay MC and some worldbuilding elements, like the whale. But again, I felt very disconnected from the story.

The first thing that was a problem for me was the extremely long list of characters given to us before the story even begins. I feel that this is lazy. I don't want to have to memorize tons of characters before I even read a story in order to know what's going on. Because of this list, I felt that characters were not introduced well in the actual story. It's the writer's job to integrate character introductions into the story; giving the readers homework to do was a poor choice in my opinion. Because of this, I felt like I was in the dark for a lot of the story and I had a hard time concentrating and understanding what was happening in the plot.

Again, this book isn't BAD - It's a creative fantasy. It just wasn't well executed.

Very excited to see how this series progresses!
4⭐️!
Super interesting premise & very much high fantasy. The first book in a high fantasy series is always a slower read for me because of the info dumping. But once I got immersed in the world building the story really picked up! My reading experience was reminiscent of The Goblin Emperor (which I absolutely love!) and I already can’t wait for the next book!

*Eric Mok did a fantastic job narrating and bringing the story to life!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge fan of Martha Wells and when I saw Dion Graham was narrating, I was all in. But I am not sure how to even describe it because I had no idea what was going on. The beginning feels as if it was plucked from the middle, like the reader had missed out on the exposition. It was so hard to listen to that I gave up.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy for review.

I'm still now quite sure what to say about this one. Firstly, my expectations going in were that it would be voicier, pulling in the dry humor and the relatability of Murderbot, which I picked up from the description of the book. That's not the case. So once I pushed that expectation aside, I was able to start appreciating Witch King for what it is - a complex and highly original epic fantasy, with echoes of Black Sun and a tactful subversion of expectations.

This book, however, is not easily accessible. Nothing is handed to you and the worldbuilding is very much on-the-go, which keeps the pace up but will leave some readers behind. Every time I put the book down and picked it up again, I spent a while struggling to sink back in, parse what was happening, which timeline we were in, and what body the main character was in (it switches several times). In short, Witch King took a conscious effort to appreciate in all its detail.

If you're a fan of complex and original fantasy and don't mind being a little in the dark at times, there's a high chance you'll love this. If you're new to fantasy and like very clean-cut plots and thoroughly explained worldbuilding, this might not be for you.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen Tate and review this arc which is available May 30,2023.

First let me say that the narrator Eric Mok was PHENOMENAL!!!! He brought this story and its characters to life!

Secondly Martha Wells wrote perhaps one of my fav male lead fantasy books this year. It has everything a high fantasy book should have. Loved it.

3/5 Stars

I went into this with my expectations way to high thanks to my love for the Murderbot Diaries and I spent more time being bored than truly enjoying it.

This book is a beautifully written fantasy alternating between a past rebellion in which Kai played an integral part and the present where Kai has awoken to find that someone has betrayed them in an attempt to proceed into an empire that goes against what their rebellion stood for. With a new body provided by the fool who thought to awaken and use him, Kai sets out to find and rescue his companions and unravels what happened along the way. I loved the open-minded nature of this book. The world is well-thought out and fascinating, so here's hoping this evolves into an entire series or more!

DNF at 50%. I genuinely did not understand a single thing that happened in this book. I couldn't name a single character other than the MC. I couldn't follow the plot at all, and by the time I reached the halfway point and still didn't understand the worldbuilding or anything else, I knew this wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the audiobook ARC! In this new fantasy by Martha Wells. Kai is an immortal (mostly) demon who inhabits a new body after awakening from a suspended death. He reunites with Ziede and the two set out to discover how they were entombed and what happened to their comrades. The narrative is split between the current timeline and the events of the past (Kai's life in mortal bodies and the battle with the Heirarchs). The story is action-packed and engaing, with Wells great characterization. I was left with wanting to know more about the backstory, as well as wanting to follow Kai and his friends on further adventures, and their is certainly the option for that at the end. The started reading the ARC for this book, and wanted to see how the audiobook compared. I was not disappointed. The audiobook has fantastic narration by Eric Mok, who helped bring Kai's narrative to life.

I struggled through The Witch King. The list of characters at the beginning should have been a sign, but this feels VERY not like Martha Wells to me. Murderbot was graceful in its simplicity, but I found myself often confused by how much we were thrown into this story and catching up was hard. That said, when you finally get whats going on it does present a cool story. Its just frustrating that a second readthrough may be required to fully appreciate the first half of the book

**audiobook review**

The narrator was great! however - as you'll be able to see below - I am just as confused lol.

**book review**
Alright, now there is a very large possibility that this book is simply too smart for me, which is what I choose to believe. I have enjoyed Martha Wells other works, which is why I was beyond surprised when I got through the first chapter, literally zero things made any sense to me, and I reread the entire chapter again. I pushed through, got through chapter three, and started the book over again. It honestly felt like either A. I would have to be in a heightened drug-induced state - or - b. have a higher level of brain cells than I current posses. The headaches which were induced during reading this existential-mind-bender was not very high number, but certainly more than one.

I closed this book having quite literally zero idea of what the hell had just happened. Like I was popped out of a dream bubble and placed back on earth. it's 3 stars bc I don't understand it, but it's 5 stars on straight vibes.

I’m DNF’ing this. I really enjoyed the beginning chapter or two and then it got SO confusing. I’m nearly 50% through and have no idea whats going on.

I hope to come back to it at a later date but I keep trying and keep getting more confused.

This book stars Kai, a demon that inhabits human bodies, generally those that are high born. We also have witches and good old fashioned humans. The plot focuses on Kai and swaps between his present and his past.

We dive right in without world building and character introductions. (We do get a dramatis personae though.) It was a little hard to follow at first, but wow, it paid off. If you pay attention, especially to the chapters in the past, you’ll slowly but surely figure out what’s going on. I’m hesitant to share more and spoil the fun. I’m very curious what I notice during a reread.

I’m very hopeful this is the first in series, but stands alone as a wonderful epic fantasy. I highly recommend this!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an arc of this audiobook. I apologize if misspelled any names or locations, I read this via the audio narration. Thanks to Eric Mok for a wonderful narration.

Unfortunately I DNF’d at 70% because after spending almost the entire book confused, it was at that point I realised that there were two timelines - and only because I checked the contents page of the ebook.

The audiobook doesn’t put nearly enough emphasis on the fact that there are dual timelines, considering those timelines contain the same characters, in the same
places, doing very similar things, which led me to continuously feel like I had missed something important and rewind, only to realise I hadn’t. I would suggest putting some kind of note at the beginning of the audiobook, or more emphasis on the ‘The Past’ sections to ensure readers aren’t confused.

I feel this is a shame for the author, as I liked the premise and the magic system of the book, and if I had read the ebook I suspect I wouldn’t have been so lost.

Unfortunately I can’t bring myself to go back and read the first 70% of the book again as an ebook to assuage my confusion, and I don’t have enough concept of what is going on in either timeline to continue with the audiobook.

I can see myself coming back to this as an ebook in the future, however I would urge audio readers especially to be aware there is a dual timeline.

The book starts off when the famous Witch King waking up after a very long forced sleep and instantly has to deal with a variety of problems. While reading you find yourself in the middle of the action, the stakes are high, a lot is going on and you with the main character both have no idea why.
In parallel with the current timeline, we have flashbacks that show us Kai's origins and how he came to his position in history.
The character cast was endearing even though sometimes our characters have to make hard decisions or even be ruthless. I liked the dynamics between them and the feeling of comradery and family. It was a nice touch.
This book felt to me like a good example of high fantasy. There was a lot of worldbuilding, magic was rather complicated and the history was fleshed out.

I went into this with an open mind, but ultimately didn't care for the entire premise of the story. The writing was fine, but the book just wasn't my style. The narration was mediocre.

I've heard great things about this author, but just didn't think this book reach it's potential.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this ALC.