Martha Wells knows how to write, no doubt about it. Everything makes sense, it's well rounded and well paced. As she admits, she had trouble finding a conclusion and it shows. This is merely a starting off point for a bigger series.

But oh. my. god. Why? Why does everyone has to have weird pronouns? Everyone starts off with they/them which then switches to their preferred pronouns (without any indication when they told anyone of their preference). This is confusing as hell. And it adds nothing to the story.

Also, why does she spend a paragraph or two on clothing for every. single. new. character. Not even character, just a bunch of people standing around have their clothes described in detail. Adds nothing but fluff.

I read two short books in the meantime because I could not get myself to pick up this book, it was that boring. ( )

Kinda boring book if I'm being honest. The flashbacks were much more interesting than the modern story. That said, the world was very interesting and as an epic fantasy reader I want to know more about it. The stories here didn't do much for me, but the world was so interesting and I wish we had more insight into it. In fact, I think if the book had been 50-100 page longer and had had more scenes from the world (and significantly more exposition) I would have enjoyed it more. it's a shame that Martha Wells intends this to be a standalone novel. There is so much more to explore here ( )

I read this book as part of the Nebula finalist packet.

I love Martha Wells's writing, and Witch King is in many ways brilliant, establishing a fresh new fantasy world with unique magic and vibrant characters. Kai is a demon, but the term means something different here, though he does possess bodies and comes from an underworld. As the book begins, he and a comrade are captured in a watery prison, and he breaks free. I was left disoriented at first--like I jumped into a book halfway--and while it took me a while to get my bearings, curiosity had me hooked and I read on.

Much of the plot focuses on Kai's search for answers about who imprisoned him and his comrades, and why. However, this is only one plot line, and there's another, parallel path that is about his past, how he grew up, and how he met his comrades. Both storylines are interesting, but I don't know if the back and forth was necessary. A whole book about Kai's earlier years would've been quite compelling and easier to follow, and could have connected to this one--which would have needed a lot more plot to be a full novel length. ( )

Kai used to be your average demon living in a body of a recently deceased girl, but eventually, he become one of the heroes that defeated the dreaded Hierarchs. Sounds like a spoiler? Well, it isn't because the main story is happening about 70 years after the world has been liberated from their domination. All the countries are now part of a big alliance, and the accords are about to be renewed. As one of the important figures, Kai is invited to attend. Then he wakes up out of his murdered body without a clue what happened. He needs to escape from his prison together with his witch friend and find out who betrayed him.

In addition to this more investigative storyline, the book also includes chapters set in the past. It is almost 50/50 divided between the past and the present storylines.

I can see that Martha Wells wanted to give the story a bit different approach by starting the book after the big fight had already been won. I am not sure it worked much for me because I appreciated the past chapters more than the present ones. Nevertheless, the present chapters also reveal parts of the past story and help discover this unique world.

The world-building was without a doubt the thing that captivated me the most. Even the characters were more interesting not because of their personalities and relationships, but because of their abilities.

The demons were my favorite race. The whole concept of the way they live in the human world and their abilities were quite original. The world has various types of magic that at the same time seem to have a kind of the same basis.

"Bashasa stared as if he had never seen Kai before. Kai knew his clothes were covered with slashes and blood, that his braids were unraveled because someone very foolish and now dead had grabbed his hair from behind and tried to cut his throat. Bashasa was just as disheveled, his brocade coat sleeves slashed bloody, his knuckles scraped raw. He said, “You have a knife in your chest.” Oh, right, he did."

The whole lore could certainly support a long series and I have a feeling this could potentially become one. While the story works as a standalone, the past storyline still had a lot more to tell and the present one had this one piece of information thrown in that, in my opinion, strongly hinted at a potential sequel.

I received an ARC for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

( )

I mostly liked this book, but it was hard to follow the story at times, or feel what was at stake due to the style of storytelling and lack of compelling stakes. There are different magic systems at work here, but it took awhile for me to work out how they worked because the story is told in two different timelines, the present, and a past timeline that explains how the characters eventually ended up in their current predicament. I felt like this form of storytelling, while an interesting exercise, didn't lend itself well to conveying what is currently at stake in the story, or why I should care about the characters. Because of those reasons, it took me a bit longer to read this book because I found it so hard to get into. It requires full concentration, and for more casual readers it might be a bit hard to follow. That being said, its not a bad book, and Martha Wells is definitely a powerhouse when it comes to creating new and interesting situations and characters. This is an action packed story, but without establishing empathy for all of the characters, some of the action falls flat. ( )