"Witch King" First Impressions *No Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Come talk about your initial, general impressions!

Please save all discussion of particulars, details from the story, character choices, plot questions, etc. for the full spoiler thread.

Content warnings for those who want them: (view spoiler)[Violence, War, Death (hide spoiler)]

User-submitted content warnings on Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/7...

(More about CWs here.)

[Chris]

I am at the half way point and still feeling lost. I don't feel I have enough information to know where this is going.

[Netanella]

I'm both reading and listening to the audio for this book, depending upon my location. I've passed the halfway point. I like the story enough, but I really don't feel invested in the characters.

[Ellen]

Chris wrote: "I am at the half way point and still feeling lost. I don't feel I have enough information to know where this is going."

I thought it was me. I'm at 60% and still not sure where it's going.

[Netanella]

I finished reading this last night. It all starts coming together in the last quarter of the book. And the ending was satisfying for me. I thought it was worth it to stick it out.

[Cheryl L]

I'm also listening to the audiobook and was immediately drawn in. I will pick up a copy from the library so I have a list of the characters.

[Meredith]

I'm several chapters in (~15%) and I'm enjoying just settling into the world and learning how things work. It is definitely complex, and I am not understanding everything, but I appreciate how Wells is feeding information and explanation while not being heavy-handed with info-dumping.

[CBRetriever]

the first "past" section almost put me off the book for a bit

[Muhammad Adib]

I just admit this book really hard to imagine the worldbuiling.

[Jen]

The book’s opening scenes are so unique, cracking open the door into a fascinating and not quite comprehensible world. I’m around 40% and I’m hooked, just letting the story unfold without worrying about the details

[Bonnie]

Read sections 1 and 2, which is 14 %. Not connecting to it yet.

Keep getting wisps of other books, something reminds me of

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
The Bone Shard Emperor
Neverwhere
Ring of Swords
The Saint of Bright Doors

I liked Martha Wells' older fantasy book from when SFFBC read it, City of Bones. i'll keep on and see if things pick up for me.

[Cathy]

I DNFd this around 30% and 100 pages. I have a hard time believing that this is from the same author who wrote the very entertaining Murderbot novellas, full of great action sequences and dry wit.

[CBRetriever]

Cathy wrote: "I DNFd this around 30% and 100 pages. I have a hard time believing that this is from the same author who wrote the very entertaining Murderbot novellas, full of great action sequences and dry wit."

I did give up on the Raksura book series. This book is more entertaining than that series so far (I'm close to 40% in)

[Matt]

I read about thirty pages or so and gave up. Oh well...

[CBRetriever]

I finally finished it and promptly took book two in the series off my Wish List.

[Netanella]

Lots of people tapping out on this one! :)

I will say that if this book did not have Martha Wells as an author and if it were not a Power Point for our reading game, I would not have finished it either.

[Juliana]

I also gave up. Unfortunetely.

[Netanella]

You know, I'd be interested in a poll to see how many members finished this book and how many DNFed it. Just saying.

[CBRetriever]

Netanella wrote: "You know, I'd be interested in a poll to see how many members finished this book and how many DNFed it. Just saying."

but some of us only finished it because it gained a Power Point in a challenge

[Melanie, the neutral party]

I finished, but like others have commented I never got invested. I just listened to an interview of Martha Wells (Imaginary Worlds podcast about Murderbot) where she said this was the book she wrote to get out of her covid funk.

[CJ]

Netanella wrote: "You know, I'd be interested in a poll to see how many members finished this book and how many DNFed it. Just saying."

I am not surprised and also disappointed that so many people in this group are DNF'ing this. I've read and reread it several times, it was the book that basically restored my faith in the fantasy genre after reading a number of very praised, popular titles I personally felt were derivative garbage and left me wondering if I simply just hated fantasy. I've seen many people on Bluesky and other social media say they love this book, and had some delightful conversations with some of them about it, so I'm far from alone in the larger SFF readership beyond this group. But clearly I'm in the minority here. I kind of expected this from this group, hence why I haven't really participated in the discussions here.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

CJ- Chat your praise in the spoiler thread. I doubt you are alone.

[Kaia]

CJ, I really loved Witch King. I read it too recently to want to re-read it for the book group, but it was also long enough ago that I didn't feel like I could talk details in the spoiler thread.

Having read one of Wells' other fantasy novels, I went into it knowing it was not going to be like Murderbot, which I think helped. I found the beginning confusing, but once I got into it, I was really immersed in the world and characters. I was glad I stuck with it.

[Netanella]

My mention of an interest for polling for completion versus DNF was not meant as a disparaging comment on the book. It was and is simple curiosity. I have already stated earlier that I thought the book came together at the end and made it worth it. Wanting the power point gave me the motivation to push though the middle.

[CBRetriever]

Kaia wrote: "Having read one of Wells' other fantasy novels, I went into it knowing it was not going to be like Murderbot, which I think helped. I found the beginning confusing, but once I got into it, I was really immersed in the world and characters. I was glad I stuck with it"

I didn't like the Raksura series as well, but that was because of the main character. I think that part of the problem was that when I opened the book every day, it took me a while to figure out if I was in the past or the present plus the similarity of some of the names. Plus I really could have used a bit of an info dump to tell the different factions apart. And I never was sure that Bashasa and Bashat were different people

OK, they were different people. The Wikipedia article about the book helped a lot in understanding everything.

[Meredith]

I am still reading this, about a third of the way. I am really enjoying the world-building and learning about the characters and their histories. It is going slow, though. I think part of the reason is I am finding that it requires more attention while reading (for details and keeping track of things, etc) so if I am tired or want something easier, this isn't the book I pick up at the end of the day. When I am reading it, I am enjoying the story and letting it develop where it will.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I'm only just in but I am definitely intrigued!