Author: Susan Dennard
Genre: Young Adult, High Fantasy
Source: PanMacmillan
Goodreads
On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a "witchery," a magical skill that sets them apart from others.Review by Nara
In this sequel to New York Times bestselling Truthwitch, a shadow man haunts the Nubrevnan streets, leaving corpses in his wake-and then raising those corpses from the dead. Windwitch continues the tale of Merik-cunning privateer, prince, and windwitch.
Book 2 in the Witchlands series, Windwitch takes a darker turn from Truthwitch, which I guess is saying something because even Truthwitch was as dark as a moonless night. Each character has something that they need to overcome, and these barriers to their development are well planned and well written. This book certainly does not suffer from any degree of second book syndrome, with each twist and turn more engaging than the last.
The ships are just too damn good in this series. Aeduan x Iseult is probably top for me, mostly because I'm confused as to who I'm supposed to be shipping Safi with, with the whole love triangle thing that's going on (a love triangle that I don't mind too much to be honest). It wasn't just their relationship that was interesting, but their individual character arcs were so good that when you put them together it's almost impossible not to ship them.
Merik goes through quite a dark journey in this book. He's definitely the most dominant character in this novel, which makes sense because it's titled Windwitch. He has to try to move past the events of the last book, and definitely struggles to let go of his grief and his desire for revenge. We see a lot more of Vivia in the novel- a character I won't say too much about due to spoilers, but her role in the story is such that I'd actually be quite interested in rereading the novel now that I've finished it to see whether/how my view of her has changed.
Since the Darkness Strange and Deadly series, Susan Dennard has firmly etched a place in my list of favourite authors. The Witchlands series only further reinforces what an incredibly flexible and talented author she is.
Incredible
RatingsOverall: 9/10
Plot: 5/5
Romance: 4.5/5
Writing: 5/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 3/5
