Witch King

Following the great success of the Murderbot Diaries, I was excited when I heard that Martha Wells would return to the fantasy genre with a new novel. It's been over two decades since I last read a fantasy title from the author, so I was curious to see what her new work would be all about. I immediately said yes when I was offered an ARC. Then I brought the book with me on my trip to Colombia and couldn't wait to start reading it.

Though I really wanted to like it, there's no way to sugarcoat this. Witch King turned out to be a disappointment. So much so that it felt as though this might be a cash-grab on Tordotcom's part.

Here's the blurb:

From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes a remarkable story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.

"I didn't know you were a... demon."
"You idiot. I'm the demon."

Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' WITCH KING....

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.

But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?

Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.

He’s not going to like the answers.

The novel's structure can be problematic at times. The story follows two timelines, the past and the present. This duality works well at the beginning. Yet it tends to get confusing, especially in the middle portion of the book when the plot feels so similar that both timelines sort of blur together from time to time. Understandably, the flashback scenes are meant to flesh out events and protagonists taking center stage in the present. Trouble is, for the most part those sequences totally fail to do so. Given that the bulk of the story is told from Kai's perspective, the flashbacks do provide some insight into the demon's character and the way its powers work. Which is great. On the other hand, no other protagonist goes through even a modicum of character growth in the six decades that span the two timelines. Even worse, basically no light is shed on any of the questions raised both in the past and the present. Wells came up with some cool and interesting concepts and ideas in Witch King, but she refuses to elaborate on the majority of them. By the time I reached the last page, to all ends and purposes I knew almost as little about The Hierarchs and their coming, the Immortal Blessed, the expositors and their amalgams, the Rising World, or the world at large, etc, as I did when I started the book. The author provides bits and pieces, little hints here and there, but nothing you can truly sink your teeth into. Which means that you read on, never quite understanding what's going on and why the protagonists act the way they do.

And although she eschews revealing any important information, à la Robert Jordan Martha Wells goes out of her way to describe every stich of every single garment worn by anyone appearing on page and does the same with facial features. Sign of the times, Witch King features a nonbinary main protagonist, badass lesbians, and a cast made up of mostly Middle Eastern-like men and women. The bad guys are white. Interestingly enough, the top of the world is to the south, not the north. Throughout the entire novel, Wells will dwell on stuff that, at face value at least, seems to have little or no importance in the greater scheme of things. But on the coming of the Hierarchs from the south and their quest to conquer the world, on the war itself, on the actors that fought and then helped create the Rising World Coalition, on the aftermath of the war and the peaceful years that followed, she provides little or no information whatsoever. To a certain extent, it feels as though Witch King isn't a complete work. Almost like the ARC I was sent only contains the first half of the novel.

Due to the fact that she played her cards so close to her chest regarding the worldbuilding and given what appears to be a particularly weak political intrigue, the only thing that could save this book was the characterization. And in that regard at least, Wells came up with another disparate bunch of fun characters. Having said that, other than Kai, all the others are two-dimensional characters that lack substance. It's all good to have witty dialogue, but it only goes so far when none of the protagonists have any depth. Even with Kai and Ziede, who are the closest protagonists of the tale, other than perhaps Ziede and Tahren, none of the two timelines show us how they became this close. Instead of describing skirts and fabrics, I would have preferred for Wells to further flesh out characters and relationships, so we could understand who they are and what drives them. The author came up with an interesting group of men and women, both in the past and in the present, yet we know next to nothing about their motivations. There's obviously more to them than meets the eye. Ramad immediately comes to mind and so does Tahren. Unfortunately, Wells elected not to elaborate on most of them.

As mentioned, it feels as though Witch King is incomplete. In many ways, it's like reading the introduction of a story. The structure of the novel precludes any kind of endgame or resolution. It's not that it ends in a cliffhanger. The books simply ends the way a normal chapter ends. You reach the final page, shaking your head and wondering what just happened. To a certain extent, it sometimes feels like this is not the final draft, that something big is missing. As if Tordotcom decided to publish an unfinished manuscript, hoping to capitalize on Martha Wells' commercial success and milk her popularity for all it's worth. Otherwise, I'm at a loss to explain how things could have turned out this way.

Indeed, Witch King could be the least self-contained fantasy work I've ever read. I'm disappointed, but I have to keep in mind that I received a free review copy. Hard to believe that anyone who pays 28.99$ for the hardcover or 14.99$ for the digital edition will not feel cheated somehow. I know that's how I feel at the moment.

And the most dismaying thing about Witch King is that it has all the ingredients for a good story waiting to be told. More revelations could have demonstrated that the worldbuilding is indeed complex and fascinating. Fleshing out the characters would have added layers to the storylines. As it is, it's impossible to tell just how good or bad this series will ultimately be. Will I read the sequel? Given that I'm still intrigued and this is Martha Wells, probably. Had this been written by a debut author, not a chance. Time will tell. . .

The final verdict: 6.5/10

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.