Witch King

Like many other people I discovered Martha Wells via the Murderbot series. Until I saw the press for this book I had no idea she was also an accomplished fantasy author. I guess I have more stories to go back and read!

I really loved the characters in this one. This is one of those stories that flips between the Origin Story where everyone meets amidst a crisis and Current Day where they are reunited to face a new crisis. I thought the characters' relationships in the Present Day flowed well from how they met in the Origin Story, and their interactions were both natural and entertaining.

I thought the plot in the Origin Story timeline was more exciting, even if there wasn't much tension since you knew certain characters appear in the Current Day and hence couldn't have died. It's a story of war and defeat and desperation which is tough to beat.

The Current Day story line is much thinner and involves mystery and conspiracy but honestly it doesn't feel like much happens so much as you're spending time with these characters as they deal with their current problem.

As far as I know this is a standalone novel but I wouldn't mind seeing more of this setting and these characters.

The only other books by Martha Wells that I've read are the Murderbot Diaries, so it's pretty hard for me not to view it through that lens.

Which is unfair on the book, because it is entirely its own thing.

But also carries a lot of Murderbot DNA.

There's the conversational style, the same exasperated, hyper-confident protagonist with a prickly exterior but a heart of gold...

But Kai is also more openly vulnerable, more open with his friends and much more DTF.

Plot-wise it suffers from the same issues I have with the MBDs. The overarching story wasn't compelling, I don't really understand the stakes or the politics, at least not for the bulk of the book. So it was hard to get invested. But it doesn't matter because the whole thing is really just a framework to hang the individual set pieces on and, man, Wells is amazing on the small scale.

The action is so good. Well's writes in such a cinematic way that I am immediately sucked into the scene. And they feed into each other so well, with the split past/present back story meaning that you are always left in the middle of some cliffhanger or important event even during the downtime.

The setting is also really interesting, the magic system is weird, but usually clearly conveyed, and the world is... well it's a mess. Dealing with the fallout from the magical equivalent of a nuclear war.

Overall, the most basic comparison is the strongest though. This is an incredibly compelling book, that I can see myself re-reading many times.

I adored how wide the world felt and how much was hinted at by the various, subtly interacting magic systems at play. I feel like there are so many nooks and crannies to be explored around the main storyline of this book that it feels like a nearly inexhaustible mine. More, please!

The narrative structure jumps from the present to the past, each giving context to the other and its people -- literally showing you why the characters act the way they do, showing how the current situation came to be, giving you a real sense of time and consequence. I loved it.

And, as I've come to expect from Martha Wells, her depictions of trauma responses feel on-point and real. How everyone reacts to their own ghastly experiences and how it drives them are on full display and are very sympathetic.

So: great world-building. Fun characters and relationships. A complex, political story with very "human" characters. It drops you in to a rushing river and expects you to swim, which I love.

That said, I feel like the characters besides Kai, the main POV, are a little flat. There's a chance that they feel that way because of how much Kai is struggling with their own inner demons (heh heh); maybe Kai's inward focus makes them somewhat blind to others' personalities and the narrative reflects that?