Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Truthwitch (The Witchlands, #1)

by Susan Dennard

The first in the Witchlands series, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard is a brilliantly imagined coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Robin Hobb, Victoria Aveyard and Trudi Canavan.

In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

Reviewed by cornerfolds on

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DNF @ 25%



That was disappointing. Truthwitch has been on my to-read list for MONTHS! For the longest time I couldn't go anywhere without seeing this book on every kind of social media, other blogs, even Amazon wouldn't shut up about it. I even bought a hard copy of this! But I was running short on reading time and decided to grab the audio from my local library. You know, I love audiobooks. LOVE THEM. But man... when you get a boring one it is actually painful to pay attention. And this one was painful.

This book has no plot. I made it 25% of the way into Truthwitch and the only thing I know is that Safi and Iseult are being chased by a Bloodwitch for... reasons? Literally nothing is explained in the first 25% of Truthwitch and the reviews I skimmed through have told me it probably wouldn't have gotten much better. There is no world building. Random words are thrown at the reader and EVEN THE CHARACTERS don't know what they mean! The two female characters were so dull I kept mixing them up! Their special magical powers were literally just them sensing things. This book was a mess.

Honestly, Truthwitch struck me as a total ripoff of The Grisha Trilogy (and a badly done one at that). At least from the audiobook, I got the feeling that this was written with a Russian(ish) setting in mind. A few of the witches mentioned are Tidemakers Waterwitches, Squallers Airwitches, and Heartrenders Bloodwitches. Alina Safi is a Sun Summoner Truthwitch, the ONLY one of her kind. The love interest, Sturmhond Merick is a prince who is also a pirate ship captain whose brother sister thinks he's weak and not capable of ruling a country. I mean... Does this author not know about Leigh Bardugo? Honestly? Are other people not seeing what I'm seeing??

Maybe I'm overreacting, but I just couldn't force myself the other 75% of the way through this book. We all win, really. I don't have to read anymore and Susan Dennard doesn't get a 1 star rating on Goodreads! Hurray!

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 April, 2016: Finished reading
  • 4 April, 2016: Reviewed