Truthwitch

Reread 2025: I'm rereading the series in preparation for the finale to release at the end of the year. I still enjoyed the read though I'm definitely not in the YA mood as much as I was back in 2017. Still, you can't beat Safi and Iseult's epic friendship. In the author's own words: "Friendships can be just as epic as romances - maybe even more so - and I wanted the world to see that."

I wish I could find more fantasy books featuring epic female friendships. Review from 2017 below.

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Truthwitch is the first in Susan Dennard's Witchland series. At its heart this is a story about the power of friendship wrapped in a fantasy adventure set in a world that's loosely based on the Austrian and Venetian empires. Even the world map in the show more front of the book looks like an outline of mainland Europe with the names changed slightly to give them a fantasy flavor, which annoys the crap out of me these days. That annoyance aside, it's a fun story that hits all the high points of a good fantasy adventure: sword fights, an interesting magic system, some world building, piracy, romance, treachery and deep friendships.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Truthwitches are incredibly rare and it is a power many would kill for. Iseult is a Threadwitch, able to see the invisible threads that tie people together and tangle their lives, though she cannot see her own. Wild fire and steely ice, together they are two halves of a formidable whole. More than just friends they are Threadsisters, tied by bonds that go deeper than family. The girls want nothing more than to live their own lives. When a heist goes wrong, their inability to keep out of trouble unwittingly tosses them at the center of a continental conflict. On the run and hunted, Safi and Iseult are determined to hang on to each other and their freedom no matter what other people have planned for them.

What I enjoyed the most about the book was the relationship between Safi and Iseult. It is too common that women in fantasy get the short end of the stick when it comes to characterizations. With Truthwitch it is Safi and Iseult's friendship that takes center stage. It was incredibly refreshing to read a young adult novel where the women not only support each other but actively put each other first before the men in their lives. They are the center of each other's worlds. Yes, there is are romantic side stories for each of the ladies, this is a YA novel after all. Safi is hot-headed and impulsive while Iseult is more methodical and likes to have a plan. Their personalities and powers compliment each other beautifully, allowing them to be a dangerous and effective team.

Most of the world building is only surface level. There are several empires that are in an uneasy truce and each has it's own system of nobility, none of which are very well described, and the politics between nations are murky. This isn't too important to the story so it mostly didn't bother me. Hopefully more of this is revealed later as it seems like the politics between nations will be more important in the next book given where this book ends.

Alternatively, the magic system is quite interesting and more in depth. While not everyone in the world has magic, there are endless varieties to be found, each with varying levels of power. All witcheries seem to be elemental based, with powers founded in in earth, air, fire, water and ether, and those can specialize even further. An Airwitch may be called a Windwitch instead because their magic is specialized to producing gusts of wind that can, for example, fill sails with air to help a boat move faster while another Airwitch may have fine tuned their power that they can control the air in someone's lungs. There are even rumors of witchery tied to the Void.

Even with its flaws, I quite enjoyed this book. Truthwitch is a great start to what should be a promising series. I'm looking forward to book two. show less

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard is a wild ride into a new world of myth and magic. Welcome to the Witchlands. Safiya and Iseult are two unusual witches. One- Safi- bears the burden of a rare type of witchery. She is a Truthwitch, her magic granting the ability to tell truth from lie. Iseult is a Threadwitch of the Nomatsi, though one who cannot create Threadstones, and cannot control her emotions like a proper Nomatsi Threadwitch. She fled her tribe years before, unable to follow in her mother's footsteps. The pair are more than just best friends. They are threadsisters. Only Heart-threads are closer.

A caper gone wrong, and a plot years in the crafting, sets the pair on a life-altering path. Pursued by a deadly Bloodwitch named Aeduan for show more the attempted robbery from one of the Dalmotti Guildmasters, the pair are separated when Safi's uncle Eron demands her presence at a banquet hosting the nations of the Twenty Year Truce where the Cartorran Emperor has an important announcement to make. Unwelcome due to her Nomatsi heritage, Iseult makes her way back to the Midenzi Nomatsi enclave. However, neither girl's night goes as expected. They manage to meet back up, only to be attacked by Aeduan. Rescue comes in the form of the fiery Admiral Merik of Nubrevna, much to Safi's dismay. The Admiral has a much needed trade contract dependent upon getting Safiya to the port town of Layna without her blood being spilt. Sea foxes, Bloodwitchery, and other mishaps, many created by Safi herself, make this increasingly difficult for Merik. Can he succeed in his objective or will his agreement fall to ruin?

I fell in love with this world from page one! With rich worldbuilding, and compelling characters, Dennard has opened the door to a storyworld you'll want to visit again and again. I can't believe I've not read this yet! I liked all the major characters, though I did often want to thwack Safi for making things more difficult than needed for Merik. It took her seeing Nubrevna for herself to understand just how vital the trade agreement was for him.

I hope Corlant and the Midenzi are revisited in a later book. That storythread seemed to have a major part, but it wasn't explored deeply in Truthwitch. I also want to know more about the inherited Nihar rage Merik suffers from. He seems able to control his temper for the most part, though sometimes it gets away from him. Is it related to his magic? Vivia, his sister, doesn't have the same Witchery. Nor does Kullen, Merik's threadbrother and first mate, seem to be plagued with rage. Pulmonary problems are another story… Poor Kullen. Temper aside, or possibly because of it, Merik was my favourite character. It's clear he cares for his crew and his people. He's an honourable man, and one who sticks to his word. Even when that word is to lock up Safi for disobedience that endangers his crew. He's not as heartless as she thinks at first. And Aeduan! I want to know more about him!!

I do wish we'd learned more about how Witcheries manifest in the young, how they are trained, what dictates the type of Witchery a person has. It seems a person is born with their specific brand of magic, rather than having generic magic that is then honed to specific Witcheries. The fact Merik and Vivia have magic, but different Witcheries makes it seem specific types do not follow bloodlines, though likely the predisposition towards Witchery in general does.

If you love magic and intrigue, this series is well worth checking out! Can't wait to read the next in the series!

***Many thanks to the Netgalley and Pan Macmillan/ Tor for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. show less

Eh, ok, I had a hard time with this book.

On the one-hand, I really like the world; on the other hand, the characters are just past flat and there are some plot holes which were bothersome -- and I'm not talking about continuity, I'm talking about transitions that were so abrupt I went back to the last page to see if I had skipped a paragraph or a page or something.

I also was frustrated because I really like the world (really, really like the world), but it isn't explained enough -- like I had to read a synopsis outside the book to find out that everyone in the Witchlands has a witchery, and it's not just some people. And if that's the case, then how can Safi get away without a witchmark? Wouldn't you have to have one? Ok, maybe the show more synopsis was wrong? But also, what are the Hell-bards, exactly? And there's references to "elemental" witches being enslaved in Dalmotti... but not if they are from a visiting kingdom? What defines "elemental"? What kind of slavery? Is it imprisonment? Or are they forced to join the hell-bards?

I get that there is a lot, a LOT, left to be explained in later books, but I feel like fleshing out the world shouldn't be something that you hide for later. Also, I'm coming to despise the Teen Series Trope of To Be Continued... I mean, really. I do understand that there's a larger, overarching plot that needs more pages to tell, but one of the things I value in the great series that I read is that the authors don't enslave the book to the overarching plot -- you don't have to leave every thread hanging for me to want to come back and read your books -- you can, in fact tell a complete story, with smaller hints that there's a background arc going on and leave your readers satisfied. I guess my preference is for more episodic work? I love how Patricia Briggs or Ilona Andrews or even Patrick Rothfuss does that, for instance. The characters and the world are so well realized that you can come back to them at any point, and while there are key plots that happened in previous books, they hit the highlights in episode 2 or 3 or 14 so you don't have to go back and start all over again to figure out what's going on.

Sorry, Susan Dennard. I didn't mean to use my book review as a platform to rail against the world. Not your fault, you're just doing what Sarah J. Maas encourages you to do. I liked her first books, too. But I tend to stop reading her series because they sacrifice storytelling for TBC plots. I hope it's something YA lit can grow out of, and I'll read the next in the series in hopes that the itch of plots dropped will be rewarded. show less

All hail the sisterhood! I absolutely LOVED getting to see two young women being total bad asses without their judgement being clouded or their actions being reckless for love (or at least the romantic kind of love).

Iseult and Safi were amazing heroines who stand by each other and would anything for each other, though at times this bond does make their situation worse, which is why it's a good thing that the side characters are badass as well.

I loved Merik as well. He is incredibly strong and focused on his goals and doesn't let things distract him too much from those goals.

The writing itself was pretty great in this story and everything seemed to flow fairly well. The magic system is very intriguing and has me hoping to find out more show more in the following books.

The storyline was also interesting, though the beginning was a little slow and I didn't immediately connect with the characters. That being said, as the story progressed, I found myself getting hooked into the goings on in this world and being surprised at some of the twists.

I definitely need the next book now! show less

I really enjoyed this book!

Truthwitch has a strong fanbase, although it's not as popular and hyped as Sarah J. Maas or Leigh Bardugo's novels. Still, devoted fanbases tend to signify a good book, and Truthwitch was no exception. The worldbuilding was spectacular and interesting. I really appreciated the variety of magic and the aesthetic of the setting - this did not feel like a traditional, western European-inspired fantasy. It had an oceanic feel, or Mediterranean, which a wide variety of settings. I really liked it.

The characters were fun as well. I didn't love all of them, but the banter between Safi and Iseult was a blast! The relationships between characters and their rapport was well-done. I also really enjoyed the way each show more character used their witcheries.

This definitely feels like the start to a series, but it was a good start with the right amount of creativity and worldbuilding. I'm here for the rest of the Witchlands series!

*As a note, I was warned by a lot of people that the narration of the audiobook wasn't great. It's definitely each to their own, but I listened at 1.25x and didn't have any problems. :) So if you're an audiobook listener, I'd say it's still worth a try! show less

She wasn’t trapped inside her skin or her mistakes, and she didn’t need to change who she was. Everything she needed was inside of her: the tools from Mathew and Habim—even Uncle Eron—and the solid, unwavering love of her Threadsister. Safi could bend and shape the world. And it was time to do so.

***I'm writing this review after reading book s0.5 1,2,3***

To be honest I've seen The Witchlands series for quite some time now and I kept postponing adding them to my list because I thought they might not be up in my ally. BUT I was so so wrong! This series has become one of my favorites! I love the many characters and POVs, each chapter is a different POV and you even if you don't look you can tell who's POV it is because each show more character is unique with their own flaws and strengths. I like the steady "flow" of the worldbuilding, it's not rushed and not slow either. Storywise, it's action-packed, slow-paced (I mean this in a positive light) and fast-paced in some.

One of the themes that I've notice with all books so far in the series is taking ownership of your own life, making your own decisions, mistakes and learning from them. So if you like "coming-of-age", stories that are action-packed and take the classic element like witches, making it something new and with well-written characters, this series is for you! show less

If you wanted to, Safiya, you could bend and shape the world.

You know that feeling when you get to know someone for the first time and it feels like you've known them forever? That's me and this book. I admit it, hype scares me, so i was really, really, reaaaallly scared this one was another bland hyped book but man, OH man. How wrong i was. It was a compelling ride! A fucking good magic system and lots of new characters i now call children of mine. Definitely going to jump on book 2 as soon as possible.