Happy Friday friends! If they would hand out awards for bloggers who constantly never post book discussions in the month they take place and we would win every time. However, we are really working on being more consistent with our posts to bring you discussions right at the end of the month before the next book club pick. We really took it down to the wire this month since I didn't even finish the book until yesterday! Jen is a trooper and we busted out this discussion yesterday afternoon. Today we are discussing our January book club pick Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. For the first time on the blog, we had differing opinions on this one, but it was still really fun to discuss and to compare our reading experiences. Check it out below and let's discuss even more in the comments!
Book Description
On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a “witchery”, a magical skill that sets them apart from others.
In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.
Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.
Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her—but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.
Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.
In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.
Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.
Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her—but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.
Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.
Jen's Reaction in GIF form
Heather's Reaction in GIF form
Book Discussion
Heather
Ok let's do this! The book discussion of Truthwitch is
commencing! How refreshing and awesome was it to read a book focused around the
friendship of Threadsisters Safi and Isuelt?!
Jen
You know, it was really refreshing to read a
fantasy book that is centered around a friendship instead of a possible romance
situation. There are time for love stories and time for ass kicking
stories. I was glad to see this was more of an ass kicking story. Plus, I kind
of pretended we were Izi & Safi the whole time I was reading it.
Heather
Yes! You are my real life Threadsister for sure! I do think it
was very refreshing to read a story about kick ass women. I especially loved
the focus on friendship. I loved that Safi and Izi never needed saving from
men, they were the ones doing the saving for each other. I did love the slight
hint of romance between Safi and Merick in the book. It was touching and kind
of sexy without being cheesy.
Jen
[I would agree with that completely. The romance wasn't cheesy at
all. I love how Safi challenged Merick and didn't always follows his orders,
like during the scene with the sea foxes. She did whatever she had to do
to save her Threadsister regardless of what a man told her to do, And
yea, the fact that those girls could hold their own and didn't need rescuing
was pretty fantastic.
Heather
[1):I think it was one of the more believable
romances in fantasy books that we've read. I'm excited to see where it goes
next. Oh man, the Sea Foxes were crazy! Such a cool monster to have in the books,
for sure. I think another thing I really liked was the different types of
witches and how they worked together in the world. Just learning about the
different abilities was amazing. I think one complaint from me would be I would
have liked to learn more about the history of the world and the Witchlands,
more about the different kinds of magic.
Jen
Oh man, I think the Sea Fox scene was my
favorite scene in the whole book. Safi was kicking so much ass and for some
reason Sea Foxes are intriguing as hell. And the oddest thing is, the
very next book I picked up had Sea Foxes in it too. I agree that the
world building wasn't the best in this book. I think the author could have done a
better job of explaining the history as well as the different types of magic. I
did feel a tad lost about all the witches' magic in general. I'm sure it
will be explained more fully in the books to come but it would have been nice
if the author could have slowed the pace of the story down a little bit to fit
in some extra world building. World building is pretty important for my
fantasy reads.
H
Heather
Two books with Sea Foxes? Awesome! Yes, I think that this book
would have benefited from a little extra world building. I think it did get
kind of confusing at times. Like I can understand why a Bloodwitch should be
feared, but a Truthwitch seems like such an unreliable power for multiple
countries to be fighting over. I'm hoping for more clarification in the series
as it goes on. Speaking of Bloodwitch, I am 100% into and on board for anything
involving Aeduan. He is my favorite from this book, the best, most fleshed out
character in my opinion. I'm most interested to see where his story goes as the
series goes on. Did you have a favorite character?
Jen
Yea, I definitely couldn't understand why the
Truthwitch was so much more in demand than other witches simply because it was
very unreliable at times. And yea, the Bloodwitch, Aeduan,was such a
ruthless character and a force not to be reckoned with. I really did
enjoy his character! But I think my favorite character was Isuelt. The whole
puppeteer storyline really had me intrigued especially since they had already
kind of labeled Safi as the "special" one when it turns out Isuelt
very much has her own thing going on. I really enjoyed the scene where
she had to flee from her mother's village. It reminded me of a cult and you
know how obsessed I get about cults.
Heather
om):I really hope that the different types of
witches and their values are mentioned more in other books as the series goes
on. Aeduan is my #1. He's the best and I like that he is a conflicted villain
who could turn out to be good. I also agree that Isuelt was the most
interesting of the two. I felt like her powers and storyline were much more
compelling than Safi's. I only wish she could see that her mother really did
love her! I'm hoping that's resolved in a later book as well!
Ok let's get to our final thoughts. Any remaining things you
want to mention that we haven't discussed? Also what would you rate this book
out of 5 stars?
Jen
I would be highly disappointed if the
differently types of witches weren't completely dissected in the upcoming
books.
I think the only other thing I would like to touch on is how fast paced the book was. Even though I felt like the story did flow really well, I did feel like Safi and Izi were basically running from Aeduan the entire time and it was a little hard for me to catch my breath at times.
Even though the world building was a tad weak for my liking, I thought the story was super original and I still am in love with the notion of Threadbrothers and Threadsisters. I honestly can't wait for the continuation of this story. Honestly, it rang in around 4 stars for me, but I decided to bump it up to 4.5 because Sea Foxes are badass. I still can't get that scene out of my head. Where does it rank for you, friend?
Heather
I feel like I agree with everything you mentioned. I need more
dissection of witches in future books, I thought the pace was a little too
fast at times as well, and Threadbrothers/Threadsisters are such a cool concept. I
also loved the concept of Heart Threads binding people in love.
I think for me, this book falls at 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the book and the story, but I had a hard time really getting lost in the book. I do want to mention though that this could be due to my mindset. You know that over the last week I was waiting to hear about a new job opportunity and found it very hard to focus on anything. It might just be that I was trying to read this book at a time in my life where I was not able to focus like I should, but until I reread it before the next installment, I'm going to leave it at the 3.5 stars. I would definitely say it was an enjoyable read. The focus on friendship was such a welcome change of pace from other fantasy series we've read in the past. I'm definitely glad we choose this for January and am very interested to see where the series goes from here.
Jen
):It will be interesting to see if or how your
review changes next year when you reread it before the next installment. And
man, I really understand how hard it can be to focus and fully absorb a book
when you have a lot of mental distractions going on. I was able to read
Truthwitch within a few days during a really calm time in my life so I was
pretty much completely immersed in the tale. Also, this isn't my first
encounter with Susan Dennard. I read the first book of her other series and
didn't really care for it so I was pleasantly surprised I like this one so
much. Susan has definitely redeemed herself with this bright start to a fantasy
series.
Heather
):I am also interested to see if my rating
changes if I read it at a different time in my life, a less crazy time. I don't
want my rating or my saying I couldn't get as immersed in it as I had hoped to
come across that I didn't enjoy it. I definitely think it's worth picking up
and checking out. I'm impressed with Susan Dennard for sure and am excited to
see where she takes this series!
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