I like Susan Dennard and the world she has created. I'm just not sure I'm connecting with this particular character.

AHHH I need the rest of this right now! This story is pretty great and OF COURSE the excerpt ends in a cliffhanger. I love the format and the illustrations and the way the narrative is given to us.

Can't wait for more!

If anyone follows my blog, you'll know that Truthwitch was one of my favorite books of 2017. I was so excited to read more about the Witchlands and get as much knew information about this world as I can until Bloodwitch comes out!

This novella is told through diary entries, writings, and drawings which tells the reader about Ryber and her journey to find her missing Sightwitch sisters. Like the previous two books in this world, the story is told through multiple povs.

So far the illustrations I've seen are awesome. I love being surprised by the images that are spread throughout the story. I loved getting to meet knew characters and seeing characters I know and love being mentioned. After reading this excerpt I'm so excited to reread the first two books of the series before this next one comes out, and I can't wait until next year when we get to read Aeduan's book!!

I can't wait until February 13th to get my finished copy and finish reading the Ryber's story!

So far I've only read the sampler from Netgalley, which is about half the novella (~119 pages). I think that's enough to give a good idea of where and how the book is going.

Sightwitch gives readers a great backdrop of the Witchlands, and the customs of the ever mysterious Sightwitches. It goes through several POV's, but the main one is Ryber, a talented Sightwitch who for some reason has never been called by the goddess to use her supposed skills. She's very strict with herself and follows the Convent rules religiously. But when each of her Sightwitch sisters leave her, she sets on a journey alone to discover what exactly is happening.

"Two or more at all times, for a lone sister is lost."

It was interesting to see familiar characters (just some) in this book, but more importantly, the highlight for me was Ryber's growth. It's so hard to go on a journey alone - most books feature a band of characters or at least pairs. But Ryber is constantly reminded of the fact that she doesn't have her sisters to help her... although they are there in her heart and mind. I really enjoyed getting to know her and seeing her work through the clues and puzzle to find her sisters and discover more about herself, in the end. A great addition to the series!

So much love for this series! I need more right away. Can't wait to get my hands on the full book so I can read it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this excerpt! I am so excited to get my hands on the whole book! Sightwitch is so informative, and I really enjoyed reading this as a journal perspective. The images/sketches really add a lot to the story (and I swear I spent 10 minutes, probably more, attempting to figure out the nine star puzzle) I loved these characters and cannot wait to learn more about Ryber and Kullen!

Safi and Iseult’s adventure isn’t over, and a spin off Sightwitch which Dennard describes as number 2.5 in the series is available for pre order now, ready for release on 13th February. I had the privilege of receiving a sneak preview of Sightwitch and it is brilliant! If you enjoy Truthwitch, this is a great book to include in your reading.

The story is told in an imaginative format, following a few of the characters from Truthwitch on a journey. I cannot wait to read the rest and learn more about this story!

I have yet to actually read this series, but this snippet of the prequel has made me want to dive right in!

Dennard can do no wrong! Time and again she proves herself to be an incredibly thoughtful and skilled fantasy writer whose worlds dive to impressive depths and characters have so much depth you almost hear their hearts beating in their chests.

First, I'm really excited to read the rest of this as I was provided a preview from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Sightwitch was a little slow in the beginning but does pick up. Susan continues to do a great job writing multiple points of view. Although I can't see this being my favorite part of the series it still adds some interesting and exciting pieces. Ready for the rest of the story!

I loved the nuances Sightwitch added to the world of the Witchlands! I also love the idea of students being able to pick up this book as a sort of standalone prequel--especially those students who love fantasy, but don't have time to devote to 400 pages. With every book Dennard's characters and plot grow stronger, and I think this story has everything it needs to appeal to people who weren't grabbed by a Truthwitch book talk. Epistolary books, especially those pulled off well, are always fun to read, and the idea of a "Sightwitch diary" is the perfect tool to add in content from all over the world. This excerpt only gave us a taste, but if their dynamics here are anything to go by I think Sightwitch is destined to be a fast and fun read.

While the Witchlands has an intriguing idea I have not been impressed by the execution so far. I had hopes that perhaps this prequel would give us more insight on things. It does give us something new, sightwitches and where they come from to a point. However through the format I feel we still miss a lot of things.

The format is that of diaries and even small pieces of other writings and drawings scattered throughout. It could have been an interesting format. Unfortunately we get diary entries from at least 3 different characters that we follow, one of which I wonder what the point is. There were also entries where I wondered what the point really was to add them in. It was boring to read in places.

However nearing the end of the excerpt something quite interesting was beginning to happen which I hope bodes well for the rest of this prequel.

Initially, I wasn't entirely sold on the concept of a novella. While I enjoyed the first two books in this world, I didn't feel enough attachment to any of the characters to warrant strong intrigue about their own stories. However, the bit of Sightwitch I read was truly enthralling. The world of the Sightwitches captured me much more readily than did the previous two stories, perhaps because it was so contained, and I enjoyed the unspinning mystery.
I particularly enjoyed Ryber. I was nice to have a MC who, rather than being rebellious, was very strictly rule drive, who embraced her destiny rather than running away from it.
The preview left off at a real cliffhanger and I'm eager to read more.

So, seeing as this was a preview of an ARC as opposed to a full book, I'm going to review this one a little differently! I believe the copy given out was almost exactly half of the book, so I got to read a good chunk to form my feelings from.

In a prequel to Truthwitch, Sightwitch covers the backstory of Prince Merik Nihar’s first mate, Ryber. Before she was apart of the Nubrevnian (Nubrevnan? It’s been a while) navy, she was a Sister Sightwitch in the convent that serves the goddess Sirmaya. Told through the journals of Ryber, the myth-like Sightwitch figure Eridysi, and Ryber’s Threadsister Tanzi, we get to see and learn the ways of the convent sisterhood, a ton of history and worldbuilding for the main series, and how exactly Ryber met Kullen and Merik.

Sightwitches are made, not born. Ryber is a serving maiden within the convent, the Sorrows, and she will be till she is no longer pall-eyed and she is given the gift of Sight by Sirmaya, who, as lore tells, sleeps under the mountain of their convent. Her eyes will go from brown to silver, and she will be called under the mountain to be gifted her powers.

Ryber was proclaimed from the moment she arrived at the Sorrows to be destined for greatness--but she is never called forth by Sirmaya. She watches all her friends go under the mountain and come back silver-eyed, but not her. And then, after Ryber has almost lost all hope for herself, something goes terribly wrong. Sisters are called forth under the mountain, and they do not come back.

Ryber's voice is so interesting. Though a minor character in Truthwitch, I loved her snippets and the relationship she had with Kullen. She has one of the most interesting forms of witchcraft (up there for me alongside Threadwitchery and Bloodwitchery) and I loved seeing that explored as well. The build-up through Ryber's entries in this journal is chillingly good, and though I only got to read the first half, I was genuinely creeped out by the mystery and mythos of the Sightwitch convent.

We also get to see smaller entries from Eridysi's journals, and Ryber's Threadsister Tanzi's entries as well. They were more accentual to Ryber's story than anything, but it was at times a little jarring to read them when I was really into Ryber.

I don't want to give too much away since the release is still a month off, but where the preview leaves off is AMAZING. I mean, what a cliffhanger... I don't know if I can wait another month to finish! That aside, though, I will say that the beginning is a bit hard to get into and the story can feel a little draggy, just because it's far removed from the goings-on of the main Witchlands books. I also feel that the epistolary format was a little underutilized. What I read was still an uncorrected proof with missing drawings, so I hope there will be some more added especially with the formatting of the entries, because it basically just felt like reading a normal book with a few illustrations. That's not a knock towards the author or the publishers. The book works and is fine as it is, I think my expectations were leaning toward a very specific idea of epistolary format. It also definitely could have been just because what I read was not yet finished!

In all, I can't wait to finish. Though short, I think this will be a really interesting addition to the Witchlands series and I'm really excited to read more of Ryber's story.

I absolutely love the world of the Witchlands. Susan Dennard does such a good job creating a rich world that feels so expansive. I have already pre-ordered Sightwitch so when I saw a preview excerpt available on NetGalley I jumped at it. The preview only gave me a glimpse into the story, but I love where it's going. Not all of the graphics and formatting were completed, but the graphics that were there were amazing. I love the concept behind this book. It's a story told non-linearly using mixed media.



I give this excerpt a 5/5. I am very excited to see the full novella arrive on my kindle on FEBRUARY 13th!!!

I am so excited for this book! It is going to be so good, I didn't want the preview excerpt to end.

After reading the preview excerpt, I can tell this is going to be another one of Susan Dennard's genius stories! The part of the Witchland series that I love so much is the friendships between Safi and Iseult... Now we meet Ryber and Tanzi whose friendship is just as empowering. The writing is captivating and urges you to continue. I love the "diary" style format of the novel... The dates in the diary style were a little odd to follow at first but that is only a personal feeling - definitely not something that detracts from the overall story. There is a second storyline (which seems to be set in the past) which follows Eridysi, another Sightwitch, as she somewhat reluctantly takes in two young girls, Cora and Lisbet. The preview doesn't show much in this storyline however it is very intriguing and I am anxious to see how these two paths are connected!

I cannot wait to finish this book in February!

*This review is for the Sightwitch Preview Excerpt through Netgalley*

Cool writing format and awesome character. I liked seeing more of her back story, but without the complete novella it was hard to rate. Might go up once I read all of it.

[Basing this on the 118 pages I got to read, so minor changes will be made when I read the finished copy]

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for letting me get to take a sneak peek at this book!

Guys, its looking good! No seriously, its got artwork in it and of course the images are gorgeous! Now you're probably wondering why there's artwork and that is because this is being told in diary format.

Which completely works! Its got multiple POV's and this leaned credence to the story as well as a flair of the dramatic.

Sightwitch gives the background story of Ryber and how she met Kellan but its got more to it than that. It is also the story of how she became a Sightwitch and insight into one of the coolest figures from the history of this world.... ERIDYSI HERSELF Y'ALL!!!!!!!! We finally will get some insight into this ancient history of her lament, the 12 paladins, and honestly a super cool history lesson about magic.

I continue to love and appreciate Dennard's way of answering questions I didn't know I had, ones I already had waiting for answers, and giving me new questions to ponder while I wait for her next book!

This novella will definitely add to the world and make the wait for Bloodwitch far more bearable.

[Current star rating is temporary until I've read a finished copy]

SightWitch by Susan Dennard
Preview excerpt, Tor Teen book
Pub Date: February 13, 2018

I recieved SightWitch (preview excerpt) from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

SightWitch is book 3 in the series The Witchlands. It's narrative is in the voice of some of the main character, Mostly Ryber. At times it switched to the diary of an elder SightWitch Eridysi. The writing and attention to details were very important, and it helped throughout Rybers journey. The Took was my Favorite!! A sarcastic bird of course but I loved his part in the tale.

For as long as she can remember Ryber has been at the sister convent. So why hasn't she received the sight yet? Why hasn't she been summoned?
After Tanzi gets summoned by Sirmaya, Ryber grows worried. She can tell something isn't right. Usually they return on the eve of the second day, Tanzi has not come back. More and more of the girls are being summoned, but not returning. What does Sirmaya need from them? Why aren't they returning.
When Volga is summoned, it leaves Ryber on her own. Without the sight what can she do? How does she help them? Hilgas last words when being summoned have confused Ryber? What was she to do? Still in the days by herself she isn't summoned; but there is much more to this!!
Can she get to them? What will happen under the mountain in those crypts? Can she figure it all out in time? What was she to even figure out? Check out the book and its entirety February 13, 2018!!