Windwitch (The Witchlands, #2)

by Susan Dennard

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Windwitch through BookishFirst in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Truthwitch was the first novel I read by Susan Dennard, and if that novel hadn’t sold me on her writing, Windwitch absolutely did! I’m going to have to go back and read through the rest of her novels asap.
Windwitch is the second novel in the Witchland series, and it is amazing. The covers for this series have been SO amazing (seriously, if you haven’t seen the cover for Bloodwitch yet, go check it out) and the writing behind them even better.
Like Truthwitch, Windwitch follows all of the characters we’ve grown to love. Having read two novels now, I think I can say that it appears that each novel focuses on one character a bit more than the others. The character hinted at in the title, of course. Truthwitch had a leaning towards Safi, just as Windwitch had a leaning towards Merik. I think we all know what that’ll mean for Bloodwitch! I seriously can’t wait.
The next in the series is Sightwitch, which is technically 2.5 in the series, and it’s an illustrated novella. I’m lucky enough to have that book sitting on my shelves waiting to be read. Because I’ll be honest with you – I don’t think I could wait.
The next full novel in the series is Bloodwitch, and it’s due to release in February. I’ve been hearing nothing but positive things about it. Also, bonus: if you preorder the book you’ll get two free pins (but you have to submit the receipt for your order within a certain amount of time. That time may have passed by now, I’m not sure).



Windwitch was everything I had expected and hoped for, and so much more. Susan Dennard builds these beautiful worlds full of expressive and unique characters. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her series.
What I love in particular about the Witchland series is that there is so much going on at any given time. Even when all of the characters are together (which is rare) they have their own goals and agendas, as well as reasons for being there. When separate those agendas evolve into full-blown plots.
Even better, the plots seem to occasionally weave into one other, or split off in different directions. For example, I know that Safi and Iseult’s plots will always have an undertone of trying to get back to one another. They’re threadsisters and thus they will always be concerned with each other, as well as with each other’s goals. Thus their plots will always tie together. The rest of the characters may find reasons to care as well, such as Merik in the previous volume.
What I’m trying to say is that I love how complex the plots and relationships are in this series. There’s never one perfect and easily attainable solution. Instead, these very human characters have to work incredibly hard to get what they want out of life. It doesn’t help that most of them have pretty grand goals.
I’m so happy that all of the characters made an appearance in this novel. I don’t know why, but I was a bit worried that we’d only see Merik (who is one of my favorites, so I wouldn’t actually be upset about that). It was a silly fear, considering the way Truthwitch was set up.
The character development in this novel was spectacular. Finally, I understand the obsession with Aeduan (I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t quite there before). Each character went through so much in this novel, and in most cases what they faced forced them to do some soul searching. That’s not easy in the best of times, so I don’t envy them that. Though I have no doubt that it made them stronger people for it.
I love that some secondary characters were rounded out during this novel. Characters that had more or less been background pieces in Truthwitch really stepped to the forefront here. Suddenly they were actual people with motivations and opinions. Sure, I didn’t always agree with the way they did things, but it was great to actually see their thought processes. It even changed my opinion on one character in particular. I’m hoping we’ll see some more character development for her (yes, I’m being vague) in Bloodwitch.
I’m looking forward to Bloodwitch, though at the same time I’ll confess that I hope it isn’t the end to the series. In the meantime at least I have Sightwitch to get through. I’ve been really looking forward to that one. It’ll be interesting to read a novella by Susan Dennard, and the fact that it’s illustrated is pretty fantastic as well.


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