The Witch King (Witch King Duology, #1)

by H.E. Edgmon

[Quirky Cat]

Is it too early to announce that I've found my favorite book of the year? No? Awesome! Because The Witch King is, without a doubt, one of my favorite reads, possibly of all time. It's the fae story I never realized I needed to read.

Wyatt Croft has been on the run for years, ever since one devastating night that made him realize that Asalin, home of the fae, was not his home. You see, Wyatt is a witch, and witches typically aren't treated all too well by the fae.

To further complicate matters, Wyatt's royal fiance has been looking for him since the moment he ran away, and he has finally succeeded in his goal. Apparently, the fate of Asalin may just rest on Wyatt's shoulders, as Emyr is convinced the only way to bring peace is to give them a royal marriage.

"I'd known right then and there that something unfortunate was about to go down, but I hadn't expected him."

I basically fell in love with The Witch King within the first five pages. Everything that came after just further convinced me of my love. Wyatt's sass is amazing, the secondary characters have so much to give, and the plot was rich and fascinating.

This debut fantasy novel blew me away, both with its creativity and representation. Wyatt is a trans witch, which brings with it all sorts of complications from the fae. It also raised a lot of interesting points and things to think about, which I adored. Many of the other characters in this book were also LGBT, and it was fascinating to see how they interacted with the rest of the fae community.

Out of everything, I think I adored Wyatt's spunk and personality the most. This was a character that had gone through hell, had scars to show for it, and wasn't afraid to speak their mind. I loved it. To give you a taste of the way Wyatt thinks, read the quote below.

"Let it sink in properly that I am not the golden goose. I am more like an actual goose, hissing and honking and attacking small children who just want to give me bread."

Perfection, right? It's no wonder that I fell in love with Wyatt's story. I'm already counting down the days for a sequel at this point. I also do not doubt that I'm going to be keeping an eye open for pretty versions of this book – my heart will be crushed if they don't exist.

Before I conclude my review, I should mention several content warnings to go along with this level of humor. I do want to give H.E. Edgmon a ton of credit for providing this warning at the beginning of their book, as it's something I feel like more publishers should allow for. The warnings include abuse, transmisia, sexual assault, trauma, misgendering (both of the accidental and intentional variety), deadnaming (off-page, carefully portrayed), and panic attacks.

Thanks to Inkyard Press and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks