WITCHSHADOW

The Witchlands #4

by Susan Dennard

(Tor Teen, 6/22/21)

9780765379344

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The Bengals activated cornerback Darqueze Dennard to the 53-player roster Friday, the team announced.

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Susan Dennard’s Truthwitch takes place in the Witchlands, a realm dominated by warring nations whose powers are only kept in check by the Twenty Year Truce. Iseult Det Midenzi, a Threadwitch, has the ability to see the threads that “bind,” “build,” and “break.” Her Threadsister, Safiya fon Hasstrel, is a Truthwitch—an individual with the ability to determine whether or not someone is telling the truth. The girls long to save up enough money to begin a quiet life of their own, but their plans are waylaid when they botch a thieving job and Safiya is named Emperor Henrick’s betrothed, making her “the future Empress of Cartorra” (Dennard 127). In order to avoid becoming a pawn in the Witchlands’ political games, Safiya is whisked away by her allies to a new life on the run. Safiya is pursued by Emperor Henrick’s agents who seek to return her to her betrothed, a vengeful Bloodwitch named Aeduan, and Vaness, the Empress of Marstok, who seeks to use Safiya’s power to her own ends. With the assistance of Prince Merik Nihar of Nubrevna, who is propelled by his interest in a trade agreement with Safiya’s uncle, Dom Eron, Iseult and Safiya make their way toward a port in Lejna where they will finally be free of danger and capable of living the lives of their choosing.

I didn’t like Dennard’s novel for several different reasons. The largest reason stems from the novel’s two main characters—Iseult Det Midenzi and Safiya fon Hasstrel—because they are fairly selfish characters with a tendency to make extremely poor decisions. For example, instead of listening to the instructions of her mentor, Mathew, Safiya chose to remove the salamander fiber blankets that masked her scent from the Bloodwitch. As a result, she exposed herself to various threats, which Mathew, Habim, her uncle Eron, and their allies sought to protect her from. Another example would be Iseult’s decision to allow Aeduan to remain alive when she could have finished him off. Iseult’s decision to spare Aeduan was extremely foolish because he vowed to track her down and kill her.

Another factor which contributed to my dislike of Dennard’s novel is its one-dimensional characters. For example, Safiya is bold, reckless, and impulsive. Vivia Nihar is both cunning and cruel; she is also determined to do anything it takes to gain complete control over Nubrevna. Mathew is extremely kind, his Heart-Thread, Habim, stoic and protective. With the exception of Evrane Nihar, Merik’s aunt, I didn’t care about any of the characters or what happened to them. I liked Evrane because she is kind-hearted, disciplined, and a healer who fights for what she believes in. The third factor that contributed to my disliking Truthwitch was the fact that I felt as though several of its major plot points were easy to predict. Examples include the Shadow’s identity and Safiya and Iseult’s status as the Cahr Awen. I also did not like the combat scenes that were present within the novel. I felt as though they lacked detail and were lazily written. Instead of leaving the reader with a clear indication of what was happening, the text briefly outlined any combat by using words and phrases such as “parried” or “twisted away.”

With that being said, there were a few things that I appreciated about the novel. The first was the presence of several different magical disciplines. Examples include Safiya’s truthwitchery and Iseult’s threadwitchery, which reminded me of auristics, (the magic that allows its users to read auras), because it provides Iseult with the ability to read other people’s emotions. Other examples include various healing magics and control over the elements, (e.g. windwitchery). The only thing that I did not like about Dennard’s magic system was that it was never explained. Where does a witches’ magic come from? Does magic stem from the Origin Wells or is it hereditary? What allows a Curse Witch to dampen the magic wielded by other witches? What allows a Curse Witch to strip a witch of their magic? My questions are endless. Second, I appreciated how the novel was extremely fast-paced—there was always something going on. Third, I felt as though the novel was well-organized—each chapter flowed neatly into the one that proceeded it.

Rating: 2.6/5 stars

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