“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 (432 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.

I can’t believe this was my first Martha Wells book. I enjoyed the narrator. I’m just not sure the audiobook format was the best to consume this book. There are many different characters and things happening, which made it challenging to listen.. I found myself returning to re-listen to certain parts to make sure that I remembered what happened. I really loved the premise of the Witch King, and I’m excited to read the book

dnf @15%

I was so excited to get the chance to listen to this book. I have tried really hard to get a grasp on the world but I am finding it very confusing. I do think that the narrator has done a fantastic job with this novel but this seems to be a book that would work best for me in print. I have put in a request for this book at my local library and hope to give it another try very soon.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Full review to be posted soon.

Witch King is the latest novel by award-winning author Martha Wells, which brings the reader/listener into a magical secondary world that includes her take on many of the common tropes of an epic fantasy world and story including interesting magical world building and intrigue between factions. For many listeners/readers who may be approaching Witch King because of a love for The Murderbot Diaries, I encourage you to enter the story with the expectation and understanding that this is an epic fantasy novel with a different tone and characters than that beloved series. The world has complex worldbuilding with some interesting elements. Though the story took me a bit to get into, Kai grew on me as a character beginning with his initial release for a magical imprisonment.

Eric Mok’s narration of the audiobook is well done and I would gladly seek out his narration in the future; however, the production decision to go with a more conventional and frequently formal sounding epic fantasy production may have missed an opportunity to accentuate some of the more unique narrative and stylistic elements of the story. Overall, Witch King will appeal most to those that go into the novel expecting epic fantasy and are ready to do the work to learn the magical elements and political intrigue of this secondary world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an advance audio review copy of Witch King. Full review and discussion on episode #206 of Narrated podcast: https://narratedpodcast.com/206

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillian Audio for the advanced copy of this book!

First, I can't believe I got to listen to this early. Martha Wells can do no wrong in my books, so unsurprisingly I loved this. This was an incredibly unique take on fantasy and a refreshing look at gender. The book definitely throws you right in and expects you to keep up/catch up. However, this really only made me love the book more but if that's not your style I completely understand. I loved the back and forth between Kai's past and present lives. The gender fluidity was so refreshing as well, and I genuinely loved the characters in this book.

A 5 star read for me. Now for specifics on the audiobook itself, Eric Mok absolutely killed the narration of this book. It made it so atmospheric and exciting. I loved it.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly really struggled with this book. It probably had to do a lot with not understanding the world it takes place in. Is it Earth set in the future? It is some kind of alien planet? I still don't know. The confusion probably stems a lot with the confusion of the main character, Kai.
Kai is a demon, but not a bad demon? He possesses bodies, but like usually the person is willing or the body is given to him to possess or something like that. Well, Kai wakes up in a strange body and doesn't remember where he is. So I started off just as confused as him. I really didn't get a whole lot of character development. He seemed kinda bland. There weren't jokes and no fun characters. I could have put it down and not picked it back up and been happy about it. Which is evident in the fact that it took me a whole month to read it (talk about a reading slump!).
Maybe I'm just not used to this type of world and magic system. It didn't help that none of it was really explained as the story progressed.
It's kinda disappointing because I really did enjoy Wells' Murderbot Diaries series. Which is why I requested this ARC and was excited when I started it.
Audiobook narrated did okay. I didn't really hear any difference between characters, so that was probably a big factor in it being hard to follow.
Additional review on Pages n' Pages Podcast (available on all platforms) episode 102 (post date 6/14/2023)

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and Matha Wells for this audio e-ARC.
A fun romp with a modern wry wit overlaid over a classical fantasy romp. The short version: don’t f&@# with Kai.
Strong recommendation!

Unfortunately, this one just fell flat for me. I’m more than happy to be thrown in the deep end in fantasy novels, and I’m certainly not opposed to large casts of characters, but this book just felt tedious. I often found my mind wandering while listening to the audiobook and eventually wasn’t able to bring myself to re-listen to sections I hadn’t absorbed.

DNF

3 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I wanted to like this more than I did. I thought the concept was incredibly interesting but there was just something that just didn't really click with me. It could totally be a me problem because I do feel like most people who enjoy fantasy would enjoy this. I could have read this at the wrong time so I will recommend this. I suggest the audio book because Erik Mok was a very good narrator.

I got a copy of this audiobook for free from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

This book was fun! If I were to describe this book, it's a combination of Carol Berg's Rai-Kirah series and Steven Erikson's Malazan series. This book stars the eponymous Witch King Kai, in two timelines. In the past, he leads a rebellion against oppressive death wizards. In the present, he's trying to discover who betrayed him.

While this book didn't knock my socks off, I do think this book will end up in the top 10 books I read this year. I suggest you read this book, but enter reading this with your expectations relatively in check. This book isn't as spectacular a start to a series as Murderbot.

Spoilers Below. I'm writing this review in good faith, as one author reviewing another's book, trying to balance positives with negatives.

WHAT IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE? WHAT GENRES? WHAT MAJOR TROPES?

Adult, but I think anyone older than 14 can read this.

Demon protagonist who jumps between bodies

Life-energy and death magic

Dual timeline, past and present. Friends in the past are potentially enemies in the present

Non-European inspired setting. (I think I remember the characters eating teff, so I think this is loosely inspired by a central African setting? I could be remembering it wrong.)

MY EMOTIONAL RESPONSE/ FUN FACTOR

I had fun reading this, and I read it quickly. This book throws you right into the plot, with minimal exposition explaining worldbuilding. I enjoyed it as a relatively short pallet cleanser novel (432 pages or 13 hours audiobook) to read between bigger books. It was well written, it's prose lush, it was sharply paced, and the worldbuilding was enthralling.

If I were to make a complaint about this book, this felt like book 2 in a series. Specifically, we didn't get to know the characters like you usually do with book 1 in a series. I finished the book and the characters felt somewhat like strangers.

My favorite part of the book was the lived-in feeling of the setting and how the two timelines interacted with one another. In the past, Kai seems like a much more innocent person than he does in the present. In the past, we see the heroes interacting with one another as friends, but in the present the heroes treat one another with suspicion because they were betrayed by one of their number and they don't know who the betrayer is.

WARNING! QUIT READING NOW UNTIL YOU FINISH READING THE BOOK!

BIASES STATED

To put this review/study in proper context, you must know my starting point.

I've read a few of this author's books and stories before. I read book 1 of Raksura, and didn't love it. I read the first Murderbot book, and enjoyed it. I read some of the author's MtG IP fiction, and thought she did a fine job.

I also read a handful of reviews for 'Witch King', and I'm grateful that I did. I enjoyed this novel all the more because this book exceeded the expectations those reviews left me with. This was a good book after all.

SIMILAR BOOKS/OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

‘Transformation’ by Carol Berg

‘Malazan: ‘The Gardens of the Moon” Book Review

‘The Curse of Chalion’ by Lois McMaster Bujold

CONCEPT AND EXECUTION

This book's concept was as a dual-timeline narrative, with the heroes in the past teaming up to defeat a great evil, while in the present they are at one another's throats. To summarize, the heroes defeated the Dark Lord(s) in the past timeline, and in the present timeline the heroes replaced the Dark Lord(s) and now squabble over the rubble of the Lord's kingdom. In the present, the book begins with Kai escaping a prison a past-friend trapped him in, and Kai has no idea which past-friend put him there. All he knows is that he's going to get revenge. This was a great concept.

This book was well executed upon, but it could have been better. I don't say this very often, but this book could have been a good 70~100 pages longer. I wanted to spend more time with these characters, I wanted to see more of the magic, I wanted to explore this world and it's civilizations more. What we got here was enough story, but I feel like the dual-timeline narrative resulted in us not having enough of either timeline. This is a good problem to have.

CHARACTERS, CHARACTERIZATION AND DIALOG

This is the weakest part of this story. As I said above, I finished this book and the protagonists were still basically strangers to me. This book was very plot-forward. We never saw the protagonists in contexts outside of moving the plot forward. This book was all business, no pleasure.

Everything the characters do was meant to advance the plot, and it gave both timelines a frenetic energy. But this fast pacing deprived the book of a slower, more nuanced characterization of the protagonists. I left this book understanding the events surrounding Kai, but not understanding who Kai is. Does he like tea? What's his favorite book? What's his favorite color? These questions are individually unimportant, but they hint at a greater truth. Kai, and everyone else, are somewhat enigmas.

To be clear, these aren't bad characters; I found Kai to be compelling. They just weren't particularly developed here. I hope this book gets a sequel, I want to get more from this series.

PACING AND STRUCTURE

And this is arguably this book's strongest aspect. This book is FAST PACED. As stated, this book has frenetic energy. It's FAST PACED, and eminently readable. I found this book as easy to consume as crackers or candy or chocolate.

On a chapter-by-chapter level, the author integrated the two timelines by going a chapter in the past, then the present, then the past again. This strategy worked, but I think it wasn't ideal. I had a tiny bit of friction holding onto the thread of the plot when the narrative was constantly switching back and forth between past and present. I personally feel it would have been better if the story did several chapters in the past, then several chapters in the present, then back to the past. That would have relieved that narrative friction.

PLOT, STAKES AND TENSION

No spoilers about the plot. I thought the plot was very well done.

The stakes and tension worked REALLY WELL in the past. Kai was young and unskilled in the past, and he had a lot more to lose in the past. Due to his weakness and having so much to lose, the past felt much more serious and dangerous than the present. That's great stakes and tension. The stakes and tension in the present wasn't as well established as it was in the past.

AUTHORIAL VOICE (TONE, PROSE AND THEME)

I enjoyed the author's narrative voice. I like books which have a somewhat lush, descriptive style, focusing on the texture of life. For example, describing what a flower smells like, or what food tastes like. This book is such a story, describing everything from food to the art on the walls to people's clothing. Now that said, the lush style never delved into being purple.

The story's tone was serious, but never delved into being grimdark. The main bad guys uses death magic which kills a ton of people at a time, however that's the limit of it. There's no gore, or assault, or anything grim like that.

SETTING, WORLDBUILDING AND ORIGINALITY

The setting was lush, with multiple magic systems interacting with multiple cultures. The grasslands culture uses demons like Kai, there are witches who use elemental magics, the Immortal Blessed culture create magical artifacts, while the antagonist hierarchs use death magic. This was really good worldbuiling by the author, because it gave the different cultures a different texture for worldbuilding each; by getting to know the magic systems, you get to know the culture behind each one.

For example, the Blessed culture view themselves as pious and righteous due to the divine nature of their magic, but everyone else views their culture as pretentious and annoying due to how snooty their are. Another example would be demon magic; other cultures view the grassland culture as evil because they consort with demons, however the grassland culture view demons as something like Unseelie fairies- useful and dangerous, and you can marry them and form alliances with them.

Additionally, the setting isn't just a re-creation of earth. Some of the animals are NOT earth animals, like the massive wallwalkers who are domesticated beasts of burden (which sometimes eat people) or the Frankenstein-like ghoul creatures the blood magic sorcerers can create. And the characters wear non-earth clothing, like the veils the magic-user wear or the golden robes of the magically powerful hierarchs.

AUDIOBOOK NOTES

I listened to the audiobook, and it was great. The protagonist is the 'Witch King' mention in the title. I felt that the narrator did a good job of adding a bit of regal dignity to the narration. If this book sounds good to you, try out the audiobook, the narrator is Eric Mok.

LESSONS LEARNED

As an author, I want to improve my own writing/editing skills. To that end, I like to learn lessons from every story I read. Here's what I learned from this story:

Link up your fantasy worldbuilding of magic with culture. For example, in this book the Immortal Blessed culture used divine magic to create magical artifacts. They view themselves as the natural rulers of the world, and consider themselves pious and just. Everyone else thinks of them as faux-rightous oppressors. This is GREAT worldbuilding, linking culture to magic to characters.

This was a dual-timeline novel, and it divvied up the timeline by going chapter 1:present, then chapter 2: past, then 3:present, and so on/so forth. I think this strategy wasn't as good as bundling chapters into larger sections. For example, chapters 1 through 4: present, chapters 5 through 8:past, chapters 9 through 12: present...

SUMMARY

This is a good story. I enjoyed it as a palate cleanser between larger novels. It has strong worldbuilding, pacing and plot. I thought the characters were pleasant to read, but a bit blank slates. I hope there's a series following this book, this setting and characters are interesting.

This is my second true attempt at Martha Wells' fantasy titles. I'm a huge fan and evangelist of the Murderbot series, but something about her fantasy hasn't landed for me. I'm not sure if it's all the time skips between the past and the present, but I just couldn't find myself caring about any of the side characters. Everyone aside from Kai-enna felt pretty one dimensional. Looking back, that does often happen in Wells' books, but it feels more acceptable in Murderbot because they are actively avoiding learning about the people around them on a deeper level??

Anyway, a fun enough story of betrayal and intrigue with demons and magic. Lots of ships!

Not usually a fan of stories told through multiple times at once, this story used the device to excellent effect. It reminded me at times of watching The Untamed, while at other times of the recent Dungeons & Dragons movie. The story is dark, and the characters are not opposed to a little (or a lot) light murder to get where they need to be. The adventure starts with death and only gets bloodier from there on in. And yet, there is a lightness and humour to the characters that keeps the story from getting bogged down in the blood. I really enjoyed the story and I would follow Kai and his crew through more stories, but I am just as happy to have a high fantasy tale told completely within one bound book.

The audio narrative was excellently done and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Tor Books, Martha Wells, and Eric Mok (audio narrator) for the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook of Witch King in exchange for an honest review.

The narrative of this book unfolds through alternating sections of the past and the present, skillfully interweaving the two timelines. Each chapter set in the past serves as a crucial piece of the puzzle, providing essential information that enhances the reader's comprehension of the present events.

The novel begins with Kai awakening from a state of suspended consciousness, only to discover himself trapped within a meticulously designed water trap. His newfound freedom, however, is short-lived as he soon realizes that a lesser mage seeks to exploit his potent magic for personal gain. It quickly becomes apparent that this unholy alliance is destined for disastrous consequences.
As Kai delves deeper into his predicament, he becomes determined to uncover the reasons behind his imprisonment and the changes that have transpired in the world since his assassination. Moreover, the enigmatic rise of the Rising World Coalition further complicates matters, leaving Kai with no choice but to rely on his allies and draw upon his exceptional pain magic to find the truth.

In a vivid fantasy world of demon culture and fantastical politics, this novel is eloquent and exciting in its characterization and writing style. While this novel is noted as stand-alone, the end has potential for further tales with Kai and Zaide. A great novel for an adult fantasy audience.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I didn't know what to expect here but I love scifi and Murderbot is one of my very favorite series. However, Witch King feels more like epic fantasy. There are lots of characters and types of characters with complex abilities and magic. I think I will definitely want to read again, possibly listening while reading along in the ebook. I don't feel like I grasped everything in the plot.

I never felt bored or like I wanted to stop reading. There was a good sense of the battles and particularly Kai's magic. HIs found family of sorts was trying to figure out who betrayed them. So while they search for people and end up in battles in the present, there are also some sections from the past.

It's lucky Kai has some healing abilities because he is injured repeatedly. He also makes the choice not to drain strength from others but to gather it from his own pain, so he is hurting himself sometimes.

I enjoyed this and like the characters but the world is so diverse and rich with extraordinary magic, I know I will pick up more each time I read Witch King. Somewhere I got the impression this is the start of a new series and I hope that is true.

Narration:
I was very comfortable with the narration. The primary point of view was Kai so he was most of the thoughts and a lot of the dialogue. Until I settled into the voice and to help with the complexity of the story, I started at 1.25x but was able to change to my usual 1.5x speed about half way through.

After years of bring us Murderbot stories Martha Wells makes a triumphant return to the fantasy genre, once again crafting an amazing world filled with unique characters. I will say you really need to pay attention while reading or listening to this one as there is a serious level of complex world building and the story starts almost immediately with no real setup/explanation of what is happening. We get dropped into the story and just get swept along at first, which I actually enjoyed, but I made the mistake of starting this one late at night when I was quite tired. When I started up again the next day I realized I was kind of lost and had to start over, lol. And I’m glad I did. I could have pressed forward despite being a little lost but likely wouldn’t have ended up enjoying the book as much as I did. Kai is an awesome character: dark, a bit twisted, and most definitely deadly, but you can’t help but like him. Be aware that this is a dark fantasy with a solid story slow burn storyline and may feature triggering subject matter for some. Eric Mok does a great job with the narration. I’d like to thank Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance audio copy of Witch King.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R34T9I5D81889V/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Title: Witch King
Author: Martha Wells
Narrated by Eric Mok

- DNF
- Just Didn’t Catch My Attention
- Narrotr Sounded AMAZING

This is an unfair review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an Audiobook ARC of The Witch King

While the allure of the plot initially intrigued me, this book, unfortunately, failed to hold my attention. However, it's important to note that the fault does not lie with the author or the narrator. Their storytelling skills were top-notch but unfortunately for some unnamed reason, it couldn't captivate me enough to finish. Simply put, I just didn't click with it.

This is a Scfi/High Fantasy, the narration was great! Very clear and could understand everything that was said. Also there weren’t any noticeable mistakes or things missed when editing such as background noise. The story itself I felt was too smart for me and I found myself confused and lost through the majority of the story. Overall well executed. I think if I had the print form it would have been a lot easier for me to understand.

The kind of rich, developed world that chugs along of its own volition long after the reader has finished the book.

Wells continues exploring recurring themes such as being an outsider, found family, grief and loss, as well as hitting juicy pop-culture favorite tropes like hurt/comfort, long established relationships, and accidental adoptive parenting. Not cozy fantasy exactly, but still sure to be an instant comfort reread option for fans of second-world fantasy.

The narrator's skill and versatility really brings the story to life and adds a depth of emotion to these wonderful characters.

Highly recommended for new fans and old.

Kai is just having a horrible day all around and it may just be kind of associated with him you know being murdered and his consciousness becoming dormant as well as unaware of time passing. Plus, on top of that he is confined into a water trap. So, with all of that said, Kai does wake up, but then he finds a lesser mage who is channeling Kai's magic to their own advantage. Kai is pretty certain that all of this is not going to go well, but he must first figure out why was he assassinated and imprisoned?

I have never read a book by Martha Wells before, but I have heard good things about her previous books.

Witch King definitely did not disappoint for my first Martha Wells book, and I loved Kai as a character since he is a super charismatic demon that is from the Underworld.

When it came to first starting this book. I felt like it was hard to get my bearing and know the world as well as knowing what actually is going on. It does feel like us as the reader are just thrown into the story and it being up to the reader to figure out the world, but once the story gets going it becomes easier to understand and really get into the story. Once you understand the world you instantly become immersed. So, if you are to pick this book up, then please pay attention to the details because it will ultimately help you understand what is going on and how the world is built.

Witch King is told in a dual timeline of present time and in the past. This story is a slow burn type of fantasy, which I typically love when an author does it right. In this case, Martha Wells does a great job once I got my bearings into this book.

The cast of characters were a delight, and it has been a while since I got to dive into an epic fantasy book for a while and it really made me see that I have missed reading awesome epic fantasy books since I love some really good complex worlds, characters, and magic systems.

I look forward to reading whatever Martha Wells puts out and will definitely look up The MurderBot series that is highly acclaimed by her.