Scan barcode
beammey's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. True, I didn't like it as much as [book:Truthwitch|21414439], but I think it's a solid second edition into this trilogy? Series? I'm not sure what it's going to be. It for sure has a different feel than the book before it, I'm not going to lie, and it didn't go at the same break neck pace, but it still kept me interested and I actually gasped out loud one (Holy, Isuelt! WHY?). This tugs with emotions and it was great to see the two best friend apart and then somewhat back together again at the end. I'm looking forward to Bloodwitch and figuring more out about Owl and see if what Safi does when she earns her Freedom. I hope Merik and Kullen can be saved too. I would recommend this book. 5 out of 5 stars.
eesh25's review against another edition
3.0
Windwitch is the sequel to Truthwitch and it, sadly, suffers from Second Book Syndrome. Where I really enjoyed Truthwitch, Windwitch was a struggle to get through.
The main focus was on Merik, the Windwitch, who barely escapes death after an attack on his ship. Safi also barely escapes (along with Vaness, the empress) after an attack on hers. Merik decides to go home to Nubrevna and convict his sister, who he thinks orchestrated the attack on him, while Safi is simply trying to reach safe land. We also have Aeduan and Iseult, who've struck a deal of mutual benefit and are working together for the time.
In book 1, my main complaint was that the writing wasn't good in the first half. But it improved during the book and I was pleased. Here, it's improved more, but also gone down in a way. We aren't getting enough concrete details about the world because the author seems to be putting her focus on making the writing more poetic. And while that's not a bad thing, there needs to be a better balance between plot details and metaphors.
Take the pirates for example. We're introduced to two... gangs, you could say, of pirates and told of how dangerous they were. The lands are explains in dramatic language and the pirates are said to be ruthless. But what about their working, their leaders, their political position? Those mundane things didn't get the attention they deserved.
But that wasn't a huge problem, believe it or not. The main issue was with the multiple perspectives. I've observed, over time, that the only way multiple perspectives work is if they're connected to the same main storyline. Here the stories were all different. They all had connections to the pirates but the pirates had such little character to them that it didn't work. They were so vague.
The best plot was Merik's. He's not only investigating the attack on his ship, he's also finding things out about his country that he didn't know before. And there some kind of shadow man floating around trying to destroy the city. But again, details were vague. We got his and his sister, Vivia's, perspective and learnt more about both of them.
Vivia was the bad guy in the first book. Everyone hated her. Now we see that Merik and Vivia have misconceptions about each other. Maybe Vivia isn't so bad.
Iseult and Aeduan's plotline could have been boring. They're just travelling the whole time and nothing happens. Except that we get to know our Bloodwitch better and he and Iseult develop an understanding. Their relationship was definitely the saving grave or that portion of the novel. It kept the two of them interesting.
Last, Safi's was bad. It was boring and very difficult to care about. It did get us close to the pirates but it was still pretty pointless. I can't help but think that it was only there so that we could keep in touch with Safi, who's an important character. Because otherwise, we could've done without it. Safi didn't interest me much and Vaness, who could have been interesting, simply wasn't. They were travelling, captured-and-travelling, free-and-travelling. The whole thing, if it had to be there, could have been covered in half as many pages.
The book was, overall, pertty uneventful. The last few chapters were good though and I have hope that the next book will be better. For now, I'm just glad this one's over.
The main focus was on Merik, the Windwitch, who barely escapes death after an attack on his ship. Safi also barely escapes (along with Vaness, the empress) after an attack on hers. Merik decides to go home to Nubrevna and convict his sister, who he thinks orchestrated the attack on him, while Safi is simply trying to reach safe land. We also have Aeduan and Iseult, who've struck a deal of mutual benefit and are working together for the time.
In book 1, my main complaint was that the writing wasn't good in the first half. But it improved during the book and I was pleased. Here, it's improved more, but also gone down in a way. We aren't getting enough concrete details about the world because the author seems to be putting her focus on making the writing more poetic. And while that's not a bad thing, there needs to be a better balance between plot details and metaphors.
Take the pirates for example. We're introduced to two... gangs, you could say, of pirates and told of how dangerous they were. The lands are explains in dramatic language and the pirates are said to be ruthless. But what about their working, their leaders, their political position? Those mundane things didn't get the attention they deserved.
But that wasn't a huge problem, believe it or not. The main issue was with the multiple perspectives. I've observed, over time, that the only way multiple perspectives work is if they're connected to the same main storyline. Here the stories were all different. They all had connections to the pirates but the pirates had such little character to them that it didn't work. They were so vague.
The best plot was Merik's. He's not only investigating the attack on his ship, he's also finding things out about his country that he didn't know before. And there some kind of shadow man floating around trying to destroy the city. But again, details were vague. We got his and his sister, Vivia's, perspective and learnt more about both of them.
Vivia was the bad guy in the first book. Everyone hated her. Now we see that Merik and Vivia have misconceptions about each other. Maybe Vivia isn't so bad.
Iseult and Aeduan's plotline could have been boring. They're just travelling the whole time and nothing happens. Except that we get to know our Bloodwitch better and he and Iseult develop an understanding. Their relationship was definitely the saving grave or that portion of the novel. It kept the two of them interesting.
Last, Safi's was bad. It was boring and very difficult to care about. It did get us close to the pirates but it was still pretty pointless. I can't help but think that it was only there so that we could keep in touch with Safi, who's an important character. Because otherwise, we could've done without it. Safi didn't interest me much and Vaness, who could have been interesting, simply wasn't. They were travelling, captured-and-travelling, free-and-travelling. The whole thing, if it had to be there, could have been covered in half as many pages.
The book was, overall, pertty uneventful. The last few chapters were good though and I have hope that the next book will be better. For now, I'm just glad this one's over.
majabwds's review against another edition
3.0
I like the first book better. This one was like every movie sequel out there: it need to be bigger, new characters introduced and not worked on. I wasn't as interested in Merik story. And where the fuck did Cam come from?! She/he just magically appeared and became like Merik's BFF. And now we have a new bad guy, with little mentioned of the bad guys from the first one. Everything kinda slowed down. But, Aeduan and Iseult FTW!!
yodamom's review against another edition
4.0
Audio-Oh I really enjoyed this one. Non stop action, near death, intense fear, and always on the run, the characters never get a rest. There are three mini groups all searching all under under false beliefs. You will be on the edge of your seat through the whole book.
I love Cam, and I hope we see more of that character.
Moving on the Sightwitch right away
I love Cam, and I hope we see more of that character.
Moving on the Sightwitch right away
cordeliant's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
kaylastivers's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
tencutepuppies's review against another edition
4.0
(4.5/5) This book was much better for me than the first. I think there was more varied action, more moving pieces happening all together that really worked for me. Having Vivia’s POV especially made the narrative rounder for me. It was also a good choice to have all the POV characters apart from each other and experiencing their own adventures as they sought to reunite. That brought in new characters like Vaness and the Hell-Bards for Safi, Cam for Merik, and Styx for Vivia.
Safi:
Again, I wasn’t immensely tied to her parts of the story. They were interesting enough to make me keep reading and be invested, but not enough to make me think about her after the series is done. I did find her interactions with Caden intriguing though. It was like a enemies to friends arc. Vaness was sort of the same, although they were never quite enemies.
Iseult:
My favorite of the two. She’s struggling so hard with being the more useless, darker half of the friendship, and this causes her to believe she can never be half of the Cahr Awen of legend. This makes her connect much more than Safi did, because Safi almost gives me Aelin vibes with her level of “perfectness.” (She’s not flawless, but she’s special enough to make everyone sort of gloss over her flaws) Iseult struggles much more, which makes her determination, her insecurities, her shortcomings, and her sort of aloofness from everyone else bleed onto the page. Safi is all she really has, and now she doesn’t even have her.
Merik:
I’m sorry but I cannot get into his character. He does have a personality, but also not really at all at the same time.
Aeduan:
I knew he wouldn’t let me down. First of all, I want to know his sadboy “no one will love me because I’m a monster” past even more because I eat that shit up. I think what really works about his trauma and the inner turmoil he goes through is that he never feels bad for himself or wallows in an annoying way. He just accepts that he’s only ever going to be able to hurt people, and therefore is destined to always be on the outside of the group. It makes his situation much more sad. However, we get to see another facet of the personality he tries to squash down when he saves Owl. I love the “big scary man adopts a small child” trope so much.
Vivia:
Now this is what I wanted to see from the first book. Her evil princess character was already interesting to me when Merik described her, but it was a huge twist to see that it was all an act and that she struggles twice as hard to feed her people and remain in the counsel’s good graces as both a woman and a daughter of a woman who went insane. The hundreds of masks she wears to avoid being herself is both relatable and heartbreaking. She truly thinks no one will follow or respect her if she’s not this furious monster all the time, so she pretends to be just that, even around the few people she trusts. Like Styx. (Who I ship with her very much)
Romance:
There wasn’t a huge amount of it here, but what I did see, I liked. Namely, Aeduan and Iseult. You know I love a slow burn. Because I knew they were going to be a thing in the future, I could see every step in their budding feelings for each other. It was unsteady because of how easily they could betray each other, but the slow trust they built up over time was so beautiful to see. In the end, they were so natural with each other. In that last major scene with them when they were saying goodbye, I was floored by how much I connected with them. I haven’t felt that strongly about a book ship in a long time. I cannot wait to see their feelings growing until there’s a confession in the third book, perhaps.
The Plot:
There was constant action and none of those awkward dull patches that were in the first book as they travelled. As I said before, switching locations between the characters was a really smart choice. They all had their own separate things going on, but their issues all tied into the greater story.
Final Thoughts:
I cannot wait for the third book. In fact, I’ve already started it. And then I will have to wait many months until the next one comes out :,)
Safi:
Again, I wasn’t immensely tied to her parts of the story. They were interesting enough to make me keep reading and be invested, but not enough to make me think about her after the series is done. I did find her interactions with Caden intriguing though. It was like a enemies to friends arc. Vaness was sort of the same, although they were never quite enemies.
Iseult:
My favorite of the two. She’s struggling so hard with being the more useless, darker half of the friendship, and this causes her to believe she can never be half of the Cahr Awen of legend. This makes her connect much more than Safi did, because Safi almost gives me Aelin vibes with her level of “perfectness.” (She’s not flawless, but she’s special enough to make everyone sort of gloss over her flaws) Iseult struggles much more, which makes her determination, her insecurities, her shortcomings, and her sort of aloofness from everyone else bleed onto the page. Safi is all she really has, and now she doesn’t even have her.
Merik:
I’m sorry but I cannot get into his character. He does have a personality, but also not really at all at the same time.
Aeduan:
I knew he wouldn’t let me down. First of all, I want to know his sadboy “no one will love me because I’m a monster” past even more because I eat that shit up. I think what really works about his trauma and the inner turmoil he goes through is that he never feels bad for himself or wallows in an annoying way. He just accepts that he’s only ever going to be able to hurt people, and therefore is destined to always be on the outside of the group. It makes his situation much more sad. However, we get to see another facet of the personality he tries to squash down when he saves Owl. I love the “big scary man adopts a small child” trope so much.
Vivia:
Now this is what I wanted to see from the first book. Her evil princess character was already interesting to me when Merik described her, but it was a huge twist to see that it was all an act and that she struggles twice as hard to feed her people and remain in the counsel’s good graces as both a woman and a daughter of a woman who went insane. The hundreds of masks she wears to avoid being herself is both relatable and heartbreaking. She truly thinks no one will follow or respect her if she’s not this furious monster all the time, so she pretends to be just that, even around the few people she trusts. Like Styx. (Who I ship with her very much)
Romance:
There wasn’t a huge amount of it here, but what I did see, I liked. Namely, Aeduan and Iseult. You know I love a slow burn. Because I knew they were going to be a thing in the future, I could see every step in their budding feelings for each other. It was unsteady because of how easily they could betray each other, but the slow trust they built up over time was so beautiful to see. In the end, they were so natural with each other. In that last major scene with them when they were saying goodbye, I was floored by how much I connected with them. I haven’t felt that strongly about a book ship in a long time. I cannot wait to see their feelings growing until there’s a confession in the third book, perhaps.
The Plot:
There was constant action and none of those awkward dull patches that were in the first book as they travelled. As I said before, switching locations between the characters was a really smart choice. They all had their own separate things going on, but their issues all tied into the greater story.
Final Thoughts:
I cannot wait for the third book. In fact, I’ve already started it. And then I will have to wait many months until the next one comes out :,)
msrcreation's review against another edition
1.0
While I didn't absolutely love Truthwitch I still remember really enjoying it. Mostly the characters I liked following them and seeing them interact. Now it has been a very long time since I read the first book. I kept putting this off for some reason and now I think I know why. This one loses all of the enjoyment of the characters and makes them boring and hard to care about. I don't think I could tell you the plot of this I just could not get into it. The small amount that stuck after finishing this will quick fade and be forgotten. It's sad because I liked that first book and know many people enjoy this series so much. But at least it's off my tbr.
tmledvina's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0