If you are looking for new captivating YA fantasy series, look no further. Here are five reasons that will make Truthwitch your next book-hungover-worthy read.
1. CHARACTERS
Truthwitch has very interesting set of main characters (four different POVs) and every single one of them provided something unique and memorable to make me fall in love with them. Safi, a Trut... číst celéhwitch, is funny and sarcastic, impulsive and unrestrained, fierce and passionate. She has all characteristics that I like to have in enjoyable female heroine. Iseult, a Threadwitch, is calm and smart, perceptive and logical, always thinking things through. And she is the best and the most loyal friend you could ask for. Merik, a Windwitch, is fierce and temperamental, but capable admiral/dancer and loyal friend/prince trying to save his country. He captured my heart early in the story and his impression on me never faltered. Aeduan, a Bloodwitch, is cold and dark, mysterious and deadly. He has this strong villain-y vibe going on and I’m incredibly curious to see where author will take his character in next instalments.
2. WORLD-BUILDING
This novel shows why I love fantasies. There is no better to spend my free time than losing myself in new world and its specific politics, history, legends, religions and culture. It brings my imagination alive. And Truthwitch hit all the right marks for me because its world-building was fascinating, flawless and detailed (fortunately there was no info-dump, it was all revealed gradually when it was needed). Simply said, my inner fantasy nerd was in heaven.
3. FRIENDSHIP
Truthwitch is without a doubt the best YA fantasy novel with strong focus on female friendship. Safi & Iseult are from different parts of society and have completely different background. However, they complement each other perfectly and together create lovable team of adventurous witches whose escapades were such a thrilling experience to read about.
4. CHEMISTRY
Truthwitch is book with scorching chemistry. Nothing graphics needs to happen, yet the couple (and I am not going to tell you what couple to keep it spoiler-free) could ignite the pages just with simple looks, banters or touch here and there. It shows author’s mastery of writing when she can make me all hot and bothered with butterflies in my stomach *cough* dance scene *cough* while keeping it PG-13.
5. ACTION
In Truthwitch, you won’t find love triangle, insta-love or annoying tropes. But you will get perfectly paced storyline with something exciting happening all the time. I was unable to tear my eyes from this novel. Truthwitch is what I call a real page-turner and since I haven’t read one in months, I’m very grateful for this book. Thank you Susan Dennard!
Truthwitch is a very promising start to new YA fantasy series. It has all three aspects that I require in good fantasy novel (world-building, storytelling, characters) mastered perfectly and I can’t wait to get my hands on sequel!
To say that I was super excited to read sequel, would be an understatement. I simply could not wait to get my hands on Windwitch. So imagine my disappointment when it did not meet my expectations...
Almost everything that I loved in the first book (Safi/Iseult interactions, Safi/Merik banters and chemistry, fast paced storyline) was completely missing in this instalment. Ther... číst celée was nothing to make my heart beat faster, nothing to evoke a passion in me. Windwitch definitely suffers from "second book syndrome" and I'm hugely disappointed!
The only positives when comparing Windwitch to Truthwitch were that we got (a) more Aeduan+Iseult scenes and (b) plenty of Merik's POV (this guy is breaking my heart and he is definitely my favorite character in this series).
Usually, I don't have a problem with multiple POVs but in this case all those plotlines and POVs didn't work in the favor of the book as a whole. Safi's storyline was the least exciting one, even boring at times (pointless I dare to say). Which is sad since her POV was my favorite one in the first book. Same goes for new POV. Vivia's POV just did not touch the right buttons for me and I didn't care much about her.
Even though pacing and flow of the story were weird, world-building and writing itself was still strong and I look forward to third instalment which hopefully will bring more of what made me fall in love with this series in the first book.
Meanwhile, I'm going to think about this book as a filler, unnecessary evil to get the plot going to the right direction of another awesomeness to come. Because you simply CAN NOT create chemistry like Safi and Merik shared in Truthwitch and then just PUFF... let it completely disappear like it never happened. (I refuse to believe that this series will lose its potential so early in and throw away everything that made it special to me).