Review: Truthwitch

I'm a big fan of Dennard as an author, and gave this book a 3.5 - rounded up to a 4 - on Goodreads. I'm only saying this now, because it's going to take a little bit of this blogpost to get to the points I actually liked about the novel. Just be patient, and trust me on this one! 

Truthwitch (Witchlands #1), by Susan Dennard, follows the story of Safiya and Iseult, two young witches caught up in a storm of political turmoil and uncertain alliances they never bargained for. While Safiya's Truthwitch powers make her a hot commodity for the clashing kingdoms, Iseult's Threadwitch home tribe is overrun with a dark and mysterious power, placing them both at risk and on the run. With the help of Prince Merrick, they try to keep one step in front of the rapidly gaining enemies... but with a Bloodwitch on their heels, who knows how long they'll be able to stay ahead.

The story jumps in with both feet, the plot taking off with a frenetic pace, as so much happens in such a short amount of time that you're left desperate to find a sense of understanding amongst all the scenery flowing past you. Eventually, however, you find your groove, and begin to determine from between the multitude of new names, stereotypes, and personalities, what the story is actually about.

Even retroactively, I still feel like there was too much happening from the get-go, to the point of various holes not getting filled as they should have. If it's a question of plot versus character in the front seat, plot can undoubtedly be found driving, and it's got its gas pedal pressed to the floor. If things had been slowed down a little, and the reader been given a marked amount more detail of what they were seeing and experiencing, then it might have been easier to digest, while still keeping in time with the pacing necessary to the plot.

If it's even possible, I feel like there was almost too much showing, rather than telling: if things had just been explained a little better as they happened, no matter what narrator or framing the exposition would have come from, it wouldn't have taken so much effort to get caught up to speed.

The characters themselves seemed pretty standard for the roles needing to be filled in various YA Fantasy: the pretty, but weapon-wielding, tough girl who acts on impulse and serves as the main, the dashing and brooding prince who cares for his people despite cruel inter-family forces trying to take him down, the emotionally stunted and logical outcast who is privy to the secrets of the world, but cannot navigate her own feelings quite as easily.

That might be why I liked one of the other side characters - the Bloodwitch - so much, because I felt like I hadn't seen him in this format before. Granted, I'm pretty aware of his typecasting outside the realm of YA: maybe it's his jaded and cynical attitudes towards completing a task and getting paid for it, or the fact that he wears a white cloak, with its hood pulled down over his eyes, tons of leather armor, and scabbards absolutely bursting with gleaming metal, but the whole thing about this character felt very video game-y.

There were even elements of the plot that felt similarly formulaic, like pieces of an IKEA furniture set that needed to be snapped together to generate an acceptable outcome. Various choices characters made - which even in the moment, and with very little time to have met them, felt a little out of place - would eventually regain their clarity when it morphed into a meeting point or intersection with the plot or motivations of another character, that they needed at that time. It was a series of small deus ex machina moments that really came across as the author needing her characters to be somewhere, and just getting them there by any means necessary, regardless of plot.

Still, despite the fact that these elements were so recognizable, despite the plot that was too breakneck and unresolved... I think I really enjoyed this book. There were new and exciting systems of magic that reminded me a little of the Avatar the Last Airbender Universe, the various settings and communities described set things up for a fun and well-integrated world having been built, and overall, I enjoyed getting to know the characters, for all that they might be modeled after others. It was a good time, and I've already picked up the sequel, because sometimes, things that are recognizable - and even a little formulaic - can be the foundation for fun, easy reading.

Final Verdict: Already-established fans of YA Fantasy will definitely enjoy this fast-paced, wide-spanning, yet still recognizable, romp through a thoroughly built-out magical world. While I wouldn't recommend it to anyone new to the genre, or anyone looking for something unique or different, it's the perfect kind of thing to read on a cozy afternoon.

Have you read Truthwitch? Are you a fan of Dennard? Let me know, in the comments below!