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Thalgor's Witch

(The Witch King Trilogy #1)

Nancy Holland (Goodreads Author)

3.80 · Rating details · 45 ratings · 25 reviews

In a land of perpetual war and wandering, warrior Thalgor not only leads his people in battle, but keeps the hope alive that somebody his displaced tribe can rebuild the kingdom that was lost to the treachery between witches and men. When he captures a beautiful witch, he knows he cannot trust her. But to succeed in his quest to find a new home and prevail over his ...more

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Published February 22nd 2018 by Tule Publishing

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Can't Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2018

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· 45 ratings · 25 reviews

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Jan 29, 2018 Lillian ☁ Cloud 9 Books ☁ rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, fantasy, read-in-2018, romance, magic, historical

***** 3.75 Stars *****

Thalgor's Witch isn't your typical romance story. There isn't really any grand gestures of romance or loving words. Thalgor is actually a pretty harsh man, but his personality fits the setting of the story. Overall I enjoyed this book. My only complaint is that certain areas felt incomplete.

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Jan 14, 2018 Joleen (starlightbooktales) rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley

This arc was provided to me for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 Stars

I’m going to be totally honest and admit I had high hopes for Thalgor’s Witch based on the cover itself. It’s gorgeous, but I don’t feel it fits well with the story. I had a few issues with the story, but overall it wasn’t the worst I have read. In fact, I enjoyed the kind of witch that was featured in this book. The main character isn’t indestructible, but in fact, has a limit to her power. That limit ...more

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Jan 09, 2018 Marta Cox rated it liked it

Shelves: my-reviews, netgalley

Three and a half
This is a romance with a fantasy setting although if honest there isn't exactly a huge amount of world building going on . Basically this is the story of Erwyn, a Witch who has been kept a slave and as a Witch is both feared and ironically despised. When we meet her she's very protective of a young girl who could be cursed but unfortunately that particular thread isn't really followed up. What the author decides to do instead is show how the warrior Thalgor wants Erwyn for ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Despina rated it really liked it

I received a copy of this story from NetGalley for a honest review.

3 1/2 stars

I have to admit, I love a good fantasy/romance book so I was very excited to read a description for Thalgor's Witch. Erwyn who is a witch/healer is captured by Thalgor's hunting party while she has been a slave in a different camp. The long and the short of this story was that while it was well written, I didn't enjoy the overall story or the character's but that was more due to my personal taste. After reading this ...more

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Dec 31, 2017 Christa rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, 2017, fantasy, favorites-2017, romantasy

Erwyn is a witch. Her village where she was slaved has been overrun, and she is trying to escape to the Sea Mountains with a child from her village, Felyn. She is captured by the leader of the raiding party Thalgor, and that is where our story begins.

As a witch, Erwyn has power over fire, foresight, and the power to heal. If Erwyn uses her powers to kill, she will lose her powers completely.

Erwyn is now a part of Thalgor’s clan. There is a lot of mistrust about witches, and about Erwyn ...more

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Jan 03, 2018 Carol***BeautyandtheBeastlyBooks rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, fantasy, hoped-for-more, netgalley

***ARC received in exchange of an honest opinion***

This book was nice enough. It was a different book in the fantasy genre. It has romance and action and magic. But I think it's still missisng something.

Despite it having many battles, I still think it needed something more to add to them. Maybe a bit more story, a more involving plot line.

I liked the characters, but I didn't feel any real connection to any of them and I think the author missed a few opportunities regarding some of them and how ...more

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Oct 19, 2018 Jaycee Jarvis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-romance

Powerful fantasy romance with amazing world-building and compelling characters. As a witch, Erwyn is both feared and powerful, though her magics are not without their price. Thalgor struggles to love her as a woman and still honor and respect her as a witch. There are dark themes in this book, but they are handled with intelligence and nuance, and delivering the unexpected, as the best of speculative fiction does.

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Sep 26, 2018 Lyra rated it it was amazing

I don’t read a lot of fantasy, because so many of the ones I’ve started turn out to be too rapey, but this one I finished and enjoyed. The world building was enough for me to understand the world, but not get bogged down in a long history of who begat whom. I appreciated the heroine’s self-acceptance and confidence, and a hero who has a strong moral compass. This felt like the fantasy book we need for the #metoo era, and I would be comfortable sharing this book with my 14 yr old.

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Feb 11, 2019 Alexandra G. rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, loved-it

4 stars

Reading this book reminded me a lot of the 'Vikings' TV show because things were moving so fast and so many people died and then were forgotten, and there was attack after attack after planning and preparing for an attack.

But for some reason I really enjoyed this book. Couldn't put it down. Hope I'll enjoy this author's other books as well.

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Feb 24, 2019 thewoollygeek (tea, cake, crochet & books) rated it liked it

This was good but it strayed at times, not a typical romance in the sense of it but quite realistic for what probably happened in medieval times and warlords. But I found it was a bit repetitive in the arguments between them, I liked that Erwyn remained strong and true to herself but found her a bit irritating at times. I was actually sidelined no with Talgarth at some points !

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Dec 10, 2018 Donnajo rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-reviewed-2018, ebook-2018, read-2018, netgalley

I voluntarily read a advanced reader's copy.

Thalgor's Witch by Nancy Holland, A good story if you enjoy fantasy. Not my usual type of read. The plot was well written and I liked the characters.

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Jan 11, 2018 Sonja rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were great and the world interesting. Though much time passed, it all flowed so well and I never felt it was stilted or confusing. While Erwyn and those like her were called witches, they aren't like most would imagine them I don't think. They are bound by rules they must follow or else lose their magic. I liked all that Erwyn could do with her powers. There is a lot of fighting, as would be expected of how they live here, and it's all believable and I really enjoyed this book. The characters were great and the world interesting. Though much time passed, it all flowed so well and I never felt it was stilted or confusing. While Erwyn and those like her were called witches, they aren't like most would imagine them I don't think. They are bound by rules they must follow or else lose their magic. I liked all that Erwyn could do with her powers. There is a lot of fighting, as would be expected of how they live here, and it's all believable and engaging. Thalgor himself is quite a force to be reckoned with. Despite how serious things tended to be there was also some humor. Often by Rygar, Thalgor's brother whom I also loved.

Erwyn and Thalgor made a really good couple even though they were each the biggest obstacle to them being together. Thalgor had suffered as a child any time he loved, so he has closed his heart off. He also has a hard time trusting Erwyn despite all she's done because a deep fear and distrust of witches has been instilled in everybody from the moment they are born. Erwyn is defiant toward Thalgor often (though usually not when it's real important) and she also always puts her duty as a witch first. Needless to say they fight a lot. But it's impossible not to see how much the two of them care about the other. Throughout the book, they both suffer but Erwyn I think suffers the most. Sometimes it's by her own action, sometimes by Thalgor's. But each time they find a way to move past it and become stronger for it.

Thalgor captures Erwyn soon after a battle and quickly comes to regret capturing a witch. Though, at the same time not really. He's always telling her she's so much trouble, but he never stops desiring her and saving her. And despite his personality, Erwyn soon finds herself not being able to imagine a life without Thalgor. Together they work to keep Thalgor's band safe while also working toward Thalgor's dream of not having to wander and raid anymore. Erwyn's being a witch causes much tension within the camp and her spot in Thalgor's bed feeds the rage of a past lover. Leading to not all battles being fought against enemies.

With Erwyn and his men by his side, it looks like Thalgor's dream is on it's way to becoming true. But all too soon an enemy even more evil and vicious than they've encountered before is upon them. There are many loses, but when it's all over Thalgor's dream is even closer to becoming a reality and his love for Erwyn is stronger than ever.

My only complaint would be that I am left with a lot questions by the end. The witch king for one. Who was he? Was he real? Why did he look so much like Thalgor and call Felyn sister? Speaking of Felyn. One page mentioned Erwyn looking at the girl and realizing something that she vows she would take to her grave. What in the world was the secret she learned?? I also would have loved to know what happened in this world before the story begins. We're told that they used to live in stone homes and not have to travel all the time, but we never find out what happened that destroyed that way of life.

Overall though, a great read.

ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.
...more

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Jan 02, 2018 Wendy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal

Although the cover was a bit dark and sinister, I was intrigued by the blurb of Thalgor's Witch. But already on the first page, I was drawn into the story. We meet Erwyn, who is fleeing with Felyn, from the clan where she is a slave. They are discovered by Thalgor and his men and taken to his clan. As a witch, with power to heal and to inflict pain and with the possibility to foresee the future, she is invaluable for any clan.

However, witches are not to be trusted. And Erwyn certainly doesn't ...more

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Jan 12, 2018 Trish added it

DNF

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Jan 06, 2018 Shannon rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley

I enjoyed this novel, but I didn’t love it. I’ve been racking my brain on how to best categorize this novel. Romance? Fantasy? Historical Fiction? I think probably Fantasy Romance is closest. Because at the heart, its a romance.

It’s the story of a warrior, with dreams of settling his band down and finding peace, and a witch, who was enslaved and by virtue of being a witch, is generally distrusted by all. In my mind, the world was similarly set as The Last Kingdom (which could be solely because I enjoyed this novel, but I didn’t love it. I’ve been racking my brain on how to best categorize this novel. Romance? Fantasy? Historical Fiction? I think probably Fantasy Romance is closest. Because at the heart, its a romance.

It’s the story of a warrior, with dreams of settling his band down and finding peace, and a witch, who was enslaved and by virtue of being a witch, is generally distrusted by all. In my mind, the world was similarly set as The Last Kingdom (which could be solely because I’ve recently started watching it) but without settlements or towns or leaders. Due to war, the people are all living nomadically in groups. Fighting and struggling to stay alive. This however, could be entirely wrong, or not how another reader envisions it, because that highlights one failing of this novel: the world building. It’s scant and underdeveloped. There is no real explanation of what happened to their society. What the war was about. Why the witches are distrusted and in some cases reviled. There are just snippets and leaves it mostly to the imagination of the reader.

This story is one which follows the lives of these two people, both with dreams, passions and goals (not always of the same mind), traversing through the pitfalls, politics, battles, and loss of trying to accomplish those goals. There is plenty of all those things....the battles...the losses...the politics. But like I said at the beginning, at its heart is the romance. It’s really about these two people. And herein lies my second biggest issue: this novel is written in third person, and as such, at least for me, it felt more like observation of their relationship rather than experiencing it with them. It led to a disconnect with the characters where it could have been so much more.

All the characters were well developed, and I was invested and intrigued by even the secondary characters. I believe this is a stand alone novel, but I would have been quite willing to revisit it. Because I did in fact enjoy my time, regardless of my issues. I enjoyed the concept of witches who would lose their power should they use it for harm. I enjoyed reading about the different bands fighting yet also coming together and their struggles to rebuild their society. I enjoyed many many things about this story. I just wished there had been a bit more.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Feb 01, 2019 keikii Eats Books rated it really liked it

To read more reviews in this series and others, check out keikii eats books!

73 points, 3 stars

I actually enjoyed reading this. If I sound shocked, it is because I am. I was really wary before starting this, because I have had bad luck with this type of story before in the past. I always want to like it, but I rarely do. Therefore I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed myself while reading it. Especially in light of how much I had trouble getting into the writing itself.

Thalgor's Witch is To read more reviews in this series and others, check out keikii eats books!

73 points, 3 ¾ stars

I actually enjoyed reading this. If I sound shocked, it is because I am. I was really wary before starting this, because I have had bad luck with this type of story before in the past. I always want to like it, but I rarely do. Therefore I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed myself while reading it. Especially in light of how much I had trouble getting into the writing itself.

Thalgor's Witch is the start of The Witch King trilogy. At its heart, The Witch King trilogy is a fantasy romance series. There are almost equal parts romance and fantasy. While Thalgor's Witch is the end of the story for Erwyn and Thalgor, it isn't the end of the story. It was an good start to the series, despite my problems with the writing.

The goal of the book was to showcase the change in their social structures. In Thalgor's Witch, we're treated to a wanderer society, still pulling itself together after some brutal wars years and years prior. They band together in groups, with survival never certain and bands are constantly trying to steal from each other. They want to change that, though. And that is this story, the change of social structures.

The best descriptor for the writing is that it was really clumsy. All of the good elements to a story were there. It was more than just scaffolding. It was just that every element was just fumbled a little bit. The elements that authors typically take time to explain (setting, characters, events), weren't really taken time to explain, or they were explained in the wrong places. The perspective switches also weren't handled very well and weren't very clearly marked. I think with time Nancy Holland will become a fantastic author, and I do want to read more from her because of it. Some of my favourite authors started out exactly the same way, including Ilona Andrews. I just want you to know that while I liked the story, the writing was a bit clumsy.

Erwyn was a great main character. She tries to stay true to herself and her powers. In fact, her powers themselves require her to stay true to them, or lose them. She isn't willing to lose them. She has to look after her little sister, which makes her vulnerable because she cannot move as freely as she wants to. As much as I liked her, though, I couldn't really connect with her. She makes some really boneheaded choices, even accounting for her young age. She has been a slave before, she doesn't want to be a slave again. She has to find a way to live with Thalgor's group as she is, not as they wish her to be.

Thalgor is definitely the most annoying part to the story. He goes back and forth, back and forth on his position on Erwyn and witches. He doesn't know himself nearly as well as Erwyn does. It is frustrating. HE is frustrating. He keeps trying to crush Erwyn for his own pride, because he is hanging onto this idea of what was, not what is to be. Then she has to knock sense into him, and it repeats. And it repeats. I don't like the dynamic, but I like how much he worships her when he gets the fuck over himself.

For as much as this story is about the romance, the start of the relationship is extremely abbreviated. It went from a pseudo-master/slave relationship, to Erwyn running away to talk to some witches about her sister. Then Thalgor comes to collect her again because "she is his", and... Erwyn inexplicably decides to be with him forevermore. There were a few steps missed in there on the part of the author, and it felt like a giant handwave to me. The characters had to get together, so they did, without all that pesky figuring out how to get them together thing.

All of it is wrapped up in The Witch King, who appears in their dreams. The Witch King keeps pushing them to stay together. Which is necessary since they split up like 10 times in this single book. Imagine that, an abbreviated/non-existent courting period where both parties just decide to be with the other for mysterious reasons don't lead to the world's most stable relationship. Go figure.

Overall, though, like I said in the beginning: I really liked this. Despite all of the problems I had with it. Or maybe in spite of. I was surprisingly emotional while reading it. I think if this was the author's 20th book, and not in her first 5, this would have been an incredibly amazing experience. I'm looking forward to her work in the coming years and seeing her grow. ...more

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Mar 23, 2018 Claire - The Coffeeholic Bookworm rated it really liked it

War was brewing in full force in the Sea Mountains and Erwyn, the despised yet powerful witch and renowned healer, was escaping the battle and slavery with a child named Felyn. Soon they were captured by Thalgor and his men, and Erwyn must do everything to keep the little girl safe and protected. Thalgor was wicked and ruthless and inconsiderate, especially to Erwyn's kind - witches. But he couldn't just let her go or dispatch the witch, because she's got powers that were of great importance to ...more

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Jan 18, 2018 Paula rated it it was amazing

Thalgor's Witch by Nancy Holland is the first book I have read by this author. Usually when I thin of Tule Publishing I think Montana or Texas contemporary romance, but this is fantasy. It is a wonderful genre expansion which I applaud; being a well-written, solid story; that never failed to keep my interest.

The place seems very much like 14th century with groups who were more nomadic than city builders. Life is harsh and even good souls were harsher still. Peace is only a dream as well as ...more

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Jan 21, 2018 Gigi rated it it was ok

There are some interesting concepts in Thalgor’s Witch. For example, the fragility of Erwyn’s power. I haven’t seen this in many other witchcraft-themed novels. However, I found it particularly hard to be captivated by the plot as I found the narrative didn’t suit my taste. I personally felt it was too heavily reliant on dialogue and I felt, the majority of the time, I was being told everything rather it being shown.

Another thing was the sense of place in the novel. There was very little ...more

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Dec 25, 2017 Nicole rated it really liked it

I received this book from net galley for an honest review. Thank you!!

This novel was a good read. The novel contains magic, romance, betrayal, and battles. Erwyn is a witch with abilities to heal and second site. She made a promise to her mother to save her sister. Erwyn was a slave and escaped but is captured by the man who conquered the people that held her as a slave. Thalgor is a warrior and also has witchblood. He sees Erwyn as a way to help his people, even though he cannot trust a witch. ...more

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Mar 22, 2018 CoffeeTimeRomance andMore rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviews-by-delane, paranormal-romance

A haunting mixture between love and hate, death and life, hope and despair, witch and warrior. I found each page to be a chance for the battles both personal and war to win or lose and never knowing which way the story would go. I was on edge throughout the entire book just wondering how it could ever work out. I would never have given the chances to Thalgore that Erwyn did because he was absolutely cruel at times. I felt bad for Thalgore because he struggled with his feelings about witches and ...more

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Apr 29, 2018 Jeffrey Hatcher rated it really liked it

Nancy Hollands "Thalgor's Witch" successfully combines romance novel, fantasy, feminism, and literary fiction in equal parts to good effect. The main character, Erwyn, is taken captive by a tribe who effectively put a scarlet letter 'W' around her collar. She is stigmatized much like Hawthorne's adulturess, but she is in no way an adulturer. She is a witch by birth, and that is enough.

In spite of the stigmata, she becomes rapidly valued if not fully accepted by her mainly male counterparts for ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Shelagh rated it really liked it

I rarely read paranormal, but this story tempted me and I’m glad I dived between the covers. It’s a full length novel set in what I imagine to be mediaeval times, though that’s left up to the imagination of the reader, which I really liked. I also liked the conflict faced by Erwyn as she tried to balance her responsibilities as a witch with her hopes, dreams and responsibilities as a woman. The story itself was engrossing. I had started reading expecting it to be a romance, and it was, but there ...more

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Soraya Oliveira rated it it was ok
Jul 17, 2018

Joannie Wyckoff rated it it was amazing
Feb 21, 2019

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Jul 29, 2018

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Apr 06, 2019

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About Nancy Holland

Nancy Holland

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Nancy Holland recently began to live her dream as a full-time writer. She writes stories about people who refuse to give up on themselves, struggle to change their lives, and learn to trust each other. When not reading or writing, she loves to travel and explore cities where she can feel the lives of people who lived there centuries ago.