Witchlight

The Witchlands #5

by Susan Dennard

Paths converge and prophecies unfold as Safi and Iseult—the legendary Cahr Awen—fight their way across the Witchlands to heal the final Origin Well. With ancient figures rising from the past, the Raider King’s armies gathering for war, and the magic at the heart of everything dying too fast, the entire world is now on the brink of collapse.

But when Safi and Iseult reach the Air Well with the Bloodwitch Aeduan at their side, they discover too late that Eridysi's Lament is not the prophecy they thought it was—and their journeys are only just beginning.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Young Adult Fantasy, Fiction, Witches, High Fantasy, Paranormal

454 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2025

About the author

Susan Dennard is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Witchlands series (now in development for TV from the Jim Henson Company), and the Something Strange and Deadly series, in addition to various other fiction published online.

Before becoming an author, she got to travel the world with her M.Sc. in marine biology. She also runs the popular newsletter for writers, the Misfits and Daydreamers. When not writing or teaching writing, she can be found rolling the dice as a Dungeon Master or mashing buttons on one of her way too many consoles.

You can learn more about Susan on her website, blog, newsletter, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Reviews

[Sabrina]

I’m going to be so old when this book comes out.!!!! That’s sad!*lol

[✨ A ✨]

My reviews for:
1: Truthwitch
2: Windwitch
2.5: Sightwitch (A MUST READ. THIS NOVELLA IS VERY IMPORTANT)
3: Bloodwitch
4: Untitled

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toward death with wide eyes. All clear, all clear. Toward death with wide eyes. All clear, all clear.

Forget about found family, Threadfamily is the new benchmark.

Please read my review for book one if you are new to this series as there may be minor, minor spoilers for book two onwards.

I adored the first three books in this series, but felt slightly disappointed by book four and despaired how the finale would restore it.

The fifth instalment pulled it off… kind of. I’m still jumping between a high three or a rounded up four stars.🌟
We get the big revelations that make the rest of the series (particularly book four) make more sense. This is helped by a glossary and the true tale of the twelve Paladdins at the end.

One sister wanted freedom from her magic and her title. The other sister wanted freedom from her magic and her heritage. And both sisters believed that if they ran far enough and fast enough, they would eventually find a person or a place that could give it to them.

I just wish we had more time with the characters together as they spent a lot of the time chasing after each other. Especially Safi and Iseult who I’ve been waiting for a grand reunion (with staying power) since book two.

I was lucky enough to binge this series in under two weeks in preparation for this, so I was waiting for one particular thing to reoccur from book one. I was giddy even if I wanted more.

This is a series twelve years in the making and, as Dennard says, there are a lot of threads and Threads. I do think this would appeal to Throne of Glass fans because of this expansion.
I loved some of the full/circle moments.

The romance was definitely a minor sub-plot, but the yearning and blocks definitely added even more tension to a high-stakes plot.

Interestingly, there have been a few doors left open for the future. For that reason, not all of the threads (okay, I’ll stop with the puns now) endings felt quite satisfying for me. Especially considering there have been five books.

Physical arc gifted by Tor.

Bookstagram
Tiktok

[Laura]

edit: release date this year??? and a cover??? hoho


no...official...release...date...yet

I detest that

[Sanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so hard to put into words everything this series makes me feel, and to have read such an epic conclusion, words simply cannot do it justice. It's been worth the wait, and I think people will be pleased with how everything is handled. I wish more people would do themselves the favor of reading this series because Susan Dennard never disappoints, and this series especially is Peak Fantasy to me.

and on a less coherent note. AHHHHHH BDJDNFKFKF OHMIGODDDDD???? WILL I EVER EMOTIONALLY RECOVER HHHNGNGNGN I'M SO EMOTIONAL I CAN'T BELIEVE AN ENDING COULD BE SO PERFECT I LITERALLY CRIED

[⋆˚｡୨୧ Riri ୨୧｡˚⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Post-reading thoughts (November 29, 2025):

SKAJHFKLAJSFKJAHFJHKAF THAT ENDING WAS PERFECT AND HEARTBREAKING AND JOY-INDUCING ALL AT ONCE I LOVE THIS SERIES I LOVE THIS SERIES I LOVE THIS SERIES I'm so excited to binge-reread the whole series in a few years after I've forgotten some of it I can just FEEL the hype from years away <3 and who knows, maybe there will be more books in the series to feast upon by then 😼

Pre-reading thoughts:

me, having binged the series a few days ago and currently checking every other day for a release day announcement: 🤡

update: it's coming in 3 months omg I need to binge-reread the series now 👁👄👁

update update: It's been pushed back to next year I'm cryingggg 😭

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

y’all are in for a RIDE

[thea ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

susan dennard should’ve been given more time and more books so she could’ve properly written it out more like she wanted to

[Callum · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely perfect ending. Had nothing I expected, and everything I needed.

[ova · Rating 1 out of 5]

i’m so disappointed 😭
i love witchlands but i just can’t lie and pretend that this book was anywhere near good.
as a summary i just wanna say it was super anticlimactic and felt very half assed.
the thing that probably disappointed me most was the treatment of character arcs. iseult and safi have been separated for the past 4 books with fleeting reunions, but that never diminished the strong bond they shared. but this was the book for them to finally come together after their journeys of finding their place in this world and self growth. safi has spent the four books realising that her title and her power can make a change. iseult has been accepting her void magic, learning not to be ashamed of it and learning how to use it. so like what happened to that in this book? and why where they again separated for like half of it. it was like everything they went through got erased. and it was the same with other characters too, like did we forget vivia was usurped by her father? why was she in a ice cave all book? and wtf does merik have to do with arithuania ??? like what happened to four books of buildup?
certain dynamics in this felt ignored too, one line about cam from merik just felt lazy. safi spent the last 3 books with hell bards, why were they barely mentioned? vaness and vivia were a little interesting in the previous books because it was highlighting the burden of their titles especially as women but they got stumped down to a corny ass romance when they should have been more involved in the fight. then it also bothered me how vivia forgot about stix. i’m sorry but 5 years for this was absolutely insane for forgotten arcs and ooc/random writing.
the politics was just not here at all considering it’s a story about empires and kingdoms too. but even then the conclusion about the cahr awen and the paladins felt lazy as hell, and watered down to its lowest potential. important side characters like evrane or eron barely made an appearance, the raider king was their biggest threat and he had 2 scenes before he easily died without any closure with aeduan or his daughters. the conclusion was actually so lazy im shocked. the ending with the mystery of the paladins was supposed to be explained in this book, not told in a glossary. and it wasn’t supposed to be an open minded ending either, like this is what the four books have been leading up to ?😭 then the random new character pov was weird as hell how does her pov add to the story? it doesn’t. this was just a really bad book and a even worse finale 🫠

[julia ☆ [owls reads] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aw.

Much action, much tension, a little slow at times. This became such a sprawling world that had its ups and downs, and I do appreciate Dennard taking it to the very end. The final chapter was pretty lovely! I do wish she had been allowed to write the series as she originally planned--some plot points obviously got a bit messed up when the order of the books changed and there was catching up to do.

[Gretal · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had a nickel for every time I downloaded an arc from Edelweiss and then got an email saying it shouldn't have been added to Edelweiss and could I please hold my review until the book comes out, I'd have three nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened thrice, right?

[Ingibjörg Sólveig · Rating 5 out of 5]

**4,74**

I love this series and it was so much fun re-reading it before reading this last book!
I really liked this book - there was so much going on which I always like, but at the same time there were so many questions I have that I feel like I didn't really get a good answer to. And there were a few plot points that I kind of wish could have gone differently but maybe that's just me (for example Stix and Vivia😩, what did Caden and Lev do after everything? And I wanted more of Safi and Merik!!!!).
But over all, a good ending to an amazing series!!

[Angelica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am deeply honoured to have been able to read an advanced copy of Witchlight. It ties everything up in such amazing and fantastic ways, with enough threads dangling that more stories could be told of the Witchlands. A more in depth review will be coming once the book is published in November.

[Rachel Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y'all are in for a treat

[Shanna Alderliesten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book! This. Book.

I'll update once I can form coherent sentences again.

[Siân · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️s

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, some thoughts:
- this was extremely confusing, I barely understood anything from the plot
- since book 2, I couldnt care less about merik, vivia, styx and ryber's pov and im so upset i had to read so much about them
- maybe I missed something but I truly don't understand how lev and zander met vivia and vaness and gave them a letter from safi when safi thought they were dead and was looking for them???
- safi and merik's romance??? come on. I wasnt sold on them on the first book, but after 3 books and a half of no interactions and basically no thoughts about each other, I cant believe them they just ended up together. no chemistry
- safi had so much more chemistry with caden. honestly it would have made so much more sense for them to end up together. specially after all those parallels of their relationship and iseult/aeduan. like wth
- why did vivia just randomly forgot about styx?
- the whole part about ragnor was so anti climatic, and no discussion with aeduan about what happened to his father?

[Maja Helena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really should get better at DNF-ing stuff I’m not enjoying…

This series has been very middle of the road for me - Sightwitch was a true bright spot for me, but none of the other books in the series come remotely close to that one. Sadly.

Now, I’ll have to be honest and I suspect I’ll be in the minority. But I did not care for this book or the series as a whole. I do not think this particular book was good and sadly, the ending of the series has convinced me to unhaul the entire series.

I’m just really disappointed that I didn’t end up liking this book and series as a whole. Especially because I think there was so much potential - Dennard had a lot of interesting ideas and I really liked the whole Paladin-plotline. However, I do not think she managed to stick the landing.

Now, let me explain. There may be spoilers, I’ll hide the massive ones.

The characters were a massive fail for me. I started out liking Aeduan and Iseult and found them an interesting couple, but now.. I mean, I don’t care about any of these characters or their relationships/friendships. Aeduan & Iseult and Safi and Merik have zero chemistry and have spent so little time together that it was impossible for me to get invested in them. Same goes for Iseult and Safi’s friendship. I feel like I’ve only heard about how close they are but they have been split up for most of the story so I don’t feel like I actually know them as friends.
Also, Dennard really managed to ruin any kind of emotional connection I may have felt with these characters when she started killing them but never committed. I mean, Merik died three freaking times but still made it out alive? How could I possibly take the stakes of this series seriously when the author clearly doesn’t?

The world-building is pretty bad. This world, the Witchlands, aren’t very well realized and it just feels like a very unfinished world. And a side-note; I hate when specific places are mentioned but not shown on the map - why then have a map, if you make it nearly impossible for me to follow your characters?

This whole Paladin-thing. I mean, it could have been SO great, and there were several aspects of it that I liked but it just fell flat. I think my main issue is that 12 Paladins were simply too many as it got overly complicated to keep track of them!
I was also very disappointed in how the mystery of the betrayer ended. What do you mean, that the Six wasn’t actually betrayed because the “betrayer” was forced to give up this vital piece of information? And that the Rook King actually ended up truly being the one who went against his comrades but only because he wanted to save the world and got a bit too obsessed with a prophecy made by a child… Have I really read 2000+ pages just to find out that these ancient Paladin souls are as bad at communicating as teenagers are?!

The Raider King… I don’t get you, man.

Now, Raider King and the Rook King are both actually good-guys who only want to save the world, no matter what - they just have a different idea of how to do it - could have been interesting but once again: We have a cool idea that just isn’t executed that well. I kinda interpret it as a “we are all the hero of our own story”-thing and I feel like something interesting could have been done with it, but alas…)

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Conflicted. Even with a good recap, I couldn’t recapture the vibe from the other books. I felt this got way too complicated and the main storyline got lost in the sauce. Although the ending was adequate, it wasn’t the “tie everything in a bow” type thing as Dennard mentions.

[Parisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.2 ⭐️

First I would like to thank the publication and net galley for letting me read this book before it’s published date 💛

It took me a little while to get into Witchlight, probably because it had been a few months since I’d read the last Witchlands book. But after a point, I found myself reconnecting with the story and the characters the way I used to.

The action was fast-paced and often thrilling I was impressed with how so many threads managed to come together. At the same time, I felt the balance of perspectives was uneven. Some characters had a much bigger presence than I expected, while others who I thought were equally important were almost missing.

What really disappointed me was how one couple, who in my eyes were a major driving force of the whole series, barely showed up here or had any real relevance. That absence hit hard and definitely lowered my rating. I did appreciate the strong development for some characters, but one or two arcs felt brushed aside, which was frustrating after investing in them for so long.

As an ending, it pulled a lot of threads together, but it didn’t feel like a complete conclusion. It leaves room for more, and maybe that’s intentional, but as the “final” book, it wasn’t fully satisfying. Still, I’m glad I got to be on this journey even if I wanted more from the way it wrapped up.

[bluem]

publication date is a fucking joke

[Harley Morgenthau · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a fifth?! Aaaaaaahhhhh!!🤩😍🥰

[Yennefer]

Can't wait for this!! Last one in the main series, but Dennard has said there will be more tales in the Witchlands!

[LadySeven]

While waiting for this book, I'm starting to resonate with dear old Annie Wilkes.... just saying lol

[Brittana]

Delayed another 6 months. 😔 Sigh. I know it will be worth the wait but man.. I’m so disappointed.

[Annabelle]

as much as i loved this series, the chances of me caring when this book finally comes out are pretty low. but we’ll see.

[itsbernaertsnotbernard]

it's been 9 years since the beginning of this masterpiece,
4 years since the 4th book was published
...and still 10 months until the finale 💀

[Faith]

Thank you to the publisher for the arc. One more book and I'll be sat for this one.
_______
I’m so beyond ready!

[Sifa Poulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.

WITCHLIGHT is an epic finale to an intricate series.

There are so many reveals in this book. It's the finale of a series that's five (six) books long with clues paying off right from the start. It's so fun to see it all come together, all the hints bearing fruit - and a few things turning your understanding of what had been taken as truths right on their head.

It is absolutely epic. There are battles and heartbreak and sacrifice and so much action. The book crosses the continent time and time again as this big final battle sprawls out with ancient grudges, long held beliefs, and centuries-old plans colliding. The pacing is so fast, dragging you along as the characters do their best to stay one step ahead of danger.

It was so nice to have all the narrators in this book. It's the first time everyone has spoken together in one book consistently. This story is so big it has the seven main narrators plus a few chapters from other perspectives to fill in what is happening as these battles rage across the world. I particularly liked that Ryber's narration was entirely through letters to match the diary style of SIGHTWITCH.

This book really plays on the chosen one trope in such a fun way. It's so hard to talk about without spoilers but I loved how it was subverted and celebrated all at once. It added some nuance to the ideas of destiny and choice.