I really enjoyed the Witch King. If you like fantasy books with complex worlds, a cast of characters, and an excellent magic system, I think you would enjoy this book. It reminds me of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The camaraderie between all the characters is similar, and the way they come together and form a support system. This book is for you if you're a fan of the "found family" trope. I also liked how the chapters alternated between Kai's past and present situation. I feel that gave depth to his character and the rest of the group. I highly recommend this book to any fantasy lover.

I discovered Martha Wells through her Murderbot Diaries, and while I’m not normally a big fan of science fiction, her writing and character development had me hooked immediately. As I learned more about her previous works, I was excited to see she has written fantasy as well, but I just hadn’t gotten around to picking anything up yet. When news dropped that she was writing her first fantasy novel in over a decade, I was thrilled, and when I received an ARC via NetGalley, I was ecstatic and started it right away.

WITCH KING is a slow burn of a book, and the reader is dropped directly into the story with no context as to what’s going on. For some, this can be off putting, but if you’re willing to commit, the payoff is worth it. Told via dual timelines, starting from when Kai, the demon King of the Witches, escapes from his prison, and then alternatively, the backstory of how Kai is imprisoned to begin with, the entire story is laid out, and questions are answered.

Much like SecUnit from the Murderbot Diaries, Kai is not a likable person; ultimately, it’s what has been done to him by outside forces that makes him the way he is. Also much like the societies from the Murderbot Diaries, gender and sexual stereotypes are tossed out the window, with Wells creating a world where anyone is free to love and be with anyone of their choosing, and the idea that anything is a binary is, frankly, absurd and unnecessary.

This book is not going to be for everyone, and I think for many that came to Wells’ writing via Murderbot, this is going to be a departure. Personally, this book just cemented for me that I am a Martha Wells fan, regardless what genre she’s writing. Even when her characters aren’t likable, they are; her world building is inclusive; her pacing is spot on for me. I’m quite happy she is having her moment, with parts of her back catalogue being reintroduced by Tor; she deserves the accolades.

WITCH KING by Martha Wells releases May 30, 2023, from Tordotcom Publishing.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom Publishing for a free eARC of WITCH KING in exchange for an honest review.

#WitchKing #MarthaWells #NetGalley #TordotcomPublishing

Many thanks to Tor Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with this digital advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own, honest thoughts about this book.

Witch King by Martha Wells marks a return to the fantasy genre for the beloved author known for her exceptional Murderbot series. Following the titular character Kai, our Witch King, Wells drops us into the present day after Kai wakes from his recent assassination in a watery tomb and must venture with his merry band of allies and orphans to figure out who has betrayed him and what has happened in the time since his death. Throughout the rest of the story, we switch back between present day and the past, following Kai's journey in the human realm and the war he finds himself in after he's cut off from the demon realm.

While Wells has demonstrated her mastery of witty dialogue and complex character development in her previous works, this novel unfortunately falls short of those high expectations. The heavy-handed world-building, slow pacing, and lackluster secondary characters are all factors that contribute to a sense of disappointment, especially for readers familiar with Wells' ability to create compelling and memorable characters, and the exchanges between them fail to capture the same spark and cleverness, resulting in a less engaging reading experience overall.

The world-building, another aspect in which Wells has previously excelled, is a point of contention in Witch King. While a fantasy novel often requires significant world-building to immerse readers in a new and unique setting, in this case, you are dropped straight into a this world with very little exposition. There is no hand-holding in this world and you must sink or swim while navigating the story. Additionally, the pacing of Witch King is a source of frustration. The slow progression of the plot can make it challenging to maintain a sense of momentum and engagement, especially when switching between past and present timelines within the novel.

While Witch King may not live up to the high standards set by Wells' Murderbot series, it is important to approach it as a separate work. Readers who appreciate her unique storytelling style and her previous fantasy works may still find elements to enjoy. However, for those seeking the same level of witty dialogue, complex character development, and engaging secondary characters, Witch King may not provide the same level of satisfaction.

Absolutely loved it! We’re dropped into the world of Kaiisteron, a demon from the underearth, in two different timelines: the past, in which Kai bands together with newfound allies to take on the Hierarchs (a genocidal colonizing peoples), and the present, set two-ish mortal generations after the past, in which Kai wakes up in a watery grave and has to puzzle out what’s happened to him and why, with some familiar faces along the way.

Wells provides nearly no exposition yet manages to feed the reader just enough to follow the plot — if just by the skin of their teeth — in a richly detailed and well developed world vaguely, vaguely reminiscent of the Bronze Age Middle East and Central Asia (with lots of magic added). It’s an active read, and one I’m already looking forward to rereading for the fullest picture.

The fantasy setting and magical system are creatively done, and absolutely drew me in, as did the mystery element of the plot as Kai and crew race to figure out what’s happened, but what really got me was the characters. Full of heart and pain and complex dynamics, yet also full of love, Kai and his chosen family kept me from wanting to put this book down.

Additionally, within the split storyline, to see how these immortal or extremely-long-lived beings came to fight a battle they had no hope of winning, and then to see them grappling with being some of the only beings left of that historical moment two generations later, was a fascinating element that really got the social sciences person in me going. We as the reader get so much of Kai’s inner thoughts, but he shares so few of them in-world, and this provides a great lense through which to experience the book’s adventures.

I’m desperately hoping we get at least one more with these characters!

This ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


The Witch King is the perfect mix between a beautiful engaging writing and an original fantasy plot! This is the first book by the author I’ve read and I doubt it will be the last. As said previously, the writing style very easily snatches you into the story and the characters’ complex personality and storyline have you invested throughout.
It was a complete change of scenery. I’ve read many fantasies but few which create their own world to this extend. I would say the one negative point (which can also be considered as a positive one, depending on how we perceive it) is that this change can, at the beginning, be a bit much.
Indeed, in that way, the influx of new terms can really be a lot and it took me around 30% of the book and the constant past and present switch of the chapters to understood most of the action. Now this may sound like a big no-no but it was also a very creative way to bring information little by little.
Overall it was a very interesting read that I would read 4/5 stars. ✨

Thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

An engrossing story and a complex world…

Although I mostly read murder mysteries, I also dabble in a bit of sci-fi and fantasy – which steered me some time ago towards Martha Well’s Murderbot series, which I’ve loved. So I was excited to have a chance to try Wells’ new stand-alone fantasy, the eponymously-titled Witch King. And I loved it, although at times I was more than a little confused…

At the beginning of the story, I shared my confusion with the demon Kaiisteron (aka the Witch King), who wakes up in a dead-ish body, in a tomb in an underwater mausoleum, with no memory or idea of how he got there. One might think that a demon is an inherently evil creature, but in this world, the term appears to derive more from their terrifying magical capabilities and origin in the “underearth”, rather than any intrinsic lack of morality. After all, as Kai drily puts it, after draining the life force from some nasty people who have come to enslave him while he is in a weakened condition, “bad people taste better than good ones.”

Another of those terrifying bits of magic, however, is that Kai is able to body-hop, and once he’s awake, he soon moves to another body, so he can find and release his best friend, the witch, Ziede, who is also trapped in a coffin nearby. After which they set off to find Ziede’s missing wife, Tahren, who is NOT close by. Oh, and obviously, Kai and Ziede also want to figure out how – and why - they ended up abducted and almost dead. And don’t forget the stray orphan Kai picks up along the way, either. And this is all in chapter 1!

From that wild start, things continue to pick up pace, both in the “main” narrative, and in the “past” narrative, which provides most of the back story. And I was quickly hooked by figuring out the various characters, multiple timelines, different kinds of magic, and all-too-human politics of this new world. I found Kai’s and Zeide’s touch of snarkiness with each other to be matched by their deep friendship (“… [a]nd there was only one demon Ziede Daiyahah traveled with”), which was a treat. And once I learned how to tell the past and present apart 😊, I enjoyed what was going on in both narratives. Which is rare for me, since usually in a two-timeline book, I develop a strong preference for one or the other, and here I liked them both. So although I was confused for much longer than Kai was, eventually things fell into place and the book just rocked.

My only beef with Witch King, and it’s minor, is that I’m not usually a fan of the split-timeline approach to story-telling, and this was also the case here. It seemed a little much at first to be busy trying to figure out this new world, which is quite complex, while also having to keep track of when we were in the current day, and when we were in the past. In the end, I gave thanks for the “historical” blurbs at the beginnings of the past chapters, which helped me switch gears, but I was still at least partially lost for a good chunk of the first half of the book - which I then went back and reread immediately after finishing and enjoyed much more. So I think perhaps a bit more world-building up front might have been helpful, so as not to have/want to go back and reread.

But Witch King is still a great story. And, although it is being marketed as a stand-alone novel, I’m now hoping it is actually the start of a series – both because I want to know what happens next with Kai and his found-family, and also because, having managed to (mostly) figure it out, I’d like some more time to enjoy this world! And finally, my thanks to Tor.com and to NetGalley for the advance review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for the eARC. This is my honest review.

I rated this 3.5 stars out of 5 and rounded up.

This book showcases the Wells' willingness to experiment with their writing style, taking risks that may not appeal to all readers. From the very beginning, we are thrown into a complex world alongside two friends—a wind spirit harnesser and a body-hopping 'demon'—who have been betrayed by an unknown person and imprisoned. The depth of their existing friendship and shared history is gradually revealed through alternating chapters that shift between past and present. While this approach adds intrigue, it also creates a challenge in forming an immediate connection with these intriguing yet somewhat distant characters.

The story itself is captivating, with an engaging world-building that will particularly resonate with readers who prioritize intricate world-building over character development. I particularly loved the use of amalgamations in the magic system. However, the pacing can be slow at times, and I found the ending to drag slightly once the mystery was solved. Nevertheless, one aspect I truly appreciated is the author's talent for crafting endearing 'cinnamon roll' characters. Despite being labeled a demon, Kai proves to be a gentle and misunderstood soul. That said, this is NOT Murderbot, and the readers who go in expecting that will be disappointed.

Although I still thoroughly enjoyed the book, I opted to lower my rating due to my personal need for a solid emotional connection with the characters in the stories I read. I understand the intentional decision to withhold certain secrets until the end, heightening the intrigue, but it made it somewhat challenging for me to engage fully.

Overall, I believe this book is definitely worth reading, especially for those who value immersive world-building and are open to exploring unique narrative approaches.

Witch King is a spectacular book with colourful and detailed worldbuilding, interesting characters and entertaining mix of adventure, mystery and humor. I can't wait to get a physical book and reread it again!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The WITCH KING by Martha Wells hints at a promise of political intrigue and mystery as well as action and adventure. It delivers on the former as Kai begins a journey to discover who trapped him and why. However, it flounders on the latter whereby the action and adventure feel more like a lazy river happenstance collision.

The chapters bounce back and forth between the present and Kai's past. This serves as a way to introduce the readers to Kai's history and various characters important to the present plot. However, the author's style is to slowly unfold the world building and cultures as one reads along. I typically don't mind this, but I felt the author leaned too much on this technique and thus the story seemed to move along quite slowly. I also found it difficult to retain who was part of which culture and where because of the tid bits released here and there. There were few defining moments that helped my memory pin a certain person or culture to a certain place.

Additionally, the longer I read, the more I realized I wasn't terribly invested in the characters or the plot. I think the above technique contributed to this feeling. While I don't expect to connect with every character in every story, I do hope that I can feel something. Instead this story takes place over a relatively short time and it consists of flashbacks to the past coupled with slow-moving, nearly actionless events in the present. The fact that most present-day events take place on the water felt like a metaphor to my mental treading to stay afloat while reading.

However, it was clear that the author spent time worldbuilding off page. There are a lot of cultures, styles of dress, and political histories to keep track of. I feel that if Kai's adventures had taken place at these various locations, the story would have felt more organic. I found the whole concept of the underearth, a place where demons and witches reside, fascinating. In fact, I loved the beginning of the book during which the reader encounters how and why demons inhabit humans' bodies. The magic system, which uses "intentions" and "cantrips," was also interesting, though also under exhibited.

Unfortunately, the WITCH KING by Martha Wells was not a story for me. I also say this as someone who has never read The Murderbot Diaries and thus had no expectations based on that series. I sadly was not invested in Kai's retribution nor the presentation of the political intrigue. However, those who have an appreciation for an unhurried unraveling of the machinations behind Kai's murder will likely have a better reading experience.

I've been a big fan of Wells's previous books, so I was very excited to hear she was releasing a standalone! I really enjoyed this one. The characters are very vivid, and they care deeply for each other. I think people that really like Murderbot will enjoy Kai, but he is definitely not Murderbot 2.0, which is great!

The book alternates with present day chapters and chapters from the past, which I found to be an excellent reading experience. The past chapters were normally able to inform the events of the present. Wells does just drop you right in, so I could see people struggling with the first few chapters.

Thanks to Tor for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love character driven fiction so this one was right up my alley! There wasn’t anyone in the main group of characters who wasn’t likable. There’s a body count of course but the killing is all pretty justified. It bounces back and forth between why and how Kai became the Witch King to be still alive and feared ages later and the present day of Kai and friends regathering after they were attacked and otherwise separated. It’s interesting world building and I want to see more in book two. I was lucky enough to get to read an ARC but I am going to order myself a physical copy too to keep so I can reread later.

Witch King was at its core a dark fantasy but Wells has created genuine characters with dark humour and wit woven throughout. In part a dystopian tale with a water-drowned fantasy world, Wells crafted a unique and plot of deception, friendship, love and loss which added the necessary links to humanity in those who survived the ending of their world – albeit a demon who drains life to survive and swaps bodies, a witch bent on revenge and finding her lover and a mortal child saved from the darkness of the Rising World Coalition and Blessed Hierarchs with their expositors and necromancy magic. In this new world, Wells draws on the darkness and deception that surround the Rising World Coalition where truth and lies can be hard to distinguish. Wells has created a masterfully written story with genuine characters and unique world-building.

Conclusion

A wonderful read for fans of dark fantasy with humour, witchcraft, necromancy and fantastic world-building for a water-drowned dystopian unique fantasy world. Highly recommended!

** This is my personal opinion and does not reflect any judging decisions **

DNF @ 42%. This was DEFINITELY a case of it's not the book, it's me.

From the part I did read, I know it'll be an epic hit. Martha Wells is a phenomenal author, and her literary dexterity is on full display in Witch King. She has a true gift of creating new and complex worlds that feel accessible and familiar despite the differences.

I've loved other books by Martha Wells (I'm looking at you, Murderbot), and I was excited about Witch King, her newest fantasy offering. I may eventually circle back to this one later, but this complex fantasy with intricate world-building and a novel magic system was too much for my brain right now. I've had higher pain levels recently (I have autoimmune conditions), and my brain couldn't handle all the details right now. I needed something easy and predictable, and Witch King isn't predictable. If I do pick it back up, I hope I'm in a better headspace and can really enjoy all its beautiful, magical-ness.

The narrator was fantastic. As much as this shocks me to say, though, this may be a book I need to sit down and read in order to focus enough to truly understand and appreciate it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The first 40% was slower and a little bogged down with world building. There were moments where I felt like I was reading book 2 without having read book 1. While I think it is cool that Wells used a very unique naming system for her world and her characters, they are almost all impossible to pronounce without a guide, and in the beginning made it a little confusing to keep track of everything/everyone. The thing I loved most about this book is the gender diversity and representation. Some cultures in this world don't even recognize gender at all. Wells' take on gender rolls and typical "gendered" clothing is also very interesting, and made for an even more unique world. I also really loved her inclusion of sign language. After I got past the 40% mark and really dove into the book and really started to care about the characters - that's when things got interesting. I liked the magic system a lot, as well as the political intrigue and bit of mystery and conspiracy going on. I also loved how the book leaves us with lots of questions, but still manages to wrap up the story in a clean and clever way. 4.5/5 total stars, definitely would recommend to anyone who likes fantasy with lovable characters, a unique magic system, and a little bit of mystery thrown in for good measure.

***ARC received from Tor and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

This book was a struggle for me to read which makes writing a review difficult. I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it yet I still want more of it because there are so many interesting aspects of the plot and world that could be explored.

We follow Kai, the Witch King who has woken up to find that he is in a rather difficult situation. We as the reader follow Kai in the present as he works to figure out what is the bigger plan behind his murder and the friends that have gone missing. The book also follows Kai in the past where we as the readers learn what made Kai and the world what it is. Flashback Kai I found more enjoyable, something about present day Kai felt a little too unstoppable. Like he had all the answers while flashback Kai was younger, in a very strange environment having everything he knew and everyone he loved taken from him.

I wish that we had gotten to spend more time with the secondary characters, Ziede is a little bit of one note. I wish we had gotten more of her in the present time as she has a singular focus to find her missing wife. The friendship they all have is fully developed by the time the book takes place and barely established in the before sequence and I wish we had been able to see that development.

The chapters that take place in the past are far more interesting than the current story. Not much is happening in the current time but the past goes through Kai and the world slowly coming under the control of the Hierarchs, which unfortunately we don’t learn much about either. There is a lot of action and world development in those past sections. I felt like this book read like a duology that got mashed together to form a single book when it needed to be two separate stories. It expects the reader to know so much about the world, history and magic system that it never fully explains it and so much of the politics are fleshed out in the past sections it left me feeling very confused and a little frustrated. I also feel like I would have cared more for what was happening to Kai, I would have worried right along with Ziede because as the reader I would have already gotten to know as it stands I don’t know enough about their relationships to feel invested in them or the characters.

Writing is really nice, the book has built up an incredibly interesting political dynamic and a mysterious set of villains. Because of the set up though we don’t get to explore either in very much detail which was frustrating. Those things were so interesting and had the potential to be something really fun to read but it never gets further than surface level. Perhaps this will benefit more from a second read having some knowledge of what is happening so I don’t feel so lost. It also doesn’t help that this had such a strong opening and then dragged itself along until about the 65% mark where the action really picked up. That helped move the story along after a middle section that didn’t really do much.

In the end there is a ton of potential there with interesting characters, villains and politics that never quite make it to the front instead left with this strange quest to find a character I never felt much connection to.

I was eager to read this, but it wasn’t as captivating as I hoped. I liked Kai and his ability to change bodies, but the world remained wague and I didn’t quite get a hang of it or the story.

4.5
I fell in love with this world and most especially the characters. If I've learned anything about Martha Wells' writing, it's that you're going to have a good time with dry humor throughout an otherwise fast-paced, high stakes plot. The world building is efficient and engrossing. I say efficient because this book is probably not ideal for the intro fantasy reader. There is a collusion of species (demons, Witches, Hierarchs, "normal" people), cultures, languages, magic systems and Wells does not steep to info dump any type of exposition to spell things out for you. From the beginning, the reader is swept up in this world and meant to figure things out along the way. You're not meant to know something until you're meant to know it, and that includes important plot developments. Honestly, I loved this. It was a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre and I enjoyed not feeling like I needed to guess the next plot point. I could just ride along the beautifully crafted wave of storytelling.

My one, singular critic is that there were points, especially action-heavy scenes, where I truly had no idea what was going on. This is maybe the trade-off for the efficient world-building; it was difficult to conceptualize all the magicking going on and picture the environment we were in.

The true shining star in this book were the characterizations of Kai, Ziede, Tahren, Sanja, and each and every other character introduced. Yes, each one. No matter how insignificant their role in the story. They were distinct, interesting, and I never got bored interacting with them.

Overall, this was such a memorable and worthy addition to the fantasy genre and I hope we get to explore this world more in the future. Definitely picking up a physical copy when it comes out.

Okay I have so many thoughts for this book and they’re a bit conflicted but hopefully this review isn’t all over the place. The premise was sooo interesting. We have Kai, the titular Witch King, who is a demon that sucks life out of people, uses pain as power, and can change mortal bodies. He’s EXTREMELY powerful. So when he wakes up in a tomb of water, which limits his powers, he has to find out who did this and why, and he’s likely been betrayed because otherwise he would never have been trapped in the first place.

The plot takes place over dual timelines, one being the present of Kai trying to find out who trapped him, and the other being the past of when Kai first inhabited a mortal body. I usually love dual timelines and I’d say this one was written well in that hints and revelations are done super well but I was a lot less invested in the past timeline than the present so every time it switched to the past, it was a bit draggy for me. There are also so many different characters with fantastical hard-to-pronouns names, having the two sets of characters switch between the timelines got confusing because I couldn’t remember who was who and who did what.

That being said, the characters are very lovable, like one big chaotic found family, and there’s lots of diversity for sure (queer characters and non-binary worldbuilding and poc rep ❤️) Kai in particular is such an endearing morally gray character and it’s fun to watch him pick off enemies like flies while being sarcastic about it the entire time. The worldbuilding is also super fascinating with a cool (if a bit unlimited) magic system and very unique fantastical elements - like a ghost boat that doesn’t know it’s a ghost and a Kai riding a whale even though he doesn’t know how to swim. I would say there’s a bit more worldbuilding than necessary for a standalone and it may have made the beginning more complex than it should have been but that’s sometimes what you get from epic fantasies. I think that’s my biggest complaint that the complex world and so many characters made the beginning very confusing but once it picked it, it was very enjoyable!

I haven’t read anything by Marsha Wells before but I think I enjoyed this one enough to read more!

The Witch King, Kai, is having a very bad day. He is a body-jumping, life-sucking demon and he has been betrayed, But who would do this to the Witch King? After awakening from his watery grave, (water limits his powers extensively) Kai and his second-in -command, Zaide must figure this out and why, Then there's the whole second timeline regarding the revolution that helps give some background to this. You also get Kai's inception in the mortal world to said revolution. But all the body-jumping can get confusing and Wells doesn't slow down to explain who is who or what is what. The world-building is vast and fast. You're kind of just expected to know what's going on but with all the body-jumping and strange-sounding names, it's difficult to keep track.

*Special thanks to Net-Galley and TorDotCom for this e-arc.*

I'm so sad I'm joining the people disappointed with Witch King. I had such high expectations for this book since I love Murderbot and had an excellent time with Wells' writing in that series, but this story and how it was presented and developed really did not work for me at all.

The opening chapter was pretty great. It felt a little bit like I got dropped in the middle of a story, but in a positive way. It was engaging and Kai's situation was a tense and intriguing one and I wanted to know more about it. The world-building was a little confusing at first, yet I would say that was one of the strongest part of this book.

I'm going to echo what other people said about not being able to connect with the characters and the story. The non-linear narrative didn't help me at all since we jumped timelines whenever things started getting interesting. I don't think Wells successfully developed any of the characters and so I found myself not caring about any of them or what they were going through.

That means I did find this book pretty boring. I kept expecting a spark of connecting and/or interest and it didn't come. The extremely slow pace at the beginning didn't help at all, even though the plot picked up during the third half of the book.

I'm sure other people will have a good time with this, especially if they enjoy world-building/plot driven stories, but this one was really not for me.