wess 🌙

Witch King by Martha Wells: mini-review
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I'm a huge Murderbot fan so I was looking forward to reading one of Wells' fantasy adventures. Witch King reads very similarly to Murderbot, and maybe it's just because Kai gave Kell vibes, but it felt like the lovechild of Murderbot and A Darker Shade of Magic. (Ziede also gave Lila vibes, imo.) Witch King is very character-driven, and I will probably read Queen Demon just to get another moment with this cast (I specifically need more time with Sanja and Tenes).

That being said, Wells does not hold your hand as you figure out what the absolute fuck is happening. The story has a dual timeline and you get fed bits and pieces of the world through the past timeline as the story progresses. I think I fully understood the plot for maybe ~10% of the book, so perhaps a second read-through is in my future. Witch King is a fun book in the sense that the characters are fabulous and Kai is the most sincere demon I've ever met, but it's also a tremendously hard book to not give your full attention to.

Also, very grateful for Wells' gender-neutral writing. She refers to new characters as "they" when we first meet them (so there's no assuming what they identify as), and the cast is refreshingly diverse in every aspect. I also think Witch King still very much reads as sci-fi because of how creative/historical/complex the world is, but I didn't mind it.

3/4⭐

Have you read anything by Wells? Do you prefer fantasy or sci-fi? Also happy Monday!