Witchlanders

by Lena Coakley

[inlibrisveritas]

This was another one of those blind library picks where I knew next to nothing about the book before picking it up, and what a wonderful read it turned out to be.

The world Coakley introduces is full of magic both literally and figuratively. She manages to weave in so much rich lore and detail that you can’t help but be able to picture all that’s happening. I love the lore behind the Witchlanders and Baen beliefs and I love how it plays such a pivotal role in the events that occur throughout the book. This does start a bit slow though, but the writing is quite wonderful and once it picked up it really hooked me. The mystery of Ryder and Falpain really drew me in and I had to know more, I ended up burning away most of a night reading this. I also thought that the Talat-sa connection was super cool and while I think it would be a bit annoying to have someone else constantly in your head it would also be very cool to have someone that in tune with you.

Ryder is a great main character…oh and did I mention it’s a guy? Yep! Another great male main character to add to my growing list. He’s rather stubborn but he’s also strong and pretty smart in his own way. One thing I like about him is that just because something in his life changes he doesn’t immediately change his mind about it, it still takes him time to come to terms with it. Falpain is also a great main character, and yes he’s a guy too! He’s certainly different from Ryder, he’s not all that stubborn and he’s rather eager to prove his worth no matter what the mission. He does come into his own as the story progresses and it’s wonderful to see his journey to that point. Unlike Ryder he doesn’t start out as a strong willed character but he makes it there. I have to say that Mabis, Ryder’s mother, is one of my favorite characters in this. I could easily picture her and her flower stained mouth, and even though I didn’t really like what she was doing she was certainly a character that stood out.

Oh one more thing, there is no romance!! How cool is that? It’s not often you find a YA book without a romance somewhere in the storyline. I’m glad that it doesn’t have one to be honest, sometimes it’s down right distracting and if it had been added to this it would have taken away from the already rich story.

Overall I thought this was a great read, and I’m really hoping that there will be more to come. I’m super curious as to what will happen with the Baen and Falpain.