Truthwitch (The Witchlands, #1) in READALONGS WITH APRIL

Jan 10, 2016 The Audiobookworm rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.25 ★
I could lie to myself and say that it wasn't so bad. In fact, I tried denying that through most of the book because I really wanted to like it as much as everyone else. I didn't want to be the only "Negative Nelly" out there harping and complaining. But putting a sugary spin on this wouldn't be an honest review. The truth is that Truthwitch gave me more grief than enjoyment. At first, it was hard to put a finger on my issue with it and then I realized that was because I had multiple issues 3.25 ★
I could lie to myself and say that it wasn't so bad. In fact, I tried denying that through most of the book because I really wanted to like it as much as everyone else. I didn't want to be the only "Negative Nelly" out there harping and complaining. But putting a sugary spin on this wouldn't be an honest review. The truth is that Truthwitch gave me more grief than enjoyment. At first, it was hard to put a finger on my issue with it and then I realized that was because I had multiple issues with it. It was like the entire Throne of Glass series combined into one installment and put on steroids. Beginning installments for high fantasy series usually start out slowly, with lots of descriptions, character backgrounds, and world-building. Truthwitch had very little of of any of that. I was shocked at the lack of imagery. In a fantasy world such as this, I want vivid descriptions of everything. In my opinion, Dennard's descriptive writing could be called "minimalistic", to say the least. High fantasy series also normally start out slowly to give the reader/listener time to process this new world and develop opinions about the characters (opinions that will probably change later, but still). Imagine if you accidentally started the Throne of Glass series with Heir of Fire. You were just thrown in with very little help and expected to keep up during all of the action. You may be alright with that scenario, but I'm certainly not. And that's exactly how listening to Truthwitch was for me. It was very demanding on the reader/listener. There were several key concepts in story that I was never given ample time to grasp and I still have no clue what they mean, even after finishing the story. That, friends, is not how it should be done. This story was also extremely unbalanced with entirely too much action and too little processing time. In my opinion, Dennard should have spread the action in this book out through at least one or two more installments and filled the rest of this with character development. In an earlier post, I said listening to Truthwitch was like chewing a tough piece of meat and I stand by that analogy.

Obviously, I am in the minority here. But this is a bandwagon I simply cannot jump onto. Susan Dennard had some really great, original ideas with Truthwitch, but I feel they were executed poorly. For example, I love the idea of two badass best friend protagonists who would do anything to protect each other. That was the driving relationship in the story, not the romance. Again, that was a really great idea that wasn't given proper development and that is so frustrating to me because this could have been really very good. But it's hard to enjoy swimming when you can barely keep your head above water.

Narration review: Cassandra Campbell was an excellent narrator. I enjoyed her accents and I appreciated the character voice distinction. That made the multiple POVs easier to handle. Her voice had a very nice and mature tone to it. It somehow managed to be soothing and quietly intense simultaneously. ♣︎ ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Dec 10, 2018 ✨Skye✨ rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley, 3-star-was-okay

I received a free ebook version of this through Netgalley. Thankyou to both the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this! My review is still honest.

Not sure how to feel about this one. I'm kind of into it, but kind of not. It could be that it's just another casualty of my waning interest in YA!
Truthwitch follows two best friends and threadsisters with special powers, on of whom can tell truth from lies and so is considered very valuable. They attract the attention of a bloodwitch, who ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2016 Noelia rated it liked it

*3.5* stars.
I had many problems with this book:

1º The nonexisting world-building: We are thrusted into this wolrd and the author just expects us to follow her without little to no explaining of this world, and this could be just because the wolrd wasn´t entirely fleshed out. We hear about a peace treatry thats about to end, but we don´t know who is fighting in this war or why were they fighting in the first place. The magic system is really underwhelmingly unimaginative yet not explain at all, i *3.5* stars.
I had many problems with this book:

1º The nonexisting world-building: We are thrusted into this wolrd and the author just expects us to follow her without little to no explaining of this world, and this could be just because the wolrd wasn´t entirely fleshed out. We hear about a peace treatry thats about to end, but we don´t know who is fighting in this war or why were they fighting in the first place. The magic system is really underwhelmingly unimaginative yet not explain at all, is everyone a witch?, if not, how do you become a witch?, how many types of witches are there?, and, what powers do they have?. Susan offers no explaining for any of this questions and it´s extremely frustraiting. Terms like "cleaving" and "thread sisters" and "thread stones" are used constantly yet never explain: That´s not world-building whatsoever.

2º The plot: To this point I don´t really see the plot in which this first book was suposse to direct us for the rest of the series. A lot of it consisted on Safi making poor and stupid decisions that didn´t make any sense.

3º The characters:

Safi suffered from the "especial snowflake syndrome" in which you´re told this character posses an important and rare ability that makes the really valuable yet you never really see her do anything usefull with her powers. She was stubborn and made the most stupid decisions at every given chance. Though I´ve got to admit I really like the turn her character took by the ending of the novel.

Iseult was a much more interesting character tha Safi in my opinion, she was smart and interesting form the very start od the book. I can´t wait to see where her character goes on Witchwind.

Merik for me felt a little meh, I didn´t feel like he had any distinct characteristic that would whoa me, he was okey like a carboard cutout form every other YA novel.

Aeduan was by far my favourite character in this book, the most complex, multi-layered character without a doubt. I loved his chapters and I loved reading his thoughts.

4º The romance: Insta-love that is so predictable it hurts.

This book definetly has it´s flaws but that doesn´t mean it was horrible, between its perks this book has a good amount of plot twists that I couldn´t always see coming, a big bromance and female friendship that are really lacking in many fantasy books, woman that can and will kick your ass and don´t need any man to save them, and action-packed plot and quick- witty dialogue between the characters.

Also the person narrating the audiobook definetly took a lot from my reading experience pleasure. don´t listen to this one on audiobook. ...more

Like · see review

Apr 14, 2016 Berta rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-read-in-2016

It's been a while since I read anything fantasy. Khm.
Anything truly fantasy.
And this....
THIS WAS PURE BRILLIANCE.
I adored all the characters, good and bad, but ohmygod I NEED MOOOORE. NOW!!!
Also, Mhe Verujta ...more

Like · see review

Jan 03, 2016 Rashel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

4 stars. Yes, there were some problems with it, but it was a fun, quick read and that's just what I needed right now. I'm eager to see where the next book takes the series. ...more

Like · see review