Witch King by Martha Wells is a fantasy novel that tells the story of Kai, a demon who has been murdered and imprisoned for centuries. When he is finally released, he finds that the world has changed a great deal, and he must now find a way to survive in this new world.

Wells does an excellent job of creating a rich and complex world, with a variety of different cultures and religions. She also does a great job of developing her characters, who are all well-rounded and believable. Kai is a particularly interesting character, as he is a demon who is trying to find his place in the world. He is not evil, but he is also not good. He is simply trying to survive, and he will do whatever it takes to do so.

The plot of the novel is fast-paced and exciting, with plenty of action and adventure. There are also some moments of humor and romance, which help to balance out the darker elements of the story. Overall, Witch King is a well-written and enjoyable fantasy novel that is sure to please fans of the genre.

Here are some of the things I liked about the book:

-The characters are well-developed and believable.
-The world-building is rich and complex.
-The plot is exciting.
-There are moments of humor and romance.

Here are some of the things I didn't like about the book:

-It was a very dense read (you had to be heavily focused on every single line)
-The world building was a bit confusing but that could just be a personal problem

Overall, I really enjoyed Witch King. It is a well-written and enjoyable fantasy novel that is sure to please fans of the genre. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new fantasy novel to read!

I have been eagerly anticipating this book for months since I first heard about it (and then read the excerpt on Amazon). I am a long-time fan of Martha Wells' work, and her settings, worldbuilding, and characters are always top-notch. As a result, I was extremely gleeful to get a galley from NetGalley.

In Witch King, Our Protagonist must solve his own murder and get to the bottom of a conspiracy. Kai wakes to find that he's been bound/imprisoned in a watery cave. (The "waking up" part happens because his body has been dead for months at this point.) Also imprisoned is his friend Ziede. (Who fortunately is still alive.) Both Kai and Ziede were part of a Resistance against the Hierarchs, an extremely nasty bunch of magic users (called "expositors") bent on world conquest and genocide.

Kai is able to find an escape route in the form of an expositor showing up with victims he planned to sacrifice in order to power up and enslave Kai. Instead, Kai inhabits the body of one of the victims (who was deceased) and completely destroys the expositor and his hench goons. (Kai then ends up kind of, sort of adopting the other victim, who is a street kid named Sanja.)

Once they're both freed, they discover that Ziede's wife Tahren can't be reached. This leads them on a quest to get to the bottom of the conspiracy and find Tahren. Interspersed is the story of how Kai's people were wiped out by the Hierarchs and how he ended up joining what eventually became a coalition army to defeat the Hierarchs.

This is a fascinating setting with Martha Wells' trademark attention to detail in regard to worldbuilding and the creation of cultures and nations. The characters are interesting and sympathetic, and the narrative has a lot of wry or sarcastic humor that lightens the darker sections of the novel. (I will warn for some body horror. Expositor magic is kind of horrifying and gross!) I loved this book and was not in any way disappointed or let down by this adventure. (I am hoping this is not a standalone novel. I would love to read more about Kai and his found family.)

Martha Wells' Witch King is an alternating past and present magical journey of a demon prince searching for his missing found family as he retraces his past to solve his murder. It has a highly engaging beginning that gets bogged down by a large cast of characters that distract from the wondrous magic spewing or demon possessed bodies.

We begin, quite literally, in the dark. Kaiisteron, the witch king, has had his consciousness separated from his body and both are trapped in a specially constructed prison. He is awoken by a scheming magician (called an expositor) who tries to make Kai his pawn, but is woefully unprepared. All of the magician's party are killed save for Sanja, a young women purchased to be a sacrifice.

Kai's journey is to solve his murder and find the rest of his new family, while the main narrative is pursued, a second plot runs parallel retelling the war against the Hierarchs and Kai's role in the conflict. The Hierarchs were/are a powerful people who are seeking to conquer the known world, and as tokens of their strength and to have control over conquered peoples they keep hostages, such as the charismatic Prince Bashasa who is seething following the murder of his sister. Kai is captured during the war and is brought into contact with Bashasa and becomes a key component of his planned uprising.

Wells strength in writing compelling characters makes the dialogue and frequent conflicts of wits compelling and very engaging. The first few chapters are very well done, having Sanja along for the adventure makes for a simple, but easy way to explain some of the history and mechanics of magic for this world, but only when she asks. Sanja is the audience surrogate, and between her questions and the chapters about the past, the world is built. And in this world Magical spells can be performed in a variety of ways, all of them using energy from difference sources such as the underworld, personal suffering, the life force of others or natural sprites and spirits.

Unfortunately, there is a large cast in this novel and keeping track of everyone's motivations and background can be difficult. The latter especially with the transitions between past and present. When the mystery of murder is finally solved it feels like an anti-climax. The scope of the novel is broad, trying to tell the history of a lengthy war and the fractious diplomatic scheming and planning of it's aftermath alongside Kai's hero journey is a bit too much.

All that said, I did enjoy reading the book, the magical mechanics were well integrated and more unique than the standard wand or natural talent based magic. The dialogue between characters was lively and engaging, at times laden with hidden meanings or subtleties of diplomacy.

“I’ve always liked your razors, Kai. They’ve cut us out of a number of tangles. But it would be good if one day you could stop bleeding.”

First, I’d like to say a special thank you to @Netgalley for trusting me with an ARC of this book, which releases to the general public on May 30, 2023.

Martha Wells, author of the beloved Murderbot Diaries, has come out with her first Fantasy novel in over a decade. My only experience with her work is Murderbot, for which I fell head over heels. So, when I saw she was coming out with a full-length Fantasy, I immediately put in a bid for it without even reading the description.

Let me level with you: I’m so glad I went in blind. The blurbs I’ve read really don’t do this book justice. Without giving anything away, the premise is this: Kai is a demon who wakes up in an underwater tomb to find out that someone has both betrayed and murdered him. We follow him on his journey to find out who, and how. But this isn’t a revenge plot, or even a Whodunnit. Kai’s physical journey mirrors a complex, intimate emotional journey through his past that left me feeling satisfied even as I found myself thinking that with any other book, or any other author, I might have found the trajectory anticlimactic.

From the moment I stepped into this story, I knew it was going to be a five star read for me. I sucked in a breath after reading the first page, turned to my spouse, and exclaimed “You HAVE to read this! I haven’t felt this way since I read Interview With the Vampire for the first time.” Weird thought? Probably, but I instantly sensed an emotional depth to Kai as a main character that I hadn’t felt in so, so long. I was so giddy to dive into this rich world Martha Wells created, and it completely absorbed me.

I can’t lie and tell you this book is perfect. It isn’t, but it also isn’t trying to be. This is a read that is all about the journey, not the payoff. Let it take you where it’s going to take you, and I think you’ll have an amazing time. If you liked Murderbot as much as I did, you’ll like this. Martha Wells has a knack for taking a dark and twisty premise and turning it into a heartwarming emotional tale.

I loved the gender exploration, queer representation, and the utter imagination. I felt like a child again, my brain just exploding in enchanted fireworks as I took all of it in. What a gift. Please read this!

Also, totally crossing my fingers that this isn’t just a standalone.

This just didn't end up being for me. There were too many characters bring constantly introduced for me to be able to connect with anyone enough to become invested in any MC, which is important for me as a reader. I can see all the structure for a dark.....feels like sci fi but I think it's technically a fantasy book. This wasn't for me, but I can see how it would be perfect for people who enjoy complicated sci fi stories.

This was an utterly fantastic read! I love her writing, and it sounded really great. And it was, I loved this story so much! I loved getting to know Kai and this world! It was all so interesting, and we were dumped straight into it and it was explained as it went along!

The way that this story was told, of the present, and every other chapter or every two, we'd get the story of the past. And while this story was immediately engaging, it was hard to read at the beginning for me, because the past started off on a pretty high note, and things quickly went downhill. It was only when there were about as low as they could go, so they could really only go up, that reading the past chapters got easier.

There was a lot going on in this book because of that, getting both stories. The past had a steady amount of battles, while the present had on and off, as things about why this was going on was clarified. Kai was an amazing character in a world with complex politics and history, and magic system!

Honestly, I'm really hoping that this becomes a series! One, I want more time in this world with these characters. Two, the way things ended in the past was just the beginning of the events there, and there's so much that I want to learn, like what happened to Kai's Underearth body. And three, the way things ended in the present, I want to know what's going to happen from here! Between the figure from the past, and what Danil was investigating, I need more!

This was an amazing read, and I really hope that we get a sequel!

I was given the audiobook and ebook versions of this courtesy of NetGalley. I wanted to like this book, I really did. I made it 35% through the ebook and 24% through the audiobook before I finally DNF'd. Murder bot was a slay, this , sadly didnt live up to my expectations. However, the narrorator was good and the writing style is beautiful. The storyline just wasnt for me.

Martha Wells, best known for her Murderbot series, turns to fantasy for her new novel Witch King. In this book she builds a complex world that is slowly rebuilding itself after a violent takeover and revolution in which many divisions remain. All of this detail and backstory is told through the eyes of a singular, fascinating character.
Kai is a demon. This means he can inhabit bodies of others and while he does so those bodies do not age and can not be killed. But when the book opens Kai is in trouble. He and his friend and witch Kiezi have been captured and imprisoned for an unspecified time. They manage to escape, Kai is in a new body and the two start to search for Kiezi’s wife Tahlen who is also missing. In undertaking this quest they will uncover various plots and conspiracies to undermine a fragile coalition that has pertained since the overthrow of the Hierarchs, a group that had violently taken over the world. As this story plays out, Kai also recalls the series of events that led to that overthrow and about how he formed new alliances to overthrow the Hierarchs regime which cut demons off from their underworld selves.
If that sounds like more than enough world building there is plenty more, including the msgic rules for demons, witches and other beings, a multitude of different tribes and factions within those tribes, and a conspiracy that only really begins to make sense when much of the backstory has been related. And this is a problem. The lack of deep understanding of this world makes the stakes of the current quest completely abstract which drains it of much tension.
There are so many different places and rules and peoples that it is hard to keep straight, or more importantly to care. And while some authors manage to bring readers along into complex and rule-filled worlds do this through the use of engaging characters and situation, Wells struggles in Witch King. Even the title makes no sense given Kai is not only not a witch (he is a demon and other characters are witches) but not really a king either (he gets some authority but many demons do not follow him). So there is never even a “Witch King” which is confusing in itself.
Kai himself is an interesting character but as mentioned, it takes a long time to understand as a reader why we should care about what he is doing and why. There is a kind of found family narrative but again, the story of that group coming together comes too late to make the earlier action seem important.
And the whole endeavour ends with a bit of whimper, making it all seem like scene setting and backstory for something better to come. That is, a 400-odd page introduction to some characters and a world so that readers know why we should care about them next time. But some readers may be too disaffected to want to return.

Previously, I have read Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries, which I adore, and The Cloud Roads, which I really disliked. As such, I was a little concerned about whether a new book that was a fantasy would work for me, and I'm really pleased to report that it absolutely did.

The world of Witch King is a fully realised one, filled with distinct cultures and political systems (that didn't just feel like rip-offs of real world groups) and distinct magic systems (that didn't just feel like rip-offs of other novels). All of these things interact well, too: the different systems of magic mesh and interact in interesting ways, and the different groups of people had long histories with each other that lent them internal consistency. Wells walks the line well with having characters that are powerful but not boring, intelligent but not infallible.

This had similar vibes to the Foundryside books at some points, as well as The Unspoken Name. It was casually queer, both in the relationships and in the way that characters' genders didn't necessarily match the bodies they inhabited. I came away from this hoping that the plotlines not entirely closed will get addressed in a sequel or two, and though that will of course mean less frequent entries in the Murderbot Diaries, it will be worth it.

The writing of this is super impressive, I just fear it’s not exactly for me. I’m definitely going to try Murderbots, and I think this book was really well done! I’m just not in the right headspace to keep up with the flipping back and forth between past and present, so I got confused a bit as it went on. Emphasis on EPIC fantasy. Really interesting!

Rating: Absolutely Loved It, 5 stars

I think that if this turns into a series, I have the potential to bump it up to all-time favorite status. Or if it's not a series, on reread it has that potential!

Witch King by Martha Wells follows the perspective of Kaiisteron, or Kai. Kai is a prince demon who is the titular Witch King. We join him as he is awakened from a magical trap underwater by a mage attempting to harness his power for their own. It doesn't end well for that mage. Kai has to piece back together how much time has passed since he was last conscious, what has occurred in that time, and where his chosen family, many of them also immortal or long-lived beings, is at.

We also follow Kai in the past, which is used to give his history and help understand the context around the events that are happening in the present, namely a huge war and the toppling of the known world order. Some of the cast in the past are characters we know in the present whom Kai considers to be his family. Some of them are not.

I will say before I get into my main complaint of this book that this book feels like a Martha Wells book, and that I would honestly love it for that alone. She creates a fantastic cast of characters and really excels at creating a found family and making you care about the bonds between the characters. This book is filled with her dry wit and humor, which is a huge selling point for me. More on those pieces later though.

The only thing that didn't work for me as much as I would have liked was the dual timeline. I thought it was a really interesting setup, and I enjoyed the pieces of both the timelines. However, I did have some quibbles with the way that they intertwined. I definitely experienced a strong preference for one over the other as the book progressed, and that actually changed multiple different times. Now this preference usually happens with a dual timeline story for me, but I usually don't flip flop back and forth between them, and I can't decide if that's better or worse. One thing that I think a lot of people won't like is that a lot of the present timeline didn't make sense without all the pieces of the past. I jumped in not having a clue what was happening but being okay with it, to not having a clue what was happening and being frustrated because it seemed like I was supposed to know, then slowly to some understanding and feeling like I had a grip on things, back to being thrown for a loop again. Whereas the past was a pretty linear progression from not knowing anything to having a decent understanding. So that was a bit of an odd experience. However, the positives largely make up for that, and that is why I am rating it 5 stars.

The character work is, as always, excellent. Martha Wells writes perfect characters for me. They are compelling and relatable. Kai fits right in with her other hot mess express main characters that I've read: Moon and Murderbot. He is witty and sarcastic, and perhaps not the most morally sound, but leans towards being a good guy and regardless, I love him anyway. I think that the cast of characters in general is really well written. This is primarily a plot driven book, but you come away with an intimate grasp of the characters and their relationships with each other. That is incredibly well developed, and I suspect will only get better if this continues into a series.

I love Martha Wells' fantasy world building. While it certainly has familiar elements, the world building and the political structures in this book still come off as being very fresh and unique feeling in my opinion. Her prose is clear and straightforward and I think all the better for it.

Overall, if you like Martha Wells' other books, I think you will like this one. I don't 100% know if this is the first entry in a series or a standalone, but I'm leaning towards a series because while it is a complete thought, it just feels like there is a lot more of this world and Kai's story to explore. But regardless, I think it would fare well either way. It's well paced and a compelling read start to finish.

If you have the opportunity to pick up the audiobook, narrated by Eric Mok, I highly recommend it! He was an engaging narrator and captured the tone of the characters perfectly. I will say that there are a lot of names that sound fairly similar, so it would be ideal if you could access the list of characters in the beginning of the story as you follow along, or at least it was ideal for me. I was mixing some of them up between timelines and similar sounding names, but I sorted it out pretty quickly once I was able to see how the names were spelled and who belonged where. 5star audiobook production!

Two quotes that I feel like embody the brand of dry humor that Martha Wells specializes in:
"Kai thought Bashasa was optimistic with that choice of the word 'hiding' rather than 'waiting.'" (said about a potential ambush situation)
"Salatel glanced at Kai, and he realized she was asking his permission. Was he actually in charge of the bridge now? Whose brilliant idea was that?"

Thank you to Tordotcom and Netgalley for access to an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own. Witch King by Martha Wells releases on May 30, 2023. Be sure to check it out!

Martha Wells paints vivid characters and interesting worlds. That's just how she is. And she nails both of those aspects here. A high fantasy world of demons, magic, and warring groups, the Witch King has it all. The dialog, as should be expected with Wells's work, is great, snappy, and character driven. This is a solid series opener, that introduces us to a large cast and an even larger world. I'm curious about where she'll take us next.

DNF @ 45%. I really wanted to love this fantasy novel, but it just wasn't working for me and I got tired of trying to force it. Nearly halfway into any book, I expect to have a decent understanding of who the main characters are and what is driving the plot, which I did not have at all with Witch King. Maybe it's just me, but I found the story extremely confusing. Though the writing is high quality, I had to go back and re-read several times because I felt like I missed details — turns out they just weren't there. Hopeful that others will love this, but it wasn't the story for me!

I voluntarily read an advanced ebook of Witch King by Martha Wells. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this ARC.

Kai was such a great character, and I loved reading about his journey, both in the past and present. The world-building was elaborate, and through Kai's search for the truth regarding betrayal, we take a deep dive into the politics and cultures of this universe. This is the first book I have read by Martha Wells, and I thought it was great. I give this book a solid 5/5 stars and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Exceptional, entertaining, compelling main characters and a world I don't want to leave all explainwhy I LOVESLD this book. My only criticism is the pacing feels off but frankly I just don't care. Martha Wells has done it again! I'll absolutely be preordering a copy.

Witch King by Martha Wells. Thank you Tor and NetGalley for the ARC. Martha Wells does such a great job creating characters that we would die for. Loved this unique concept and world building. Includes an enemies to lovers lesbian couple. When separated from her wife, Zeide goes feral (as a treat). Obsessed with how Kai and his people see gender and how this contrasts with external forces in the world. The pacing slows towards the end and the plot kind of falls off but you really stay for the characters.

Can’t wait to read more!

Based on the premise I thought Witch King would be right up my alley, but unfortunately it was a bit too dense for me and a struggle to get through

HUGE thanks for access to this galley — it was an honor to review this book 💕
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Well, well, Wells! She's done it again, folks. I ate this one up! One blurb calls this novel "complex," and that's true, but Wells weaves the story in a way that gives you the world building in a constant drip, without being confusing or convoluted. Of course, we also get the classic murderbot snark and sass and ~emotional damage~! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each character, the relationship between demons and witches and magic, and how things came to be the way they are. By the end, I was already dying for (1) fanart and a (2) sequel. I cannot wait for more of Kai, Ziede, Tahren, Dahin, Sanja, and Tenes!

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this one. Wells is clearly a talented writer, and I liked Kai and the other characters. Kai especially was really well-written. However, this is a very expansive and intricate fantasy world, yet nothing was really explained. I had very little idea of what was going on for most of this book. I also think Wells' writing voice is more suited to science fiction rather than fantasy, so it makes sense that her Murderbot series is so popular. I would definitely give that series a try in the future.

I ADORE the premise of this book. We open to foolhardy adventurers accidentally awakening the ancient, all-powerful Dark Lord -- the Witch King, from his tomb where he has been imprisoned. Our narrator is that Witch King. We get to follow his grumpy awakening, and and quest for the world that violently threw him out.

The disappointing thing is that none of that really turns out to be true. He is not the king of the witches, as they have no real hierarchy. He has never been the Dark Lord. He's not some Ancient Evil; he's only been imprisoned a year, and all of his friends are still active in politics. He isn't even, it turns out, Evil at all. The only true part of that premise (disappointingly) is all-powerful. He is very over-powered, to the point where he has a magic spell to solve every problem they come across.

I did enjoy our protagonist. He's bitter and fiercely loyal to his friends, and you bet I was cheering every time he vanquished an enemy. Getting his past in flashback chapters was also a delight.

This book is fine. But it fails to have an interesting plot -- most of the storyline is just traveling and side quests. It also fails to have well-realized side characters (mostly because there are so many that they kind of drown each other out). The book tries to get us to care about the politics of the kingdom, but fails to explain those politics enough.

A video review will be on my Youtube channel in the coming weeks, @ChloeFrizzle

Thanks to Netgalley and Tordotcom for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.