#safi's need to be back with iseult is just as much about reuniting with her threadsister as it is about being with someone who *sees* her

[padmerrie]

“Who the hell-waters does she think she is?” Vivia demanded.

“Well,” Stix said, “she probably thinks she’s the Empress of the Flame Children, Chosen Daughter of the Fire Well, the Most Worshipped of the Marstocks, Destroyer of the Kendura Pass-”

“And?”

“And she’s used to people doing her bidding.”   

Vivia scoffed. “I could have just as many titles too, if I wanted them.”

                                                       *    *    *                                                          

I never thought I’d be drawing Her Holiest of Holies, but after 3 books I finally got her.  Or she got me.  I love how @stdennard can turn your perception of a character on its head in a matter of pages.  The quality of this is unfortunately abysmal as it originally started off as practice with my brushes on a tiny canvas.  I liked it too much to scrap it and I know myself well enough to know that trying to replicate it from scratch on a bigger canvas would have ended in misery. 

[safifonhasstrel]

It's been months and I keep going back to witchshadow. I have so many feelings about this book. There is so much that I don't understand.

So first of all I know that Susan's agency forced her to shorten the series, resulting in her having to combine 2 books into one, which ultimately became witchshadow. I am going to say it, the choice to shorten the series really declined the quality of the series. And I think it shouldn't be up to the publisher to decide how many books a series should have. That should be up to the author, because they know best how many books they need to tell a story.

So given the fact that pre-witchshadow there were only 2 books left to plan, I really don't understand most of the choices that were made in witchshadow.

I do not understand to focus more on Safi’s relationship with the hellbards than on the relationships between all the main characters. Several of the main characters haven't even met and now there is only one book left. The hell bards are supposed to be tertiary characters, they are not that important to the plot, or they weren't before witchshadow. There was no indication that they were important, except for Safi’s uncle Eron.

Anyway, my point is that there is still so much interaction between the main characters we need to see that it just doesn't make sense to me to focus on a main character's relationship with side characters instead. Safi needs to catch up with Iseult. She has to reunite with Merik. With Ryber. She hasn't even officially met Aeduan and Vivia yet.

Merik, too, has so much left to do. He has to safe kullen(one of the most important side characters), he has to reunite with Vivia, his father, he has never officially met vaness on page before, he hasn't met Aeduan yet and I would love to see a friendship forming between these two.

Aeduan, oh God. I really want him to meet Stix. And Ryber.

Iseult and Vivia still have to meet. Iseult and stix too.

There is so much that still has to happen but there is only one book left. One 500 page book, so I really don't understand the choice of not putting any of these scenarios into witchshadow. Again, there is only one book left, and I feel like so much is going to be rushed in the last book. Maybe I will be wrong, but to me it's just not realistic to have all these characters catch up and to give the relationships the justice they deserve in 500 pages.

Circling back to the hellbards, because ultimately their arc pissed me off the most. I feel like they were given Esme’s plot. Originally, Esme was the character with the loom that was tied to Iseult's arc. That was set up for 3 books, but in witchshadow suddenly everything including Iseult's arc is tied to the hell bards, resulting into Esme being turned into a cute animal friend, and worst of all, Esme being so content in staying an animal which was so ooc? Because if her arc has been given to the hellbards what's there left for her to do? She used to be this all powerful antagonist who held so much power over everyone and now she's a Disney sidekick. Again, I don't understand this choice.

Feel free to add your thoughts on this.

[eilonwiiy]

Hi! I love your blog and posts! I was curious - in the next Witchlands book, how do you think the group of Safi, Iseult, Aeduan, and Leopold will get along together (because they BETTER be in the same place)? Also, how do you feel about the possible Safi x Caden ship?

Hi anon!  Thank you very much!  I’m glad you enjoy my sporadic, and often times silly, postings.  And thank you for the ask!  I am ALWAYS down for talking about The Witchlands.

I am VERY excited to have Safi, Iseult, and Leopold in one place and see what that dynamic is like. Leopold is still very much an anomaly.  We really don’t know what his deal is, and his interactions with Iseult in Bloodwitch created even more questions - which I didn’t think was possible bc BOY do I have a lot of questions about him.

I have a feeling we may not get Aeduan reunited with the group in the next book, or if we do, it won’t happen until the end?  That’s just my gut feeling, I have no real info to back me up on that.  But I think it’s safe to say that the Aeduan thing is going to be a problem for Safi, and there’s a good chance it’s going to be a source of conflict between her and Iseult… which would be interesting because we’ve never seen them at odds before.  It actually may be something they need?  At this point, Safi knows that Iseult has been traveling with Aeduan, but she doesn’t trust him.  I think eventually Safi will have a grudging acceptance of Aeduan, whereas Aeduan will probably have one of two reactions to Safi.  Either he won’t give two shits about what Safi thinks of him (old habits die hard, ya know?) and it may take some prodding on Iseult’s part to get him to actively make an effort to become friends with her.  OR he’ll know right off the bat that, as Iseult’s Threadsister, Safi is more important to her than anything in the world, and the only way he can truly be with Iseult is to earn Safi’s trust.  I think both of these reactions would be in character for Aeduan, despite being the complete opposite of each other.  I prefer the latter, personally.

(also this sounds more like something I invented in a fever dream, but I’m pretty sure Sooz once mentioned during one of her ClanChats on twitter that Safi refers to Aeduan as “Knifey” in the future?? Can anyone confirm this?  Or did I really make this up?  It sounds too good to be true)

As far as the possibility of Safi and Caden goes… well, let me put it this way: if you had asked me this question back when Windwitch came out, I would have been more chill about Safi x Caden.  Up until Bloodwitch, Merik was probably my least favorite character in the series.  He was sooo Extra in both Truthwitch and Windwitch.  Like, he honestly drove me crazy sometimes with his angst and the “Nihar rage” (I was practically crying tears of joy when Cam called him out in Windwitch).  I just wasn’t really a fan, even though I felt like I was supposed to like him.  

Bloodwitch did a number on me for several characters, namely Merik and Vaness.  My outlook on them shifted drastically throughout the entire book.   While Sooz finally made Vaness endearing to me, she took Merik’s story in a direction that I was not expecting.  Like, who knew someone could be having a worse week than Aeduan in that book, but yeah!  I think Merik won that round.

And like, the whole thing with Esme was just so unexpected, but it was what I needed.  And what Merik needed.  Well.  I shouldn’t say “needed”.  What Esme put him through was bananas.  But the conversations they were having were important.  I could feel him growing and listening and changing.  By the end, I was bawling when him and Kullen went to “sleep”.  Sooz totally sold me on him having the ability to grow into a better man, and by extension, made me genuinely invested in Safi and Merik being together.  Both of them had/have a lot of growing to do, and I think when (or if? *cries*) they do officially reunite, they will be a much more compatible pair than they would have been if they’d had the time to get serious with each other in Truthwitch.  When I really examine the trajectory of Safi and Merik’s stories from Windwitch to now, I find it particularly compelling how similar their arcs have been despite being thrown into vastly different circumstances.  I believe there is undeniable significance in the fact that at one point both these characters believed the other one to be dead and that their metaphorical rise from the ashes has run parallel to each other.  Both of them needed to learn how to see the world for what it really is, Merik looking beyond his arrogance and Safi looking despite her ignorance.  That makes for some pretty intriguing ship material.

All that isn’t to say I dislike Caden.  I really like him, in fact.  And the rest of the Hell-Bards.  I want to get to know them better and I’m glad that they’re in the same place as Safi, Iseult, and Leopold too.  I’m not sure what Sooz’s plans are for Caden and Safi.  The tension has definitely been simmering between them for awhile, and regardless of my feelings towards Merik, I’m ready for them to take the next step.  I’m ready to see some sparks fly.  It may become something… but I think ultimately Safi x Merik is endgame and where my heart lies.

[thehonestreader]

Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard

Rating: B-

Aeduan has always thought himself a monster. What else could a Bloodwitch possibly be? He’s only ever done things for his father’s cause, to gain the money or the influence that was needed. But no money, no contract is binding him to Iseult or the little Earthwitch Owl as they travel to the Carawen Monastery. So why is he doing it? What is it about Iseult that makes him feel the way he does? Meanwhile, the Twenty Year truce has ended, and both Nubrevna and Marstok prepare for the coming war. In Nubrevna, Vivia faces the reality that her country is just not ready to withstand siege. And with her father plotting behind her back and claiming her hard work as his own, she knows that a war from without may not be her only worry. In Marstok, Safi finds herself at the side of the Empress, Vaness, working as her personal Truthwitch. But the one thing Safi wants, the only thing she’s wanted for so long, is to be back with Iseult. Yet fate seems to be keeping them apart. The Raider King’s shadow looms larger, and no empire might be able to stand against him. And as long as he’s a threat, as long as Vaness needs her, Safi can do nothing to reunite with her Thread-Sister.

--

These covers are so bad. These books deserve better.

As much as I enjoyed this and as fast as I read it, I still have to say that, overall, this book is once again just a bunch of filler. I know this is all leading up to something huge, but like I said in my review for Windwitch, this series can’t be endless books of filler before the last one. Sure, there’s tiny bits of progression. The plot kind of moves along, albeit at a snail’s pace. There’s definitely more character building in this one, which I love. I feel this series has finally stepped away from the cliche cringy aspects I hated in the first one; that’s always a plus. Then Aeduan and Iseult...love them. So some good good parts, some bad bad parts.

The shining star of this book is its characters and everything we get to learn about them. I’m always happy to learn more about people like Vivia or Vaness, these character who have been mentioned in bad terms but then finally seeing who they truly are and what drives them. Take Vivia for example, a character that in book one you’re supposed to hate, and then showing that she’s not the person Merik makes her out to be. I love stuff like that. These characters are at their best. I get a sense of who they really are, and that’s the best thing you can do as an author.

At first, I wasn’t a fan of all the POVs. I think there’s a total of six of them, and at the very beginning I couldn’t understand why there were so many. It didn’t make much sense to me to see the same situation from one person’s perspective and then the other person’s. But then once everyone gets split up I was like, “Oooohhh, riiiight.” It should have been very obvious to me and it just...wasn’t. Some POVs are only there for a few pages, at most, which seems like a waste. I wish these characters’ actions had been included here in the main books just so I could very clearly follow everything that’s happening. But this way of handling the story makes me sense another novella in the works. I don’t know how I feel about it.

Speaking of novellas, I’m a little bummed that this book so heavily relies on the things that happened it Sightwitch. Personally, I know I would have been very lost and confused as this book goes on if I hadn’t read it. I don’t think of novellas as main parts of a series. They’re side stories, there to create a better vision of the author’s world or to get more insight into a character. They’re not really meant to be vital to the whole story. But the fact that basically Sightwitch serves as book number three hear bugs me. If you never read it then you would have no idea about Ryber and her Sightwitch sisters, no idea what the mountain is, no idea about the Paladins or the Rook King. These are going to be HUGE plot points later on. They kind of already are. And pushing all that off into a novella is pretty shitty in my opinion. 

This series is also determined to put my memory to the test. A test, I’d like to point out, that I am failing miserably. I need some recaps to be worked into the story. It doesn’t have to be much, and it doesn’t have to be obvious, but I can’t remember every single detail and character that has popped up in the last three books, and I need reminders sometimes. Even a quick, “This is whoever, and this is a sentence or two quickly over viewing a past event.” That’s it. That’s good enough for me. And I know I can’t be the only person who struggled with this while they were reading.

I’m still interested in this series. I want to know what’s going to happen, where all of this is leading. I want answers to all the questions the author has created. The whole thing with Aeduan and his parents is a huge mystery I want solved. So I’m going to stick around for the next book. We’ll just have to go from there.

-Review by C.M.

[booklion44]

Windwitch by Susan Dennard Review

*This is going to be spoilery so if you have not read Truthwitch please don’t proceed.

I give this book an 85% and 4/5 stars

I’m not going to lie. I wasn’t originally going to read Windwitch. I just wanted to finish Truthwitch because that book literally took me 50 years to read. But… then I found out that Susan Dennard was coming to my local bookstore for an event. I begged and bribed a friend with Starbucks to go with me and after meeting and talking with Susan, I decided that I was going to read the 2nd book.

So right off the bat I was taken aback by how much I actually enjoyed the beginning of Windwitch. I think this was because I knew and liked the characters and could look to them when the plot did that thing where I needed a map and in-depth chart to figure out what was going on. Don’t get me wrong, the book wasn’t bad but it wasn’t as good as I think it could’ve been.

Characters:

I think Merik was a much stronger character in this book compared to Truthwitch. I loved all the moments with him and Cam (a new character who worked under Merik on his ship that was sunk in the end of the last book). Merik’s POV was my favorite to read from because I never expected what he was going to do or how he was going to react. I would think I did and I didn’t and thats the best!!

Vivia was another new character that was introduced. I like Vivia. I don’t always agree with her but I can understand her. I think it was hinted at that Vivia was gay…. But I could be wrong. Her tread sister, Stix, (I predict) is going to be a bigger part of the next book, Bloodwitch.

Safi and Vaness (the Empiress) get kidnapped, 2 minutes into Safi working for Vaness. Apparently the ship they were both on sank and everyone thinks they are dead, or at least Merik does. We also learn more about Safi’s magic and how she can detect lies.

Iseult and Aeduan are also throw together. Iseult is trying to find Safi and bribs Aeduan (the blood witch into helping her). Iseult is also trying to figure out where her powers fit in this new world. This personal and magical journey is accompanied by the fact that she is having weird dreams about a girl who is trying to teach Iseult how to cleave people. That scares me and we’re going to table that over there. Aeduan, in contrast, make me excited because he is getting feels and, I think, falling in love with Iseult and considering she came back for him at the end instead of going after Safi makes me think she feels the same.

I’m sure I’m missing some characters but these are all the ones I care about or can remember at the time.

I am heavily annoyed with the fact and no characters reunited and I will be reading the next book because I want to know what I going to happen.

Let me know what you guys thought and feel free to leave anything you guys think I left out or any funny lines (even though these books aren’t that amusing).