Susan Dennard

The second novel in the Witchlands series, Windwitch is the action-packed sequel to Truthwitch, and is perfect for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Robin Hobb. Sometimes our enemies become our only allies... The Windwitch Prince Merik is presumed dead after a lethal explosion. However, he’s scarred but alive, and determined to expose his sister’s treachery. Yet on reaching the royal capital, he’s shocked to find refugees fleeing conflict. Merik haunts the streets, fighting for the weak – sparking rumours of the Fury, a disfigured demigod who dispenses justice. While searching for Safi, Iseult is cornered by the Bloodwitch Aeduan. She proposes a deal: she’ll return what was stolen from him if he locates the Truthwitch. Yet unknown to Iseult, there’s a bounty on her head – and Aeduan intends to claim it. Meanwhile, Safi and the Marstoki Empress survive a shipwreck, then find themselves among brigands. And their captors plan to unleash war upon the Witchlands . . . Praise for the series: 'This book will delight you' Robin Hobb 'Susan Dennard has worldbuilding after my own heart. It’s so good it’s intimidating' Victoria Aveyard

Windwitch

arwen

it was really good but i wasn't invested in all the povs

Amanda Faith

SUSAN. DENNARD

The second novel in the Witchlands series, Windwitch is the action-packed sequel to Truthwitch, and is perfect for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Robin Hobb. Sometimes our enemies become our only allies... The Windwitch Prince Merik is presumed dead after a lethal explosion. However, he's scarred but alive, and determined to expose his sister's treachery. Yet on reaching the royal capital, he's shocked to find refugees fleeing conflict. Merik haunts the streets, fighting for the weak - sparking rumours of the Fury, a disfigured demigod who dispenses justice. While searching for Safi, Iseult is cornered by the Bloodwitch Aeduan. She proposes a deal: she'll return what was stolen from him if he locates the Truthwitch. Yet unknown to Iseult, there's a bounty on her head - and Aeduan intends to claim it. Meanwhile, Safi and the Marstoki Empress survive a shipwreck, then find themselves among brigands. And their captors plan to unleash war upon the Witchlands . . . Praise for the series: 'This book will delight you' Robin Hobb 'Susan Dennard has worldbuilding after my own heart. It's so good it's intimidating' Victoria Aveyard

grace richards

3.5

two weeks have passed since the end of the last book and boy oh boy has a lot happened. 

-let’s start with our hood old friend safi. girlie is kidnapped by what i am going to dub the ‘fire nation’. the fire nation’s queen however is a very attractive iron bender who safi seems to have a weak spot for purely because she’s a badass and i am in agreement. this is where safi’s usefulness ends however, because once again safi proves to be the least interesting character in this ensemble. i was 1000x more interested in vaness and would kindly like to request that vaness gets more airtime in the next book because that’s my empress! 

-moving on now to iseult. girlie has been barely sleeping because she’s on the run and she doesn’t want to talk to the weird shadow lady who guess what? she has a name now. she’s esme. did we know she was called esme in the last book? i don’t think so. but at the beginning of this book iseult randomly drops that into conversation and then 50% through tells us she learnt esme’s name the last time she spoke to her at the end of the last book. cheers for filling the rest of us in on that one iseult. not much really happens for iseult other than she tries to get from A to B and inevitably ends back up at A. however, her powers are coming into fruition and i’m very excited to see her darker side in the coming books. 

-now the boys. they get one bullet point to themselves because i hate the pair of them and i hope they die. merik is the whiniest love interest i have ever seen in my entire life. bro is also a dumbass and lightly transphobic? i would also like to question how he’s up and walking after 2 weeks after suffering major burns and not having a healer at all to help him? bro just straight up went cold turkey to get better and made a miraculous recovery. as for the guy who’s name i can’t spell. he spends most of the book with iseult. why do we need a separate POV for him when they’re both doing the exact same thing? although he gains a bonus point for me because he’s giving off grumpy uncle vibes at the end of this book which is such a slay for him. 

-now on to the new love of my life vivia. her POV was a great addition to this book and i cannot wait for more of her in the next one. also is my best girl a sapphic?? because i’m getting those vibes like she’s in love with her first mate. it’s also nice to see her through her own eyes and her motivations when in the last book she was straight away labelled as a bitch and an antagonist by her brother because he doesn’t get women like i do. vivia is just fighting for what she wants in a rule where men get what they want by blinking. 

from the next book i’m hoping for more vivia, more vaness, more safi and iseult interactions, and less of them men unless they’re going to do something useful.

The follow-up to New York Times bestselling Truthwitch, next in a breathtaking YA fantasy series hailed by Alexandra Bracken as "a world you will want to inhabit forever."

A Witchlands Novel

Re-read 2023: read this again for my book club, still a favorite :)

4.5 STARS
Meet the book that FINALLY got me out of a reading slump! I never expected it would be this one.

So, small story. I read Truthwitch when it first came out. And I really liked it! So when this book came out, I bought it on the release day. I started reading it.... and then never picked it up again. So 2019 comes around and so does the third book. So I go out and buy Bloodwitch on release day and resolve that I am going to read Windwitch finally. I started it, got halfway through, then stopped because I was bored and didn't care. So now, finally, after 4 YEARS, I said to myself "huh, I wonder what's happening with the Witchlands series?" So I got a new copy of Windwitch (cause I SOMEHOW lost my old one) and sit down with the intent to finally read it. I don't really expect much from it based on my previous experiences.

Dear people reading my review: past Emily, to put it simply, was a flipping moron.

I FLEW through this book. The characters were far more fleshed out and the world far more intricate than I remembered! All the characters went through a decent amount of growth, especially Merik (duh, its his book). We saw more of the world and learned of more of the politics. The romances were slow burn and angsty, but not overpowering. And the TWISTS! There were so many that I had to turn into an owl to keep track of them! The book was fairly fast paced, but not so fast that I couldn't get myself settled into the characters. I never disliked any of the different points of view. They kept changing, but I never had the thought of "oh no I don't like this plot line, go to another one." Very rare for me. And yet, despite all of this, I'm thinking back and I don't recall much of actual overall plot importance happening. Like, all of the things that happened were important to the individual characters rather than the overarching plot-line. And yet I didn't mind? It was so entertaining!

I don't really have much more to say other than this series has significantly gained much more of my interest and I really want to continue. I really do recommend this series and I will be starting Bloodwitch VERY soon. Go check this one out!

Emily B

Re-read 2023: read this again for my book club, still a favorite :)

4.5 STARS
Meet the book that FINALLY got me out of a reading slump! I never expected it would be this one.

So, small story. I read Truthwitch when it first came out. And I really liked it! So when this book came out, I bought it on the release day. I started reading it.... and then never picked it up again. So 2019 comes around and so does the third book. So I go out and buy Bloodwitch on release day and resolve that I am going to read Windwitch finally. I started it, got halfway through, then stopped because I was bored and didn't care. So now, finally, after 4 YEARS, I said to myself "huh, I wonder what's happening with the Witchlands series?" So I got a new copy of Windwitch (cause I SOMEHOW lost my old one) and sit down with the intent to finally read it. I don't really expect much from it based on my previous experiences.

Dear people reading my review: past Emily, to put it simply, was a flipping moron.

I FLEW through this book. The characters were far more fleshed out and the world far more intricate than I remembered! All the characters went through a decent amount of growth, especially Merik (duh, its his book). We saw more of the world and learned of more of the politics. The romances were slow burn and angsty, but not overpowering. And the TWISTS! There were so many that I had to turn into an owl to keep track of them! The book was fairly fast paced, but not so fast that I couldn't get myself settled into the characters. I never disliked any of the different points of view. They kept changing, but I never had the thought of "oh no I don't like this plot line, go to another one." Very rare for me. And yet, despite all of this, I'm thinking back and I don't recall much of actual overall plot importance happening. Like, all of the things that happened were important to the individual characters rather than the overarching plot-line. And yet I didn't mind? It was so entertaining!

I don't really have much more to say other than this series has significantly gained much more of my interest and I really want to continue. I really do recommend this series and I will be starting Bloodwitch VERY soon. Go check this one out!

Tutti pensano che il principe Merik, lo Stregone del Vento, sia morto nell'esplosione della sua nave. Invece, per quanto malconcio, è vivo, e deciso a dimostrare il tradimento della sorella. Giunge così nella capitale, strabordante di profughi in cerca di rifugio, e inizia ad aggirarsi per le strade, difendendo i deboli. Nasce così la leggenda di un semidio sfigurato, la Furia, che porta giustizia agli oppressi. Lo Stregone del Sangue Aeduan ha scoperto che su Iseult pende una ricca taglia ed è determinato a trovarla per primo, ma è la ragazza che gli si consegna proponendogli un accordo: gli restituirà il denaro che gli è stato sottratto se la aiuterà a scoprire che fine ha fatto Safi. Legati da un patto, attraversano insieme le Lande Stregate, domandandosi costantemente chi sarà il primo a tradire l'altro. Vittime di un attacco a sorpresa e un naufragio, Safi e l'Imperatrice di Marstock sono riuscite a salvarsi per un pelo nelle terre dei pirati. La loro vita è appesa a un filo, ma non tutto è come sembra e ogni loro mossa potrebbe essere decisiva per sventare una guerra nelle Lande Stregate o per scatenarla.

Leonor Ribeiro 

Elda Mengisto

"The holiest always have the farthest to fall..."

The second book of the Witchlands series takes place where the first one takes off; Merik escapes a ship explosion which others have left him for dead; Safi is taken by the Empress Vaness and has to travel amongst the Pirate Republic of Saldonica, where she meets a familiar foe; and Aeduan continues to hunt down Iseult, who makes a deal with him in exchange for stolen coins. All the while, Merik's sister, Vivia, uses the entire situation to her advantage as she further consolidates power within her own kingdom.

It's been a while since I read Truthwitch (a little over two years), so getting into the second book was a bit harder than the first. Compared to the first book, where there was a substantial focus on Safi and Iseult's friendship, this goes through the different plots relatively equally. This doesn't mean there wasn't any good scenes indicating they still thought of each other. During her journeys, Safi started thinking what would Iseult do--namely, studying her atmosphere and deciding when to attack. For Iseult, on the other hand, it manifests about a discussion with the Cahr Awen, in which she thought she was only Safi's shadow. When she travels to Safi in the dreamworld near the ending, it was quite nice to see Dennard has not abandoned their alliance. 

Dennard does a good job with world-building here; I'm invigorated by her descriptions on what was going on. However, when it comes to the actual plot, sometimes I got lost on what was going on, especially early on. Notably, something about Merik's plot wasn't working for me. It could be because I wasn't touched with his plot in the first book as with Safi and Iseult's friendship, but I was a bit lost on where it was going. It was also the same with Vivia, though it also gave this particular scene:

"Ever since her mother's death, Vivia had tried to be something she was not. She had worn mask after mask, hoping one of them would eventually take root. Hoping one of them would force out the emptiness that lived inside her...And now...Now look at what Vivia has done." (315)

The whole flurry of scenes works here, though I would have to read the next book to get further into it.

Once again, I'm impressed on how Dennard continues to write Safi's character. She takes her on a journey with Vaness, which shows her wit; for example.

"And, of course, craft a new name for the empress. 'Iron' she suggested as they resumed their treck west, following the sun toward Saldonica. 'Steel? Oh, Iron-y'. That made her chuckle." (69). Her interactions with Chisled Cheater, along with her battles with Admiral Kahina, made the story more compelling, as it shows her determination to fight on and her usage of magic. Her outcome at the end opens up for a lot of possibilities. 

Windwitch serves as a decent sequel, though its kaleidoscopic approach can lead to getting lost between different threads. While there are compelling storylines and Dennard's writing style holds up to the action she drafts, it is a bit of a flurry to put it all together. I'm still looking forward for the third book; maybe a re-read would help with this. This series has potential.

Nicole

Susan Dennards writing is incredible. It was a while between the first and this sequel so i had unfortunately forgotten a lot but that's also my own memory problems and nothing to do with these books.
I highly recommend them. This was exciting and fast paced with so many twists and turns. The way trauma was handled is really a nod to how invested Susan is in her characters and how relatable they can be even in a fantasy setting. 
The only thing i wish it had was some kind of romance, but I'll be satisfied with the characters i ship and my own internalized fan fiction.
This was a wonderful read.

Laura Kehoe

Actual rating us 3.5

I was torn about this one. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the stories and character development. It was a lot of fun to be back with these characters and this world. But, there were a lot of different stories all happening at once. It was hard to keep all the different point of views and plots straight. I'm sure they'll all come together eventually, but I had a bit of a struggle with this book. I'm still interested to see what happens next though! And I'll definitely be reading book three when it comes out!

Catarina Freitas

wasn’t as good as the first one but i liked it nonetheless

Maria Elena Vitale Zelaia

Actual rating: 3.5

While I did enjoy reading this book, I did not love it as much as I did the first book. I feel like the strength of this series, besides the amazing world-building, is the characters and how they feed off each other. Which is why I adored Iseult and Aeduan’s POVs (I SHIP THEM SO HARD, I CAN’T EVEN!) and was bored by Safi’s, whose POVs had the worst cast of supporting characters in the series, in my opinion: Vaness, the empress, is an interesting character, but the Hell-Bards they got stuck with were pretty boring. The only scenes I liked with the Hell-Bards were the moments we get to see more of their nature. Mainly, I really missed her interactions with Iseult and her banter with Merik that made me enjoy the first book so much!

Merik is also on his own, but his companion, Cam, and the mystery we follow in Nubrevna are pretty interesting to read about. Vivia, his sister, was also introduced as a POV character. It was interesting seeing things through her eyes, and following both Nihar siblings definitely helps us get a sense of what her relationship with Merik is. That being said, her chapters did not particularly wow me. Nothing (NOTHING!) will beat the fun I had reading Iseult and Aeduan’s interactions. I live and breathe these two and would love it if things took a romantic turn. 

To summarize: I loved Iseult and Aeduan, was intrigued by the storyline in Nubrevna and bored (sorry!) by Safi’s POVs. So my rating could be roughly be a little over 3.5 if I gave a rating to each storyline, but since I always to add to a rating and not subtract, I’ll give it 4.

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a "witchery," a magical skill that sets them apart from others. In this sequel to New York Times bestselling Truthwitch, a shadow man haunts the Nubrevnan streets, leaving corpses in his wake-and then raising those corpses from the dead. Windwitch continues the tale of Merik-cunning privateer, prince, and windwitch.

Anwesha 

*I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.This does not affect my opinion on the book.**

I actually managed to complete  Windwitch, like I  started it for the first time after I was done with A Court of Wings and Ruin back in June,but then I didn't actually have time to get much reading done, and I could only start it again last week and yes, I managed to complete it this time! *pats self on the shoulder*So, we get to the review, okay?

Cover and Title: The title apparently follows a pattern (?) and I'm guessing this one revolves mostly around that one Windwitch we know, though yes, we get to see a lot of other characters with some major roles.But the cover, I don't really love it like the way I loved Truthwitch, cause you know, they are mismatched covers.But yes, I like this cover too!It has this character, probably this certain Windwitch we know about, cause all the leaves in the air and a completed covered hooded figure?It couldn't be anyone else.

World building: This book has just as much world building as Truthwitch does, and it's total up to you, how you imagine each place.The maximum amount of the world you'll learn about is the immediate surroundings of each character, and after two books, I'm kind of starting to get okay with that, tbh.Maybe we could have a separate guide-ish book where the world is described?It does seem like a good idea to me.

Plot: I like how the story went in this one.I mean seriously, I enjoyed the book, yes, I kept mixing up the pirate characters at a certain point, but I enjoyed it. We don't see Safi and Iseult together in this one, but there's still the friendship between them and I'm looking forward to them being back together int he next books.But in this one, I especially liked Iseult and Aeduan's story, I love that they are growing around each other, and Merik and Vivia's story. They came to know each other for who they actually are, and it's kind of beautiful. And there are always hilarious lines to cheer you up when you get hit by sad feels! Plus romance isn't at all a major part in this book, so cheers!

“Oh, I know!" Safi clapped her hands, delighted by her own genius. "I shall call you Un-empressed."
"Please," Vaness said coldly, "stop this immediately."
Safi absolutely did not.” 
― Susan Dennard, Windwitch
Characters: I'm sure it's safe to assume now that we have four main characters, Safi, Iseult, Merik and Aeduan.At least that's how I think it is.And apart from them, we meet some other major characters, the Empress of Marstok, Vaness; and Vivia and Owl. All the 4 major characters go through some character development, some minor, some major.Safi tries to do something that isn't something stupid and irrational. Iseult has a bigger development, and so does Merik. Something in Aeduan changed too, probably from being around Iseult. And Vaness (I have a feeling I'm spelling it wrong, but I'm too lazy to go look it up somewhere ), she comes across a strong willed person, skilled at her iron witchery, no wonder she's an Empress, but I'm not exactly sure what happened to her towards the ending of the book. And going to Vivia, she is someone I really liked in this book besides Iseult and Aeduan. Everything she does, what she sacrifices, her views on things, I think she is fit to wear a crown and rule.Plus, you get to meet some interesting side characters, who are vital to the plot, create interesting relations with the main characters and are just people you need to meet!And I'm not gonna talk about Owl, you need to read to meet that character.And I can't talk more with out giving away vital elements of the plot.But here's me, waiting eagerly for the next book to come out cause this series has grown on me.

“Why do you hold a razor in one hand?
So men remember that I am sharp as any edge.
And why do you hold broken glass in the other?
So men remember that I am always watching.” 
― Susan Dennard, Windwitch
And I'm still wondering who smells of Clear Lake and Frozen Waters.And I wonder what my blood would smell like to Aeduan.I'm so curious about that one.Just as I wonder how Amortentia would smell like to me.And this book had some really good lines and here's a few of them.

“The holiest always have the farthest to fall.” 
― Susan Dennard, Windwitch
“It is always easier to blame gods or legends than it is to face our own mistakes.” 
― Susan Dennard, Windwitch
“There are degrees of freedom. Complete freedom isn't always good, nor is the lack of it always bad.” 
― Susan Dennard, Windwitch


https://liveinthepagesofbooks.wordpre...

Meg Cornhill

4.25*

I really enjoyed this instalment in the series, but I wouldn’t say I die hard LOVED it. It definitely still had some amazing moments, and I laughed and gasped through it all, but it felt very much like a ‘middle’ book; there’s a lot of building tensions, and laying down the foundation for what I hope is going to be an explosive and dynamic finale. All in all, still a great book, I loved the expansion of characters and their growth and I’m excited that it’s not all romance.

Jasmine Neville

Sheila

A very different vibe from the first book, this one centres mostly on Merik. A lot of set-up and pieces moving for Bigger Events to come. Not as interesting as the first book, but I'll read the next one.

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a "witchery," a magical skill that sets them apart from others.In this sequel to New York Times bestselling Truthwitch, a shadow man haunts the Nubrevnan streets, leaving corpses in his wake-and then raising those corpses from the dead. Windwitch continues the tale of Merik-cunning privateer, prince, and windwitch.

Imane

This story is heading towards an interesting direction. The beginning and the end felt rushed whereas the storylines unfurled at different speed but with relatively similar levels of interest. Obviously my favourite was Aeduan's and Iseult's. Merik's plotline was especially intriguing because it went a direction that I absolutely did not anticipate. Safiyah is surprisingly way less annoying than in the previous book and while she's still reckless, she's growing as a character and she's showing more depth and subtlety than before (though sometimes her nature comes back to bite her in the ass lol). At the end of the day I think her character development is tied to being surrounded by different people who challenge her black-and-white perception of the world.

(view spoiler)[Ryber's expeditious return in the very last few pages with a possible solution for Merik's ailment  (hide spoiler)] kind of felt like a Deus ex machina type of situation but it made me happy that I read Sightwitch before starting with the main Witchlands books. I'd have been confused as HELL had I not known certain details about certain characters and some aspects of the magic system too. Speaking of, while the system is quite developed, it is not really explained in any satisfactory manner... I'd love to know more about its origins.

Also I don't want to spoil anything but hmmm Vivia and Vaness??? I'm hoping we'll see more of them in the next book and hopefully get some chapters from their POV.

Anyways, this book raised very interesting questions for the rest of the series! I'm glad I already have my copy of Bloodwitch hehe.

Jessica Williamson

4.75 Stars

*Re-read December 2018*
THERE WAS EVEN MORE THE SECOND TIME AROUND!!! This story is one of those you catch something new every time you read it. I feel like I understand so much more about the story now that I've re-read it. I definitely excited to get to my re-read of Sightwitch and see how much more I can take in. This series is so darn good!

*original review*
This book was so much less predictable than the first! I loved it. Dennard's writing style is fun and captivating. Going quickly from one battle to the next, hopping from character to character. There are more points of view in this book, and they are interesting, to say the least. Not only do we see Safi, Iz, Merik, and Aeduan, but we also see Vivia, a character who was mostly a faceless villain in the first book. 

There was much more land travel this time vs. the sea travel that I enjoyed before, but it was all worth it. Though you never really get to see Safi and Iz on the page together (which is sad because their friendship is my favorite ship), they both have shining moments here. Both have moments of character growth and change, and that's all you can ask for out of book characters.

Aeduan. We all love Aeduan, you know it's true. He continues to be a character that you never really feel like you know fully. There are things about his past that are still secret, and he hides them well. His void witchery is still a power not fully explained for me. I mean, why is everyone so afraid of voidwitches. Though, with crazy Esme classified as a voidwitch, I can see why.

Yeah, Esme is still here, and she's still crazy.

Merik is probably the most changed for me in the book. Though that makes sense as he's the main focus of it. He has more page time than the others, more than Safi for sure. There were some weird things going on with him, and I'm interested to see where they lead to in the next book. I'm not really sure where it's going. Which I like, because helllllooooo that predictable ass first book. 

One thing remains as shining as it was in Truthwitch. The world itself. The Witchlands are so creative, so full and bursting with life it makes even boring things fun to read. It's easy to immerse yourself into this world, to get caught up in the magic and mystery of everything going on and that is quite possibly my second favorite thing about this series so far. 

This is one of a very few book series that I've actually read in real time while it's being released. I typically wait until the whole thing is published and binge read all the way through so I'm going to be very impatiently waiting for book 3: Bloodwitch (or as the fans are calling it Aeduan, with many, many exclamation marks. I told you, he's a fan favorite).

Kristin

These characters are just great, pure awesomeness. I just wanna stay with them forever! Now on to buy the next books ASAP :D

laura

I really loved this book. I loved seeing the characters in different locations and seeing how separate they were impacted all the characters. It was fast pace read as well.

Katie Montemayor 

3.75 stars? I had trouble getting through this book, to be honest. But I hear the next one is a lot better so I wanted to push through!

New York Times bestselling author Susan Dennard returns to the epic fantasy Witchlands series with Windwitch. After an explosion destroys his ship, the world believes Prince Merik, Windwitch, is dead. Scarred yet alive, Merik is determined to prove his sister’s treachery. Upon reaching the royal capital, crowded with refugees, he haunts the streets, fighting for the weak—which leads to whispers of a disfigured demigod, the Fury, who brings justice to the oppressed. When the Bloodwitch Aeduan discovers a bounty on Iseult, he makes sure to be the first to find her—yet in a surprise twist, Iseult offers him a deal. She will return money stolen from him, if he locates Safi. Now they must work together to cross the Witchlands, while constantly wondering, who will betray whom first? After a surprise attack and shipwreck, Safi and the Empress of Marstok barely escape with their lives. Alone in a land of pirates, every moment balances on a knife’s edge—especially when the pirates’ next move could unleash war upon the Witchlands. Sometimes our enemies are also our only allies... The Witchlands #1 Truthwitch #2 Windwitch #3 Bloodwitch Sightwitch (illustrated novella)

The Witchlands

Nickie Mohler

I'm loving this series. Especially the characters and magic.

sera

Too slow for a second book in a series!! 200 pages wasted, nothing happened. I was hoping that at least, the small plots would be some kind of hints/backstory to the greater plot but nope, nothing. I love the Truthwitch so much, and to go into this after the first instalment is just disappointing. The climax couldn't save this book, I've lost all connections felt for the characters. No book 3 for me.

Alexia Cambaling

(Warning: Contains spoilers for Truthwitch)
The new semester made it hard for me to focus on getting a lot of reading but I eventually finished Windwitch. In fact, I finished it at 2:30 am on a Monday. I’m just lucky my first class starts at 4:30 pm. Was it worth the lack of sleep? Definitely! After reading Windwitch, I felt like I’ve found my new favorite YA Epic Fantasy series.

I felt a sense of loss after finishing the book. I didn’t have Sightwitch on hand and the next book comes out in 2019. What an incredible ride. I had to carve out time from my busy schedule to read and it was so worth it. Windwitch is more character-focused than Truthwitch and delves more into the inner conflict and motivations of its characters. While some might find it slow, I think the book is stronger for it.

First, worldbuilding. We see the worldbuilding expanded here as our characters get scattered into the world. We get to see the Contested Lands, Saldonica, and Lovats, the capital of Nubrevna. I love seeing more of the different cultures of the Witchlands. I liked the fact that there were distinct differences between each nation and that there are also complex politics at play. The expansion of the worldbuilding made the Witchlands seem like an even more interesting place and I would love to see it explored further as the series goes on.

There's politicking in this book, which I appreciate. It mostly revolves around Vivia, which makes sense because she’s the rightful queen and all. It shows Vivia having to deal with a hostile council and how she has to keep fighting for her right to be crowned. I would love to read about her coronation in future books. Throughout the book, I felt like Vivia doesn’t necessarily have the best methods and she is a bit unorthodox, but you really can’t deny that she cares for her people.

Windwitch doesn’t have a lot of romance, in fact, it has practically zero of it. There are only hints of future relationships developing and the fact that there’s so little of it made me root for those couples even more. What can I say? I’m a fan of slow burn and the enemies-to-lovers trope. In any case, the best part is that the relative lack of it allowed the different kinds of relationships to shine even more.

There are many different types of relationships present in Windwitch, the most prominent of all being familial. The relationship we really get to see most here is between Vivia, Merik, and their father, King Serafin. In a sense, it’s almost ironic considering that for most of the book, they don’t even interact face to face. And yet, it’s their relationships we get to see most of.

I loved how messy and complicated the family dynamics here are. I personally relate to Vivia as the older sister in a sense, I know the feeling of being selfish, of wanting your parents’ love and recognition for yourself. At the same time, I also liked how the book showed how emotionally manipulative her relationship with her father was and how he pitted the siblings against one another. Vivia made a lot of terrible and questionable choices as the elder sister and I felt like in the end, she was kind of able to make up for it.

Merik as the younger sibling also didn’t understand his sister very well and that misunderstanding led him to actually believe she would try to have him assassinated. But she didn’t. In the end, they were working for the same goal, albeit in different ways. I have to say that I really lived for this complex sibling relationship, especially because of how it gets resolved in the end.

As for the other characters, they were also forced to go their separate ways at the end of the first book. Safi is with the Empress of Marstok, Vaness and they end up embarking on a rather interesting adventure. I won’t spoil it too much, but I liked the parts where they were in Saldonica because it showed more of this interesting world and also it was just fun to read about overall. To say any more than that might be heading into spoiler territory so I’ll stay clear from revealing too much except to say that Vaness is amazing.

Iseult’s story arc mainly revolves around finding Safi. In the process, this leads her to teaming up with the Bloodwitch Aeduan in order to find her. I find how they end up partnering really interesting, although I wouldn’t spoil it. I also liked their interactions in how they don’t exactly trust each other, but end up saving the other time and again until they accumulate life debts. Also, I’m living for the slow burn feel of their relationship. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for how this progresses in the future!

Iseult herself undergoes a lot of soul-searching in this book. She gets separated from her Threadsister and really shows her vulnerabilities, conflict, and motivations. She also ends up learning a lot about herself and not necessarily in a way that she likes. In the end, she sort of accepts it and there’s this one scene near the end where she’s just absolutely incredible. I don’t want to spoil that particular scene but it felt like a culmination of what she had been learning through Truthwitch and the earlier parts of the book. I would love to see how it develops further and how she hones her abilities or ends up using it.

Aeduan is still an enigmatic character, but we do learn a little bit more about him. The next book mainly revolves around him and I honestly can’t wait to learn more.

The plot does feel like it serves to get us to a certain point and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I like books with a lot of travelling and I don’t mind books which are more character-focused. Still, it might not be for you if you’re mostly plot-focused as it might feel slow.

In the end, Windwitch is an amazing sequel to one of my new favorite books. It has earned a permanent spot on my favorites shelf and I would be eagerly anticipating future installments. In the meantime, I really should pick up Sightwitch.

This review is also on  The Bookworm Daydreamer

Windwitch

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