Like others I have many, maaaanny mixed feelings about this book.

As mentioned in other reviews Wells drops us straight into the whirlwind of this story - our protagonist Kai wakes up, in a body which isn't his own; bloodstains on his clothes; in a glass coffin and BOOM we are off on an adventure. This isn't however a problem - infact I thought it was a refreshing and exciting start to the book.

However, we get little to no world building at all. We are expected to understand certain things about this world immediately almost as if we have been here before... which we haven't. Little things like wind devils, hierarchs, etc are suddenly introduced with little explanation. I constantly felt like maybe I had skipped past a description of some of these features.

The story jumps between two time periods - which again - is not a problem in itself BUT I felt like I wanted more from each section. Perhaps they would have served better as two seperate stories 🤷‍♀️

I *think* I loved these characters... and yet I also barely knew them. I felt like I was being teased with backstories and yet never really got them.

I just wanted more. More explaination, more world building, more character development.

This would make a great series - as a standalone (not sure if she has plans for a sequel) I'm not so sold.

Such an indepth and eventful book, I absolutely adored every single character Wells put into this book! Definitely a bit of a difficult read if world building and differing timeline povs aren't for you, but I would definitely recommend giving it a shot!

Was a decent read. The premise is very intriguing, however the book suffer from a lack of pacing and a bit dense world building. The story follows Kai in past and present in parallel. Love that the author doesn't lead but rather lets the world unravel by itself.

A bit of mixed emotions on this. Though the writing was spot on and I loved Kai as a character, I just somehow felt the book did not come together greater than sum of its parts.

6.5/10

I received the audio from NetGalley for review. I’ve heard nothing but good things about The Murderbot Diaries, so I was excited to get into this.

First, I would just like to say that I technically gave this book 1.27x chances. I tweeted about having no idea what was going on at 27% and how I was afraid it was just me or how fast I was listening. I completely restarted, with a slower speed, and it did not help.

Second, I have written several rave reviews about books that drop you right into the deep end from the jump, but this one just never recovers. It more so drops you right off a cliff…into a bottomless pit. I had problems remembering and deciphering between characters, locations, lore. The names never stuck, and remember, I listened to the opening twice! There are different beings called witches and demons and other things, but our main character seems to be referred to them all by the end as if they are interchangeable. To be honest, I’m still really not sure what this is about or even what happened during it, and let me tell you that is such a strange feeling because I WAS paying attention.

Third, and maybe this is just me and the style really didn’t work for me or something, but there is not really any climax? We’re just going going going, end. The action scene towards the end didn’t feel impactful, I didn’t feel the build, and maybe that’s why it didn’t read as climactic to me? Also afterward it literally launches like directly back into dialogue and travel and then END.

Personally, and sadly a 2/5* for me. Not a fan. The snippets of lore that struck me as great were just too few and far between.

If you never thought a raging, murderous demon could be endearing, prepare to be shocked.

Loved Silas in Sorcery of Thrones, in the mood for a less cozy read and can handle dense worldbuilding? Pick this one up asap.

Right off the bat, we’re introduced to Kai, a vicious, super powerful demon who literally sucks the life out of the people trying to capture him (he’s been betrayed and his previous body killed, so really I can’t blame him for being pissed). He then immediately proceeds to save the small girl captured with him, adopting her as a sidekick reminiscent of The Professional, and I live for this kind of character contrast. I’ve really been into “found family” themes in books lately, and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Kai’s snark and dry humor was sublime, and honestly, the book probably would have been too heavy/dense without his refreshing one-liners and biting commentary.

When it comes to the world-building, you better buckle up because Wells dumps you right into the middle of it with no explanations of the places, titles, or people, so the first part is a little bumpy while you try to figure out what is actually going on, especially considering the dual-past/present timeline. Thankfully, Wells at least gives a list of characters at the beginning of the book to help keep track of who is who.

The downsides?

As I mentioned already, the world-building is DENSE and hard to keep track of at times because the various roles people play (such as expositors aka magician like people) and the different groupings (Hierarchs, Rising World, Saredi, etc.) took a while to unravel so I could understand who/what exactly they were. I don’t think I was as bothered by the dual timelines as much as some of the other reviewers, mostly because it was very clear whenever we were switching between the past and the present.

Despite the urgency of learning his previous body was killed, he’d been betrayed, and some of his friends/family were MIA, parts of the book (especially the beginning) were a little slow.

Because of this plus the dense world-building, my rating is probably closer to 3.5 than 4 stars, but I rounded up because Kai is just that awesome (I think he would agree).

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC!

The Murderbot Diaries is one of my favorite series and I will admit to loving fantasy just a bit more than sci-fi so when I found out about this book I was incredibly excited!

I really loved all of the characters. The way that Kai and Ziede just immediately adopt both Sanja and Tenes was fantastic. Sanja is exactly the kind of child I think is so entertaining to be taken in by the main character and the dynamic betwen her and Kai and Ziede was so funny.

Of course this book was even better for its inclusion of queer relationships and the way that gender and names are used. This book takes advantage of its own world building by releasing characters from a strict gender binary which I think is something a lot of fantasy suffers from not doing. Saredi + demon culture was so interesting and I would have loved to learn even more.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

I have to say I liked but did not love this - it's not Murderbot, but then I wasn't necessarily expecting Murderbot. I enjoy a book with heavy worldbuilding but this seemed weighted down with it - especially because, in the dual timeline format, the older timeline was simultaneously more interesting but not as informative as expected? The structure made it drag a bit.

🖤 Witch King ARC Review 🖤

Thank you so much to Martha Wells and Tor Dot Com Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!!

Witch King is a fantasy novel. Prince Kaiisteron, also known as Kai, has just woken up in an incorporeal state with no idea how he got there. As he hovers over his body, he realizes a few things - that he’s been betrayed, he’s been dead for about a year, that sorcerers are trying to capture and enslave his spirit and that his sister is being held nearby. Thankfully, Kai is the Witch King and he still has some tricks up his sleeve…

This was an interesting read and a fun magical world. I enjoyed Kai, the side characters and their relationships with each other. While I enjoyed the overall story, I really struggled a little bit with the dual timelines presented in this book. I personally struggled with who was who and when certain things occurred during the story, which caused this to be a little bit of a tedious read for me - but that’s absolutely a “me” issue and not necessarily a book issue

Overall this was a three star read for me. The magic system and characters were intriguing enough for me to keep going even when I was confused about what was happening. There is some queer rep in this book, which I enjoyed, but nothing on page so no flames for spice

If you enjoy fantasy books with dual timelines, quirky characters, political intrigue and engaging magic, then definitely pick this one up! Witch King is out now in ebook and hardback!!

An amazing title by Martha Wells! I've only known her work from the MuderBot series and this was such an amazing read, different of course but with her own particular style that makes it impossible to put down! I definitely recommand this title for reader both fans of fantasy and/or sci-fi!

What an exciting ride! I have been a fan of Martha Wells’s excellent Murderbot series for some time now, and I knew I had to read her new fantasy book immediately. And I was not disappointed!

Witch King starts off slow, with the waking of demon Kaiisteron from a watery tomb, confused and angry and ready to take revenge on those who have wronged him. As Kai collects his allies and tries to collect his memories, the reader is slowly introduced to the world and to the history of a political revolution in the not-too-distant past.

There is a lot of complexity here, with various factions with completely different cultures and agendas and magical abilities competing to rule, and while it can seem a bit overwhelming at first, I think Wells did a phenomenal job balancing her complicated world with her grounded characters. With wry humour and plenty of intense action scenes, we follow Kai and his friends through the years, as they fight deadly expositors, escape on the backs of shell-whales and ascension rafts, communicate with light imps, and craft magical intentions to burn bridges and drain life-forces.

I loved untangling the threads of this multilayered novel, and I kept marvelling at the author’s originality and ingenuity; the magic systems were unlike any I’d seen before, and the flashbacks to the past had a legend-like quality that fully made me believe in the infamy of Kai and his fellow revolutionaries. The book may be finished, but now I need a whole series!

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with a e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is such a terrific read! It’s everything I love in a high fantasy novel.

The story opens with a bang. Demon prince Kai awakens to find that his mortal body has been murdered and his spirit trapped in a tomb. When he realizes that he has been released by people who plan to enslave him for his magic, Kai inhabits the fresh corpse of another of their victims and quickly disposes of them. He then discovers that his friend, the Witch Ziede, was entombed as well, alive but in a state of suspended animation. Neither of them has any idea how or why they were imprisoned, and Ziede fears something may also have happened to her wife, Tahren. So, they set off to find Tahren and solve the mystery of Kai’s murder, pursued by their enemies and gathering allies along the way.

The pace of the storytelling is relatively slow. Partly that’s a function of the plot, much of which involves Kai and Ziede traveling from one place to another on their quest to find Tahren. The way the author chooses to structure her story, including regular flashbacks, and the complexity of the world she’s created also play a role in slowing the pacing. To enjoy this book, you really have to be prepared to just settle in and appreciate the journey.

Martha Wells excels at worldbuilding, and there’s a lot of it going on in this novel. Her world consists of a complicated mix of nations, peoples, and groups, including demons, Witches, the Blessed, and more. They have a variety of magic systems; for example, Witches control elemental spirits, while expositors cast spells powered by the life force (and death) of other beings. Their recent history involves a horrific war of annihilation committed by forces led by powerful Hierarchs, who were eventually defeated after devastating losses by an alliance in which Kai and his friends played a central role.

Readers are initially thrown into the middle of all of this with little explanation. No big info dumps here! Instead, patience is needed, because details about this world’s inhabitants and history are slowly doled out as the narrative unfolds. The periodic flashbacks to key episodes in Kai’s past also help to illuminate elements of the story, as well as how Kai became known as the famous Kaiisteron the Witch King.

Kai makes for a fascinating main character. He’s lost so much at the hands of the Hierarchs and their followers—his mortal family, their entire people and culture, even his own demon body. It’s left Kai jaded and cynical and transformed him into someone who can kill his enemies almost without thinking. But he's fundamentally good at heart, and that shines through. I enjoyed his sense of humor, too.

The ending hints at the possibility of more books featuring Kai and his friends. I’d love that, so fingers crossed!

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for me to review; all opinions expressed are my own.

This book really throws you into an unknown wield and you've just got to go with it. I thought it we good but maybe a bit above my level of fantasy that I usually enjoy. Overall, it was good

This is a new epic fantasy world coming to light and be prepared for some epic world-building...lots of names, places, history, and drama. I thought at first I wouldn't need the character list at the beginning but I was wrong. It came in very helpful throughout to reference characters. The story revolves around Kai, a demon or as he claims "THE DEMON". He's been knocked out for a century and now is on the path to figuring out who is to blame. Shenanigans ensue as he and his companions travel the fantasy realm in this imaginative epic fantasy.

“A story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.“

Whoa. This story was…just…whoa.

Martha Wells has been a favourite of mine, since I picked up the first of the MurderBot Diaries. She’s funny, and smart, and can tell an extraordinary story like nobody’s business.

This story was funny…and smart…and extraordinary.

The world building was fantastic. The history and political structures and magical realms, oh my!

I loved the characters. They were all sorts complicated and deep.

The story was intense. The plot was fast moving and dynamic and the dual timelines kept me guessing.

It was also just a little…much.

It was TOO fantastic.
And there were TOO MANY complex characters.
And there was TOO MUCH going on in too many different places with too much political/historical detail.

I was overwhelmed.

Part of the problem, I think, was that I listened to a good portion of this in audio.

While the narrator was excellent, I felt like I needed to chart out all the characters and backstories and timelines.

It was rather exhausting.

I haven’t given up on the author, or even more in this series, should there be any.

I just need to read with my eyeballs, with zero distractions.

6/10

Thanks to NetGalley, Tor Publishing, and Macmillan Audio for this complex ARC.

WITCH KING by Martha Wells (Network Effect and others in the Murderbot series) is the introduction to a new world featuring the title character, a legendary demon named Kai, and his companion, Zeide, who is a witch searching for her missing wife. Politics and conflict abound. I honestly found this novel a bit difficult to follow – not only are there many characters, the rather lengthy (414 pages) book also jumps around in time between the current action and past events involving the same characters. However, Amal El-Mohtar, reviewing for The New York Times, found this temporal aspect to be a plus, writing, "timelines play off each other wonderfully: Elements introduced in a dizzying rush of world building become welcome context for the flashbacks, which in turn escalate tension in the present" and chose WITCH KING as one of just five science fiction and fantasy titles to suggest as Summer Reads. Wells' many fans should (and will!) certainly give this book a try. WITCH KING appeared as a LibraryReads selection for May 2023 and Wells is a prolific, outstanding author in this genre – she has won four Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards, and three Locus Awards.

This book was a slight departure for the books I tend to put on my TBR. Despite that, I enjoyed it!

Enter our morally-grey protagonist Kai, who we find buried in a grave with his friend, with no memory of how he got there or who had done this to him.

Consider me hooked: I love a good mystery!

What ensues is a tale of friendship, love, revolutions, betrayal, and war. All very wonderful themes with a captivating cast of characters. They are all (and I mean all) written superbly well and I would read more books about them.

However, to get to these good aspects of the story, you must literally swim for your life when it comes to the world building. You have to be patient with the details and allow it to build around you. Easier said than done - its pretty immense and you have to overcome some significant confusion.

Would recommend it as a dark fantasy for those who love the high fantasy level of worldbuilding and detail. Definitely not for beginners - but its worth the challenge!

I was a tad hesitant when I requested it because I love Murderbot books but I have tried one fantasy by this author and things didn't go bad, but neither went amazingly well. I enjoyed that book, but I didn't love it, and I am not sure I would continue that series so there was that. But I was curious. A lot. And this time my curiosity won the prize!
This book is amazingly good, is like a chess game that you don't know is played,[And I really mean this part. There was a moment in the reading in which I was "scared" because the book was nearing the end and we weren't getting enough answers, there was still a big part of the plot that was "missing" and there were too few pages to do it in a satisfying manner, so I was scared that the book was one of those with no end at all, and this wasn't making me happy and then... then the revelation and all things fall to their place. It was amazing! And I loved it!!! (hide spoiler)] and we have amazing characters to keep us company and led us around. And okay, we have mainly Kai, because I think that he overshadows all the others. And even if this is normal, because he is the MC, it is a bit of a shame, because they all seem interesting enough, and they are, it's just that they are not as bright and as alive as Kai is. But they all are good, and Kai is sooooo worth meeting!
And the world is fascinating. I love that we have different kinds of magic, totally unrelated between them, and quite original. And the plot was so intriguing! Usually, I am not the biggest fan of dual timelines, but here it worked so well! The pace was perfect and the balance between present and past was top-notch!

The story begins after the protagonist, Kai is murdered. It begins with a tomb robbing magical ceremony. A lesser mage has come to harvest Kai's magic. Instead, he all but offered himself up as a snack for Kai, an embodied demon. Kai must then figure out who entombed him, gather his friends and foil his enemies.

Why I started this book: Loved the [book:All Systems Red|32758901] series and was eager to read something else by Wells.

Why I finished it: This book was fascinating. It telescoped in and out, expanding and contracting in unpredictable ways. At times it felt like the first book in an expansive new series, and at other times the story felt small enough to tuck away in one afternoon. Wells plays with the ideas of what is a villain, and who gets to define the term. Very intriguing story.

I hate to write this about one of my most anticipated reads but this was just okay. It felt pretty long, it meandered in the middle and fell a bit flat towards the end. We also got a sort of a ‘gotcha’ that didn’t feel like a ‘gotcha’ so much as a ‘haha you silly reader, you really thought x’. The characters were great, I enjoyed them very much but the story didn’t seem to serve them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eArc of this book. Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. The world building was far too complex for a stand alone, and I couldn’t push through. It was also very slow and overly complex.