The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)

It had been quite a while since I had read The Cruel Prince, but Holly Black did an excellent job of summarizing the main points in her first few chapters of The Wicked King. There was an absolute bloodbath at the end of the last book where many factions made a play for the throne. Jude Duarte, the mortal ward of the Grand General Madoc outsmarted them all by having her foster brother Oak, revealed to be of royal blood, place the blood crown on Cardan’s head, making him High King of Elfhame. Oak is sent away to the mortal world until he comes of age, when Cardan has agreed to abdicate and place the crown on Oak’s head instead.

The Wicked King picks up with Jude playing puppeteer to Cardan’s rule, trying to make everything run smoothly after the attempts on the throne and his agreement to allow her to command him for a year and a day. The Undersea and its queen begin to make an attempt to overthrow the land using Cardan’s only living brother Baeliken, and that sets up this next stage in our journey.

One of the main enjoyments that I get from these books is that we are always operating at a medium level of danger. As we follow Jude through Elfhame the very plants can poison her, any agreement she makes can come back to bite her, and even accepting a gift from someone can place her in their service or at their bidding. She has to be on her guard all the time, and as you read this book you will find that you are holding your breath while you wait for the next danger to jump out of the bushes.

I love how Jude becomes a part of Elfhame. She thinks she has it all figured out. She’s a great fighter, strategist, and bargainer. The Wicked King shows us a Jude that has almost lost all connection with her humanity and uses her knowledge and power as a kind of armor/cloak that she thinks makes her belong. Despite all her scheming though, her humanity cannot be denied, and she must remember that part of herself or be forced to by others who may or may not care for her. (Honestly I’m still confused about who actually has her best interests at heart and whether she’s always been alone, pinging around Elfhame like a lonely pinball.)

I still am not sure if Cardan truly cares for Jude. I don’t know if Cardan is an idiot or a genius. I’m not sure if he wants to be High King or if he actually is going along with Jude’s plan for Oak to become king. Is he a trickster of the highest order or is he flying by the seat of his elven pants? I DON’T KNOW AND IT’S KILLING ME NOT TO KNOW. I hated him in the first book and now I can’t decide if I love him or hate him.

Holly Black is the most devious and wonderful author I think I have ever encountered. The world is lush and complex, the magic is terrifying and tricky, and the people are not to be trusted. You’ll want to trust, you’ll want to believe, but that’s what makes you mortal. So be careful when you venture into this series, because it’s easy to be trapped and in trouble in Elfhame. After this second book my heart is in trouble, because I’m not sure it can survive until the next book arrives.

If you enjoy magic, elves, intrigue, dangerous bargains, and roller coaster ride that comes with the pursuit of power, you will love this series. Go get you some.

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Shadow and Bone
Siege and Storm
Ruin and Rising

Six of Crows
Crooked Kingdom

Language of Thorns

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I’m not sure how to make this review non-spoilery but I am going to try. I think it’s fair to say that there might be spoilers from the above books that I’ve already read and reviewed, so if you haven’t read those and you care about remaining unspoiled, maybe go read them first. I will not spoil THIS particular book though.

King of Scars is told through several viewpoints, but from two main locations: Fierda and Ravka. Nina is with a small team of Grisha attempting to infiltrate Fierda and save Grisha who would be willing to join the Second Army and help defend Ravka. She’s also there to return Matthais to the ground after his death in Ketterdam. Nicolai and Zoya along with the Grisha Triumverate are in Ravka building a fleet of submarines for Kerch to make money for the treasury while trying to handle the weird black demon thing that takes over Nicolai’s body and flies him around the countryside.

One of the things I love about Bardugo’s writing is her ability to write political intricacies into the plot. Ravka is facing war from the north and from the south, their financial situation is dire and they are in debt to Kerch (which they are hoping to supplement with the submarines) and they need the support of Novyi Zem to keep their naval defenses strong. In addition to all of the military and financial woes, other men are claiming they are the true Lantsov heir and have been trying to usurp Nicolai’s reign. It’s an understatement that they are in a bit of a pickle.

I enjoyed Nicolai and Zoya’s story more than Nina’s, and for a while there I was actually quite bored with Nina’s mission, her story feeling as gray and barren as the Fierdan tundra. I suppose this was to be expected. A lot of her and her team’s story was waiting, hiding, and being in disguise. If they were real people I’m sure they would have been bored (and cold and hungry) too.

Nicolai and Zoya have to deal with a growing group of people that claim to be loyal to the Starless Saint – The Darkling from the Grisha trilogy with Alina Starkov. They venture out to track ‘miracles’ that see to be popping up and radiating out from the spot on the Unsea where the Darkling fell and died. When they arrive on the Unsea they find a giant black, shiny disc in the sand. When they move toward it they are sucked into an alternate universe, leaving the Grisha Triumverate to tailor a solider and guard at the palace to look like Nicolai and manage a major diplomatic gathering in his stead.

It’s…a lot.

I cried real, gasping sobs in the first part of the book. Nicolai always has me laughing. And in Zoya I finally found a member of this Grishaverse that I could identify with. She’s everything I feel there on the page, walking around furious with everyone, with no fucks to give, and being a badass Grisha general. I love her. She’s one of my favorite characters now. I wish I could transport myself into the world of these books and live there, if only to help these characters that I have come to love.

I trust Leigh Bardugo 100%, and so I preordered this book. Other books I would put on hold at the library (if they were even available at all). Plus the hardcover jacket and book are absolutely gorgeous. I can’t wait to find out what happens to the whole Ravkan team in the second installment of the duology.

If you haven’t read Bardugo’s work by now I just don’t know what I have to say to get you to start. Her world is amazing and real. Her characters are diverse, interesting, and complex. The magic system is elemental and bone deep. It’s necessary reading for any fantasy lover. So go do it already.

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Truthwitch (Witchlands #1)

Windwitch (Witchlands #2)

Let me start with the most important part of this review.

THIS BOOK IS SO IMPORTANT WHY IS IT EVEN CALLED A TWO POINT FIVE?????

Every other 2.5 novella was kind of an afterthought. You could skip it. The Lunar Chronicles, Throne of Glass, and others had little peeks into lesser characters or prequel type stories, but they weren’t essential.

THIS BOOK IS SO FUCKING ESSENTIAL DON’T SKIP IT HOLY CRAP.

I’m furious that this isn’t Book 3. Is it just the length? Why isn’t it a full book?

Sightwitch is the story of Ryber Fortiza, one of the shipmates of Merik and Kullen from Truthwitch and Windwitch. She’s Kullen’s Heart-Thread, but up until this point she’s been mysterious at best. Her existence at the home of the Sightwitches, which is within the boundaries of Nubrevna hid under a glamour (think Wakanda hidden), is described as tedious. She is waiting for her eyes to turn silver, the sign that she’s been called to become a full Sightwitch, able to remember everything, see the future, and read the memories of the dead. Sisters who are called journey into the mountain to commune with Sirmaya, the Goddess at the center of all magic, and then return to the convent to serve until they are called back to sleep with the Goddess herself.

The problem is that while Ryber is waiting to be summoned, her Thread-Sister is called. Then two more, then four more, until all the sisters have been summoned into the mountain and none have returned. Ryber is the last Sightwitch sister. Partnered only with The Rook, a strange crow that lives in the convent, she has to unravel the mystery at the heart of the mountain and somehow save her sisters.

Told alongside Ryber’s story is the history of Eridysi, a similar Sightwitch from about a thousand years earlier, who left a diary of prophecies and statements that collectively are referred to as Eridysi’s Lament in both Truthwitch and Windwitch. Knowing the history of the Paladins and their war is so essential to understanding the Twenty-Year Truce and what is happening with cleaving in the current time that I honestly don’t know how you could skip this book for that information alone.

Dennard put so many pieces in play with this story that connected to so many others that were already on the board that I raced through hungry for answers or leads forward in the universe. There is such a sense of urgency that Sightwitch adds to the series that wasn’t present in either Truthwitch or Windwitch, and I cannot wait for Bloodwitch to load to my Kindle next week so I can find out what happens next!

I think I can officially call myself a #Witchlander now! I’m a huge fan of this series and I strongly recommend all of the books. The magic is interesting, the politics are complex, and the world is vast and new. Please go grab Truthwitch and get started on an enjoyable journey.

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Truthwitch (Witchlands #1)

Synopsis (Goodreads)

I don’t usually link to a synopsis, but I want to take my review time to talk to you about more intricate pieces of this book as opposed to “this happened! and then this happened!” because SO MUCH HAPPENS and I don’t want to get caught up in WHAT happens, I want to talk about FEELINGS caused by what happens.

I stand by my previous assessment of Dennard’s worldbuilding and character development. It is absolutely amazing that there is so much going on in the story and yet I remember all the characters, what they want, what they care about, AND I’m able to see how all of their separate stories are woven together into the larger plot. Windwitch focuses in primarily on Merik and his sister Vivia in their defense of their country Nubrevna, but both Safi’s and Iseult’s stories feed into the future of Nubrevna while letting us know that in the next books we’ll be taking the story in other directions.

You will learn more about what Iseult’s powers are all about in this book. It’s possible that she’s not a Threadwitch at all, but a Weaverwitch, a more advanced Threadwitch who can manipulate the threads and magic of other witches. Aeduan, the Bloodwitch hunting Iseult, is now working with her and believes she may be a true Voidwitch as well as one half of the mythical Cahr Awen. I find her situation compelling, but every time we get a small glimpse of what she’s really capable of, I wonder back to Safi. Is she only a Truthwitch? If she’s the other half of the Cahr Awen, destined to reawaken the Origin Wells and heal the land, what more is there that we need to learn about her magic that might be more than we think?

Dennard asks us to consider the sentiment of all for one, one for all in many different parts of our journey. Is it ever appropriate to sacrifice one person for the sake of all? Or can a single person be important enough to save at the expense of the suffering of many? Honestly Windwitch seems to show us that both are possible, that making the decision is next to impossible, and there are always consequences that you will have to live with either way. I am glad that the constant guilt machine I briefly bemoaned in my Truthwitch review seems to have ground to a halt here in Windwitch.

The way that Windwitch illustrates so many different kinds of relationships is also thoughtfully done. Parents and children, brother and sister, friendships, life-debts – all of these are played out so we can see that nothing is as simple as we think, and everything is connected. All witcheries, all people in this universe have threads that Threadwitches can see. Threads that bind, threads that break, threads that show all manner of emotion. It only makes sense that we should see how the characters that we care so much about might be working to bind themselves to one another to face an even greater foe that we have not yet even been introduced to. I can’t wait to find out what that will be.

I have preordered Bloodwitch, out in February 2019, and I caught the novella Sightwitch on a Kindle deal this past weekend. I’m into this series, and I think you should be too. Try it out and see what you think.

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