Kaiisteron, Prince of the Fourth House of the Underneath, wakes up in a seemingly impossible situation; his current body was assassinated, placed in a tomb underwater, and now a magic user, known as an Expositor, is trying to take him over as a familiar. Kai, who has very strong powers, even in his current state of being essentially bodyless, overcomes the man who would use him. Now Kai must figure out where he is and why, since he has the ability to body hop, Kai has to deal with his new form as well. Kai and Ziede, a witch who was also attacked and imprisoned at the same time, begin a desperate quest to find another of their allied group as well as the reason they were attacked in the first place.

This epic story is told in two intertwining timelines, past and present, to show who Kai is, where he came from, and what state the current polity, the Rising World Coalition, is in since his yearlong entombment. Kai’s history is quite complicated with the past chapters giving a lot of background information including the different bodies that Kai has inhabited. He takes on something of the personalities from each body he occupies becoming part of the person’s group and lifestyle, sometimes in a good way and at other times, less so.

Kai and his associates, including some new rescues along the way, have a complicated and often dangerous journey ahead of them to find a magical stone that will hopefully lead to their missing member. Several classes of magic users are involved in this story. In the past, a great war was fought to overcome a group of usurpers called the Hierarchs who devastated and enslaved several populations including the one Kai has been part of where he was in a woman’s body. Gender makes no difference to his kind but does I think influence his demeanor with that inhabitation. Kai’s magical abilities are pain based requiring him to endure much suffering while fighting his enemies as well as protecting friends.

This story is a quite complex narrative with the two different story lines; however, they work well together helping the reader parse out then and now. In some ways Kai reminds me of my favorite character of Ms. Wells, Murderbot, with his acerbic humor and tendency to not suffer fools gladly although the style of this book is more akin the author’s other Fantasy series. The world building takes up a lot of the story so readers will have to pay close attention while meeting quite a few characters particularly in the past timeline. At 432 pages, there is a lot of information to keep straight. Fans of Ms. Wells will be pleased with this new Fantasy book which has quite a bit of action and adventure, as well as a found family of sorts in which looks to be a new series.

The Witch King ~ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Anything where they list the characters at the beginning I know I’m in for it. This was a complex fantasy I’d say, I found some parts to be hard to follow, and some character names to be similar that I got confused at times.

I was really excited for this book, I love Murderbot so I had high hopes for a new fantasy by Wells. But this didn’t work for me, it was hard to follow and I can easily see myself forgetting what the story was. The present day story was rather short and the past story I found to be almost not necessary.

Was it well written, yes. Did I like the character work, yes. Was there a large amount of time spent describing what people were wearing, yes? Anyways, 3 stars for me, it was hard for me to finish.

Martha Wells is a master at subtly building worlds that the reader falls in love with. With every page you get a new small detail that develops this new world just a little more. There is no struggle remembering details because the concepts are integrated into the story rather than through an information dump.

Her characters are endearing and unique. Their interactions with each other are organic. All of the characters are rememberable, you never have to stop in your reading and think, "wait, who is that?" because you remember them.

There is a deep history hinted at, a less distant past and a current timeline - all three leaving the reader satisfied while desperate for more.

I cannot wait to read this story again and to read further adventures of Kai and his friends in Witch King.

An epic start to a genderfluid high fantasy full of rebellion uprising, betrayal, and adventure.

The Witch King takes you through the past as our present-day characters set forth to find their missing friends and discover who betrayed them.

My only wish would have been further progression in the present storyline, but with a complex world and history, I'm not sure that would have been possible. I can't wait to see what lays ahead of our characters as the story progresses.

Alright, now there is a very large possibility that this book is simply too smart for me, which is what I choose to believe. I have enjoyed Martha Wells other works, which is why I was beyond surprised when I got through the first chapter, literally zero things made any sense to me, and I reread the entire chapter again. I pushed through, got through chapter three, and started the book over again. It honestly felt like either A. I would have to be in a heightened drug-induced state - or - b. have a higher level of brain cells than I current posses. The headaches which were induced during reading this existential-mind-bender was not very high number, but certainly more than one.
I closed this book having quite literally zero idea of what the hell had just happened. Like I was popped out of a dream bubble and placed back on earth. it's 3 stars bc I don't understand it, but it's 5 stars on straight vibes alone.

I really enjoyed Murderbot, so I had high hopes for the Witch King. This was a pretty good epic fantasy, however, the pacing and storyline felt a little MEH towards the middle. The writing was amazing, as I expected it to be, but the premise was just a little lackluster. Still a worthwhile read with some amazing MC. I adored Kai and, as usual, Martha has dreamt up a really fun and exciting cast of characters.

What a remarkable book(4.25 from me)! I enjoyed my journey with the main cast so much!

The book starts off when the famous Witch King(our main character Kai) wakes up after a very long forced sleep and instantly has to deal with a variety of problems.

I liked the way this book started - you find yourself in the middle of the action, the stakes are high, a lot is going on and you with the main character both have no idea why. I like this style and the book was engaging from page one.

In parallel with the current timeline, we have flashbacks that show us Kai's origins and how he came to his position in history. Flashbacks and the current timeline were blended in a great way and when the switch happened I wanted to read more and more - because there was always an intrigue between these two. This technique helped with the pacing and the book never dragged or felt boring.

The character cast was endearing even though sometimes our characters have to make hard decisions or even be ruthless. I liked the dynamics between them and the feeling of comradery and family. It was a nice touch.

This book felt to me like a good example of high fantasy. There was a lot of worldbuilding, magic was rather complicated and the history was fleshed out.

The mystery aspect was nice and the revelation was rather satisfying to me, though it hurt my heart a little.

All in all, I flew through this book and loved my time with it. The only thing I would have loved even more about it is if it was longer. I loved spending time in this world and honestly, I just wanted more.
And I'm so grateful to Netgalley and Tordotcom for providing me with this advanced reading copy, I couldn't be happier about it.

Also I noticed that a rather big percentage of bad reviews starts the same way - "I loved Murderbot, so I wanted to read it as well". I think this reasoning can be a mistake. I love Murderbot too and will not lie saying it wasn't one of the reasons I requested this ARC. But I love fantasy, all subgenres of it, for me sci-fi is almost a deviation from my tastes. So what I wanted to say - Witch King is really different from Murderbot in all things that matter. Murderbot is a short, quick, and not complicated read. There are no huge worldbuilding or years of history, all things about the world are really natural and just exist in the plot. Murderbot is super character-focused and it is its main charm. Witch King, Kai, is a charismatic lead as well. But that is where similarities end. So I recommend you to pick up Witch King if you love the fantasy genre and don't mind spending time getting familiar with the world and magic around you.

3.5

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for providing an eARC to review!

Reminiscent of the Murderbot series in its touches of dry humour and its protagonists who would rather do anything but save the world, Witch King will be an enjoyable read for fans of the author, as well as for readers of Gideon the Ninth.

The dual timeline plot keeps you guessing right up until the end, and Wells manages to create an elaborate world and magic system without dumping the information on you all in one go. This is a story that takes its time, and I think one that can only be appreciated after a reread. Witch King fits into the category of books where you won't know what's going on for a lot of the time, but you'll be along for the ride anyway.

Definitely a book I'm glad I read, but I feel I would need to reread to fully appreciate what's going on here. Some really cool magic, an interesting cast of characters, and elements of world-building that are wholly unique - this is what would draw me back to the story just to see what other gems I can pick out.

The writing in this story is so vivid and imaginative. The structure of this story is interesting. Told in the present as well as flashbacks of the past, we get a sense of Kai, the fourth prince Witch King demon - how he became to be.

There is a mystery. Who locked them up for years?

conspiracy?

All the while unfolding a revolution that Kai played an important role in freeing the world.

A fantastic novel! Can’t wait to get a finish copy.

This was a very fun standalone fantasy, with a great cast of characters. It follows a dual timeline: one somewhat a mystery as Kai is trying to figure out who betrayed him, and one in the past when the Important Historical Events happened. The variety of magic users was very cool, each with a distinctive source/flare, but presented in a way where it isn't confusing. The characterizations were very personable, and I thoroughly enjoyed following along with the Then and Now.

Read WITCH KING by Martha Wells if you love body swapping, rebellions & uprisings, dropping into a story already in progress, duel narratives, genderf*ckery, demons, witches, uncovering mysteries, political intrigue, allies, lovers, found family, and floods.

I was so excited to get this ARC for Martha Wells new book Witch King. It did not disappoint.

I fell in love with her writing through her Murder Bot series. This is nothing like those books. This is high fantasy. She utilizes a dual time line to develop her world building. This structure worked well for me—I was equally drawn in by both timelines.

I loved all the different ways magic was used or manifested. This book covered things themes of loyalty, displacement, home, regrets, family, and identity.

I have not read any of her other fantasy books. This one gave me so much respect for her talent and story telling ability. I would highly recommend this one.

I've read half a dozen Martha Wells books, but all of them were Murderbot, meaning that when I think of her voice, that's difficult to separate out from its, especially when it's such a prominent, engaging narrator. So this first time reading her fantasy* was always going to be a gear change, but in some ways it was less of one than I expected. The narration is no longer first person, but it is close third, and while the protagonist may not be Murderbot, we do meet him as he's woken in a tomb by unwary adventurers whose souls he promptly consumes. Because the Witch King of the title is not the adversary, but the lead. Someone put him down, under circumstances he doesn't altogether recall (another echo of Murderbot), and now he would like to find the full details and have some words with them about that.

Now, obviously it would be tricky – unless you went full black comedy – to make a classic dark lord the sympathetic protagonist of a fantasy novel. References and flashbacks make clear that what came before Kai's reign was even worse (and not just in a 'he would say that, wouldn't he?' way), and it's not as if those adventurers disturbing his tomb didn't richly deserve some soul-draining (though isn't that so often the way with dungeon-crawlers?). The scenes of his youth, or at least his early years among humans, make clear the degree to which, having initially been part of a more balanced relationship with the underworld, he has suffered horribly as that gave way to a more exploitative regime. But one of the story's key questions is how much of a monster these battles with monsters have made him - feeding into the wider issue of how those who have been hurt cañ easily go on to hurt others. Again, some of this is familiar from Murderbot - but the degree to which Kai remains fundamentally nice never grabbed me to the same degree as Murderbot's determined, doomed efforts not to let on what a softie it can be where the right people are concerned.

Not that it was just other Wells books of which I was reminded by this one's contours. Some forms of magic are more exploitative than others, in ways which strongly suggest capitalism - but never do so as well as Max Gladstone's Craft. The insinuating hegemony of colonialism is evoked, but it never feels as real or as horrible as in Seth Dickinson's Baru Cormorant books - or indeed, the corporate tendrils in Murderbot. And of course, there's that perennial fantasy minefield of the names, with which I was fine while we were dealing with a relatively small cast who had mostly been seen on the page, where they were all alive and distinct enough to carry me through, but started to lose me as the central mystery moved into more speculation about people, locations and factions who hadn't been seen and whose names ram a little too close to each other - or, in the case of Scarif, to another genre story altogether, and hardly an obscure one. By the end, the resolution initially left me baffled, until I realised I'd mixed up two players with nearly the same name - and even once I'd got that straight, I realised I didn't actually feel anything about it. Kai was good company, but while I don't think the story through which he moved was exactly bad, nor did it quite make it across my personal threshold for this flavour of fantasy. I will, however, continue to be all over Murderbot.

*I have had one other for ages, from a bundle or freebie or something, without ever getting around to it. But the shiny new thing is always so much more tempting, isn't it?

(Netgalley ARC)

I rarely DNF books. I can't stand leaving things unfinished, can't justify putting time into something and not seeing it through. Yet, at some point about 1/4th into Witch King, I realized I wasn't having that much fun. Though the premise is intriguing, and Martha Wells' writing is clean and flows nicely, I was simply not in the right mood for this book, which demands attention, a book whose political and magic systems are incredibly intricate—in my case, just a tad TOO intricate.

Witch King also jumps constantly between the present and past, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but trying to navigate the jumps in setting and time and plot is difficult enough as it is without being bogged down by mass amounts of worldbuilding. Perhaps one day, when I am ready to commit myself to fully learning the intricacies of this novel, I'm sure I'll have a much more enjoyable time. Unfortunately, this book just wasn't right for me at this moment of my life. I've heard fantastic things about Wells' Murderbot series, so maybe I'll start there instead.

DNF at 27.3%

I feel awoken, from an adventure in a Middle Eastern vibe fantasy, with witches, hierarchs, mortals and demons. It was like traveling in the perils of different intriguing characters that were well written and strong. I highly recommend this! You could do well with a Chai tea while reading this. Martha Wells done a great job. I loved Kaiisteron so much.

Plot: 4/5
We are thrown further into the thick of it. Our main character has been murdered, but thankfully he’s an extremely powerful witch (the Witch King) and jumps into another body. But he, nor his companion Ziede, can remember how they got into this predicament. I love this set up for the plot. We know as much as the characters about the mystery BUT we are given constant doses of world building because they are just dropping info left and right.
The story is very fast moving and you really have to be paying attention at all times to follow what’s going on.

Characters: 3/5
I think the characters were the only weaker part of this book. A lot of people are introduced very quickly and with not enough definition to help the reader keep it all straight.
I enjoyed the main character, his magic, and his personality. I liked the development that both he and Ziede had.

Writing: 4/5
I love Wells’ writing style, it’s so classically fantasy with clear personality. She developed a really unique world and there’s a lot of depth to it.

Overall: 4/5

I struggled with this book.

I'm not normally a high fantasy reader and this book reminded me why. I had a hard time with the names, the magic system, and all of the ins and outs of the different clans.

I did like that there was something happening the first five pages in - it sucked you in and got me wanting to read more.

This book is great for someone who likes high fantasy and intricate world-building.

Embrace the confusion!

In 1995 I saw the Film Ghost in the Shell. It was a formative experience for me. The film was incredibly confusing -- cyborgs and thermoptic camouflage and international plots and sentient net intelligences and wheels within plots within wheels within plots. When it was over I had only the vaguest idea what had happened. But I was mortally certain of one thing: I LOVED it!

What I didn't know at the time was that This Was How It Was Going To Be From Now On. Since then all major science fiction and most fantasy novels have been like that. I expect when I read a new one not to know what's going on. (Consider recent reads Children of Memory, Myriad, or grand-prize winner, the entirety of Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb Series.) In fact, it is now at the point where, if I understand a new F&SF novel on the first read, I feel cheated.

Martha Wells Witch King does not disappoint in this regard. Hierarchs and Expositors and Watches and Demons and cantrips and intentions -- what are all these things? And, basic question -- are there Good guys, and Bad guys, and who are they? I sometimes complain when novels contain "infodumps". (See, e.g., my review of The Bone Wars.) But at about 20% of Witch King, I was saying to myself, "An infodump right now would be awfully handy." I didn't get one. But by about 50% it began to make sense, and when I reached the end, I had a not-entirely-incoherent overview of the whole story. It'll need a re-read.

Why is Witch King confusing? Well, there is a complicated and never-explained magic system, and a society with many different types of magical creatures whose powers and political relationships are only retrospectively explained. But that, of course, is all in a day's work for the modern F&SF reader. What makes Witch King really tough is the dual timelines. There are 26 chapters. Sixteen are named Chapter One, ..., Chapter Sixteen. But Chapter Three is not the third chapter -- it is the fourth. The Third chapter is called "The Past: The Beginning". There are ten of these chapters called "The Past: [some title]", and they are scattered throughout the book. The explicitly numbered chapters One through Sixteen are about events in what you can, if you like, call The Present -- a time later than The Past. The Past, of course, provides the background for The Present. When you start reading, you don't know this background. When I reread this I plan to try reading the ten Past chapters first, followed by Chapters One through Sixteen.

The central character of Witch King is the demon Kaiisteron (usually shortened to Kai). Kai is of course a Good Guy, pretty much by definition, since it is from his point of view that we see things. Besides being a total badass, Kai is in the business of helping his friends, for instance, a witch called Ziede. Kai never seems to have a plan -- he just seems to be making things up as he goes along. But Kai is an old and crafty demon -- do not trust that appearance of planless spontaneity.

So, Witch King is a challenging but intriguing story with an appealing hero.

I thank NetGalley and Tor for an advance reader copy of Witch King. This review expresses my honest opinions. To be released 30-May-2023.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Holy. Smokes. This was my first book by Ms. Wells, and I was absolutely enthralled the whole way through. The reader is plopped right into the thick of things, and I really love that, especially since it was done in a way where I didn't feel lost or out of place. The world building was introduced at a great pace, and the characters were really well-rounded, I didn't feel like I was reading about them, I felt like I was WITH them. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

Nice read.

The reader gets thrown directly into the story. There aren't many explanations about world building or the characters, but while this is confusing at the beginning, it's not actually that complicated, so it doesn't take that long to more or less figure everything out.

The plot however stays a mystery for a little longer. The whole point of the book is essentially that Kai, the main character, tries to figure out what is going on, so the reader is just as confused as he is.
Unfortunately, I kind of missed the part where he does figure everything out. I kept waiting for some big revelation, but suddenly the book was over. I still don't know if my questions were answered and I simply didn't notice, or if they just got ignored.
It's not exactly boring though - things happen, it's exciting! But I felt like none of that had anything to do with the plot and kept waiting for something bigger that sadly never came.

The book is written in two timelines, the past and the present. On one hand this was interesting as you slowly get the backstory and are able to compare the characters with themselves and see the development even better. On the other hand it was sometimes confusing as for what was going on. I guess you were supposed to figure out the present by seeing what happened in the past, but that didn't quite work for me, as Kai also lived in the past and he obviously still didn't know what was going on in the present. To be honest, it also took some time for me to figure out the time gap between the two timelines as there aren't really any numbers. Is it a year? Two? A hundred? Who is still alive from the past, or did some people die of old age by now? I got it eventually, but that was a confusing time.

One thing that I seriously enjoyed was the take on demons and witches. It was a great idea and well thought through and I loved to read something different.
Also, the characters were lovely. Kai was a sweetheart and Ziede was great and I loved all the different relationships.

In the beginning, I also really enjoyed the writing. It was quite beautiful, but after a while I got annoyed by the way how nothing really got said. Everything got hinted at or described in a way that made me want to ask what that sentence actually was supposed to tell me.
I also would've loved more world building and more explanations about everything. We get enough that all the big questions are answered, but this is a fantasy book! I want to know everything, not just the bare minimum!

So overall - nice enough book. But it had so much potential that didn't really get used.

Thank you NetGalley and the Tor Publishing Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.