Thank you NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC! When a spoiled prince comes into the region and requests a guide through the hills, deputy courier Elen (as someone who has survived the journey) is forced into the roll. But it couldn't have come at a better time as Elen needs to flee from a figure from her past which threatens her present (as well as the present and future of her ward). But the Spires hold secrets from the past that impact the travellers. Can Elen navigate everyone to safety and what will she need to sacrifice in order to try? An engaging narrative that carries hints of longing and sorrow, The Witch Roads is a worthy read for fantasy fans and will continue in The Nameless Land coming November 2025.

Such an amazing throwback to 1980s classic fantasy paperbacks! Epic fantasy but with an updated and inclusive setting. An excellent debut into fantasy with incredible worldbuilding!

DNFing at 60% in

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this so much but I am just so bored. Most of the reviews for this are absolutely glowing so it's definitely a me thing. Probably shouldn't have read two quest heavy fantasies back to back. My bad.

Loved the trans rep in this though and the characters were the best part of it. Will probably return to it once it is actually published. I just can't right now.

The story is set in an Asian-influenced world of the Tranquil Empire, which has been infected by the Spore-laden Pall, which has a fatal impact to those who travel after dark outside protected areas. Travellers along the imperial Witch Roads are protected by poorly understood reasons that allow them to journey unmolested by Spore.
To start with, Elen, a deputy courier for the local intendent (mayor) of the Moonrise Hills, and her nephew Kem are on their way home after a usual circuit of delivering messages, decrees, personal letters, etc. to remote villages and hamlets when they stop for the night at the Three Spires.
There Elen meets a haunt--a being who emerges when the moon is bright--and that's when the adventures truly begin. How the relationships between Elen and the haunt, Elen and Kem, develop and merge and change makes a fascinating story that is not totally resolved even at the end of the book, since this is part one of a duology. Nevertheless, the characters are clearly drawn with enough question about their early lives to make for suspenseful reading. I loved the way it developed the story and anxiously await the next installment.

This is the first book in a duology. This part is quite good and I'm invested in reading the sequel. Deputy courier El has been tasked with guiding a crew of imperial wardens and their prince across dangerous terrain, but her job gets infinitely more complicated when the prince is possessed by an ancient spirit and El is the only one who knows. There is a general plot in this first book but it's very much a Fellowship of the Ring type situation. Lots of set up for the overarching story and less focus on ending this book with a full arc. Witch roads, mutating fungal spores, and a rigid caste system make the world come to life and several characters are set up for interesting further development so I'm hopeful that this series will be very good indeed. A great read if you're looking for a tolken-esque story with creative world-building and lore.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For the past 10 years, El has worked as a courier traveling the same route, looking for deadly spire, killing it, and creating relationships in the towns and villages she passes through. Mourning the death of her sister, El cares for her nephew who knows little of his mom and aunt’s past.

One day, unexpectedly, a Prince of the realm and his retinue of Wardens come to their halt on a secret journey that is thwarted by a rival prince. El is enlisted to guide the group to their destination as their thoroughfare has been blocked by an avalanche. On their way, the high and mighty Prince awakes from an experience a completely changed man who has his own mission to fulfill. Only El seems to notice the change and while she knows what took place, she and her nephew are caught up in imperial intrigue and mystery.

Kate Elliott carefully crafts an immersive fantasy world and lively characters. Can’t wait for the follow up.

I read this book in three sessions, though I’d meant to make it last. But I couldn’t stop reading. Despite it being a book one, which usually means a cliff-hanger. (Not that I mind cliff-hangers if all volumes are out, but this book isn’t even out yet!)

What worked so well for me? Kate Elliott can always be trusted to fashion an interesting world. This one is no different. The science fictional world of the Sun trilogy was like a TV show on speed, fast, complicated, tough to keep up with, though always worth the effort. In this book, we begin a lot more slowly, with Elen (or just El) who has been living with her head down as a courier, tramping the same route for ten years in the ever-necessary hunt for Spore, which is deadly to all life.

El is showing her nephew Kem the route, as the nephew, a teen, will soon arrive at his Declaration Day, which means picking a career. And Kem’s not sure which one to pick. The two are one another’s family, as his mother vanished under an avalanche. Kem senses that his aunt has secrets, which explodes with the arrival of the nasty Lord Duenn, who recognizes El—and claims Kem as his child, to the latter’s utter horror and betrayal…

And then a visiting prince arrives, and things really begin to pop. The story is an exquisite balance between mysteries and discoveries, introducing characters who each have their own story, rather than existing to provide a chorus for the protagonists. I found all the characters interesting, even those who appear for a few pages—they all had “lived-in” lives.

Most of the book is travel. Quest fantasy has been a tough sell for me when it's on-the-road hardship broken by monster fights broken up by unloading reams of bad poetry at campsites. This story 's on-the-road hardship is woven with good character dynamics, making it intriguing, sparked with tiny glimpses of the numinous as well as mystery. There’s clearly a lot to come in further volumes, bringing us to the cliff-hanger.

In the hands of a deft storyteller, the cliff-hanger can be enticing when woven with some level of resolution. I found the ending to this first book to be perfectly balanced between the promise of the next segment—sure to be very different—with the beautifully done emotional resolution of a main character arc. Growth achieved, giving promise for the future, the lens widens, the mystery deepens, making me desperate to get my hands on the next.

This book was so much fun! I loved that the FMC was in her 30s. The premise is unique and unlike anything I’ve EVER read before. The cliffhanger has me in a vise so I hope the next installment comes soon. I will definitely be suggesting this for book club!!!

I received a free copy from Tor Books via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date June 10th.

I've read and liked some of Kate Elliott's books in the past, and I was intrigued by the haunted prince premise of her latest new release. In The Witch Roads, Elen is appropriated from her courier duties patrolling the magically irradiated outskirts by an imperial prince who needs a guide across the mountains. But when Prince Gevulin enters an ancient ruin against her advice, he becomes possessed by an entity with his own mysterious agenda...

The Witch Roads is another excellent entry in the guy in someone's head genre (Asunder, A Memory Called Empire), except, intriguingly, from another character's POV. Elen is thirty-something, the sole caretaker of a teenager after the death of her sister, and a courier who walks monthly rounds searching for deadly and infectious Spore. She lives in the backwaters of a major empire, and hopes her traumatic past never comes back to haunt her. Which of course it's going to.

Elen reads as more mature than the usual run of fantasy protagonists, not because of her age, but because of her responsibility for sixteen year old Kem. Kem isn't a plot point to characterize Elen, either. His relationship with Elen is the emotional center of the book, and he accompanies Elen on her journey. He's also trans, not as just a throwaway line, but in a way that demonstrates how his identity shapes his personality, as well as his relationship with Elen and his dead mother. Elen's other major character relationship is her fascination with the haunt possessing the prince. She doesn't quite trust him, but she instinctively sides with him and abets him in his attempt to (badly) impersonate the prince in pursuit of his own ends. Both Elen's and the haunt's many secrets are slowly and tantalizingly revealed over the course of the book.

The worldbuilding is set in a highly formal and ritualized empire which is struggling against the apocalyptic, infectious Spore. There's a complex system of imperial officials, a licensing system for buildings, and a highly regulated road network. Through Elen, we get a first-hand view of the corrupting dangers of Spore, as her profession is dedicated to preventing it from spreading. However, due to her background and personality, Elen tends to hold herself apart from the customs and formalities of the empire. She's overfamiliar, disdains the Interlocutors that high-ranking officials speak through, and has no inherent respect for the imperial family. Which of course plays badly with the original Prince Gavulin's total sense of entitlement and Imperial pride.

Great characters grounded in a compelling fantasy world. Based on the book's dramatic ending, it's sure to be a series, and I'm excited to read the next book when it comes out this November. Recommended for fantasy fans.

This 1st of a duology stars cheerful deputy courier Elen in a world struggling to survive the poisonous Spore-laden Pall. Elen carries inside her a viper that she can release to destroy Spore but must keep a secret. Elen's life is turned upside down when arrogant prince-warden Gevulin and his entourage show up in Orledder Halt. She is forced to guide them.

When they reach the haunted Spires, Gevulin ignores her advice and is taken over by an ancient spirit, who seeks to protect the world from the re-emergence of sorcerer kings. Though the prince's followers are unaware, Elen understands what happened and helps him keep up the pretense as they journey on into great danger.

This first episode ends on a cliffhanger as the real Gevulin is returned to his body!

This was a really wonderful ode to comprehensive and engaging world building, there was so much complexity and mystery around the world Elen and Kem live in. I enjoyed the pacing of the information that was given as well; it wasn't too slow or too fast. I felt like the questions I had were answered in a timely manner by the plot and wasn't confused by what was happening.

I would add a little note to folks who want a lot of action and high adventure: this book is not that. There is a tremendous amount of exposition and establishment of characters, setting, and world. And because of that the plot is fairly slow-moving creature as the author establishes the characters, their motivations, and driving forces. I think this is a really promising start to the beginning of a series and am very curious to know how things will progress in the second book.

For people who like character driven novels, I think you will find Elen and Kem's character arcs very satisfying. I felt like they were really well fleshed out as people, and you had a good sense of who they were and why they were acting the way they were throughout the novel (yay character continuity!). There's plenty left for the next novel to explore with Elen and Kem as well as some of the other titular characters that didn't get as much of the spotlight, so there's certainly things to look forward to in the next novel.

All in all, this was a solid first book to what promises to be a very interesting, original, and engaging series.

The Witch Roads is a fantasy road trip about Elen a middle aged woman just trying to survive and keep her young nephew Kem happy and healthy when they are thrust in the middle of political intrigues with a Prince and his large entourage while ghosts from the past come back to haunt them.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 3⭐️.
What I liked most about this book was the world building and the FMC Elen. She had a good character, a good relationship with her nephew and I enjoyed her relationship with the haunt inhabiting the body of the Prince.
Unfortunately I felt like this book was too slow and filled with way too many characters involved in the quest that Elen and Kem find themselves forced into. This was my first book by this author and while I would be interested in trying more books by them I am not interested in continuing with the next book in this series. I feel like this book would appeal to fans of Dungeons and Dragons so if you enjoy D&D give this book a chance!

A great epic fantasy about witches and many other magical beings but I love the insight into witches and the worldbuilding l. Need more high fantasy like this

This is one of Kate Elliott's best, I think. Some of the things I loved:

We have a competent middle-aged woman main character. She loves her nephew, a young man who tells her that he doesn't know what he wants to do with his life but must declare for something soon. Most books would be from the boy's perspective and I do like his character but it is so refreshing to read this story from his mentor's POV! The world is meticulously constructed and built out by the author. No one is cartoonishly evil and no one is one dimensional (well, maybe one person). The world has a rich history and discovering more about that history feels like the way the series is going to go. There is deadly magic, there are supernatural creatures who tugged on my heart, there are ancient secrets. The world feels obviously Asian influenced to me, but I don't know what others will think, and it's also very much its own thing.

About the only thing that I didn't like was that it ends on a CLIFFHANGER. I do very much want to find out what happens next.

While the premise was nice, the writing was... not what I expected. I wanted more from the characters because I felt that what was on the front cover and the front flap was not what we were given.

A land riddled with dangerous mists and deadly fungi.

An empire that grows less harmonious the closer one gets to the Palace.

Ancient statues that harbor powerful spirits.

And a twice-escaped fugitive desperate to keep the home she's made for herself, her sister, and her nephew, until an unexpected visit from a Prince of the empire blows her contented life all to pieces.

Now she must guide the Prince and his retinue on a dangerous journey back towards the terrible place she escaped as a child, to stop an evil she's not even sure she believes in.

Another great series start by Kate Elliott - magic, mystery, danger, and intrigue.

Why does this one stand out for me? It satisfies two big tropes: palace and political intrigue with magical hints but not static because all happens during a journey. El is hired to guide a prince and his entourage through a perilous path. There is the succession to the throne plot to solve: who will be a great crown prince or even the next emperor?

El has a viper in her heart... literally. She wants to protect a young boy who is in her care also. In many ways, he is the only weakness she has. They also need to resolve their relationship issues.
Between letting him be possessed or the prince, she lets the ancient possess the prince. But the new personality in the prince now is much more charming and interesting than the oppressive, abusive prince.
The plot twists make for a great ending, although I want more.
This was a great introduction to world-building, some revelations of the past of who is who, the viper in her, and how some natural things came to be. But the political plot is just the beginning.
I'm looking forward to more. The cover is very beautiful.

This is my first book by Kate Elliot and I loved it! It's heavy on narrative with the world building and character development being my favorite parts of this book. Super well done and can't wait to read the second in the duology. The main character, Elen, is a courier who is volunteered for a journey since she is well acquainted with the lands around them. On the journey the prince goes against her warnings and enters the Spires and comes out a different man. The journey is dangerous and there's so much that happens, leaving on quite the cliffhanger.

I had a good time reading this book and hit a fantasy itch I've had for a while, to get lost in a rich world with interesting well written characters. Thank you NetGalley for the eArc for a honest review!

This one was slightly disappointing. I've read other Kate Elliott books and the writing was much tighter in those than we have here, at least in my opinion. The plot is kind of all over the place and there's no consistent focus. One of the few redeeming things I found though was the worldbuilding which semi-salvaged this, although I was ultimately left wanting more with regard to characterization and plot. More complete review forthcoming on the blog in the coming weeks.

This is my first book by Kate Elliot but it will certainly not be my last, and not just because this one ends on a cliffhanger. The writing, world building, magic system, and characters were all spectacular

Elen is a courier for the intendant of a region in a vast and complex empire. She helps keep outlying villages in touch with each other but most importantly she keeps an eye out for signs of Spore, the horrifying fungus that will take over a living being and turn it into something monstrous. She is This is my first book by Kate Elliot but it will certainly not be my last, and not just because this one ends on a cliffhanger. The writing, world building, magic system, characters were all spectacular

I thought this was going to be a fun fantasy adventure road trip type story and in some ways it is, but it is also so much more. She is very good at what she does. When a high ranking prince unexpectedly arrives in town needing passage to the North, Elen is the best choice for a guide.

I thought this was going to be a fun fantasy adventure road trip type story and in some ways it is, but it is also so much more. It deals with many serious issues, the legacy of assault, generational trauma, transphobia, and handles them all deftly. It is well balanced with humor and magic and beauty

It is also a story about love, of all kinds, and what we will do for the ones we love, and what we do when they are gone.

I admit I do not like when a book ends on a cliffhanger, but this one was so good that I think I can forgive it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review