Monday, March 21, 2016

Review: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1)
By Susan Dennard
Publisher:
Tor Teen
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Safiya and Iseult’s friendship can withstand anything, including life on the run when the ladies find themselves pursued by multiple parties. Safi’s Truthwitch magic, unknown to most, makes her the perfect political asset in a world that’s about to reach the end of a twenty year truce between empires. Prince Merik Nihar knows all too well the destruction of war, and his efforts to restore vitality to his ravaged homeland put him directly in Safi and Iseult’s path. Although they’re fiercely independent and used to relying only on each other, this time Safi and Iseult may need the outside help, as their current predicament is far from being one of their typical brushes with danger.

Review: With the massive marketing campaign that preceded its release, it was nearly impossible not to have heard about Truthwitch. What really sold me on needing to read this book, though, was its being compared to Avatar: The Last Airbender. You had me at Avatar: The Last Airbender because I. Love. That. Show. So the expectations were high for this one, and try as I did to keep them within reason, I think it’s always a bit of a challenge to not anticipate perfection or something very close to it from ultra hyped books.

Truthwitch wastes no time cutting straight to the action. Best friends Safiya and Iseult become wanted young women almost immediately after we meet them when their little attempt to recoup some gambling losses goes awry. This puts a mercenary monk named Aeduan hot on their trail with Javert-like doggedness, a chase that persists for the rest of the novel but for motives that shift over the course of the book.

While I loved the whirlwind pace of Truthwitch and the relentless action, I also found myself wishing for more exposition. Other readers have mentioned that the world-building was a bit lacking for them, and I’m afraid I agree. This world is busy, with quite a lot to absorb from the get-go regarding elemental magic and the politics of the Witchlands. I struggled to add everything up and often felt like I had plenty of puzzle pieces to work with but no matter how I arranged them, I couldn’t assemble a full picture.

As with Rebel of the Sands, I also wondered about the overall story arc for Truthwitch. The twenty year truce between the empires of the Witchlands is about to end, and war could be on the horizon. The potential for conflict eventually gathers steam, but for most of the book, it takes a backseat to Safi and Iseult’s adventures. Truthwitch is very much Safi and Iseult’s show, not that this is entirely a bad thing, but every time the pair wound up in a new predicament, I couldn’t help thinking, but where is this going? How does this latest narrow escape figure into the broader story?

My difficulties fully grasping the world aside, there was still much to enjoy about Truthwitch. Safi and Iseult’s friendship is by far the book’s highlight. These two share an utterly unbreakable bond; there’s absolutely nothing one wouldn’t do for the other. Readers whose hearts melted over the epic brotherhood between Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs in The Infernal Devices should be very happy here.

Truthwitch also boasts some witty dialogue exchanges, particularly those between Safi and Prince Merik, a Windwitch with a temper that ignites as easily as Safi’s does. They bait each other frequently, usually to hilarious effect. Merik’s aunt, Evrane, a Carawen monk like Aeduan but unlike Aeduan, not a threat to Safi and Iseult, was one of my favorite characters. Evrane is as badass a fighter as Safi and Iseult, and her relationship with her nephew kind of reminded me of Uncle Iroh and Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Aha—I’ve made my AtLA connection!

The characters are what made this book for me, and I definitely have enough investment in them to continue with the series. I do hope, though, that the sequel provides some more backstory to the world, especially the inner workings of the magic. If that happens, this will be a knockout of a series.

All in All: While Truthwitch was a solid read overall thanks to the wonderful friendship, the strong female characters, and the clever banter, the world-building left me with more than a few unanswered questions. This may not be a big deal for some readers; I just happen to like my fantasy reads highly detailed, and this one was a tad light with the explanations in my opinion.

12 comments:

  1. I hope my library has this. World building is important with a fantasy like this. On the other hand, I love how action driven it is. Thanks for the warning, I'll keep that in mind when I'd do get the chance to read this one

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    1. I'll be waiting to see what you think of it! World-building is definitely the cornerstone of fantasy, and I was expecting a little more from this book. But I did take to several of the characters, which kind of balanced things out a bit.

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  2. This book has been hyped up so much over the last view months that I definitely have high expectations. I keep trying to avoid reviews because I want to discover how good or bad it is for myself haha. I've already failed, so oh well.

    Ah darn, that's disappointing about the world building but I'm not surprised because from the synopsis alone it already feels like so much is going on.

    I find it so weird that the overall story is more of a sideline, it always makes me wonder what the point of the story is.

    Simply Adrift

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    1. I'm hoping that the next book will be a little more plot driven; this one felt episodic, with things happening but I wasn't always sure how they all fit together. The friendship between Safi and Iseult is definitely the novel's centerpiece, and while I thought it was awesome, I also wished for more story.

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  3. I'm happy that you seemed to have enjoyed this one a bit more than I did Lee^^ but I'm also glad that I wasn't the only one who had issues with the total lack of world-building and historical context here^^ Your analogy about the puzzle pieces really nailed it for me! The overall story arc remains muddled for me too and I just can't seem to get a firm grip on what's important here and what might just be filler. Despite that, I did enjoy the friendship and the magic, even though I wish the latter had been explained in more depth >.< I don't think I'll rush into the sequel, but I will read it at some point and hopefully it fills in some blanks for both of us :)

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    1. Yes- here's hoping that we get more details about the world and the mechanics of the magic in the next book! I do want to read the sequel, but like you, I'll probably take my time getting around to it.

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  4. So happy to read your thoughts on Truthwitch! Also I LOL'd at your comparison of Aeduan and Javert's tenacity. :D Probably because I was on the street team, that I took in alot of the background info so the world-building seemed pretty complete to me, but I'm sure it will continue to be fleshed out in the rest of the series. I'm glad you loved the characters - they are the highlight for me too!

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    1. I'm glad my Javert reference made you laugh! :D Aeduan really did remind me of Javert; every time Safi and Iseult thought they'd lost Aeduan, there he was again, lol!

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  5. Gah!! your review is wonderful for this book! You've said everything I"ve been thinking about. Especially about the overall arc of the story. I loved reading about Safi and Iseult's adventures and the action it provided for the story, but I was thinking the same thing. How did it advance the story and where is this plot going? I never really understood the plot of the series until the last few pages of this one and even then its a bit hazy.

    And I also agreed with the lack of world-building. I love fantasy books that gives a clear picture of the world and even though I don't like super heavy info dumping I like a good amount of details. I want to know the world and the magic system but this lacked a lot of that :/ I don't like complaining about this book because I really did like it but it just missed some things, right?

    Great review Lee XD

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    1. I was really excited to read about the elemental magic in Truthwitch because of how many times I'd seen it compared to AtLA, but I didn't really find the magic explained all that thoroughly here. :/ I couldn't quite figure out the system; there seem to be subdivisions within each type of elemental magic, but I'm still not sure what all of the kinds of witchery are? This was still a lot of fun to read, but having a firmer grip on the magic would have made it even better!

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  6. I’ve been so torn about whether to read it or not because of all the hype. I love fantasy novels and usually, when practically every book lover you know says a book is awesome, it means the book really is awesome, right??? That being said, I think it’s a shame the world building is a little lacking. Part of what makes fantasy books so cool is, in fact, the world building. Also info dumping is a major book turn off for me and this books sounds like it suffers from a bad case of info dumping. The friendship between the two characters does sound super interesting though. I love well fleshed out relationships and the fact that you compared it to Will and Jem makes me happy cause these two definitely represent solid friendship goals. I suppose I will try reading this one at some point. I just won’t be making it a big priority for the moment XD.

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    1. Safi and Iseult's friendship often made me think of Will and Jem; I just love strong friendships in books! I did find the world-building a little wanting, though, especially given how much advance buzz this book had received. I'm curious to see if we get a clearer picture of the world and the magic system in the next book.

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