23 June 2017

Review #618: Truthwitch (The Witchlands, #1) by Susan Dennard



My rating: 2 of 5 stars


“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”

----Bob Marley



Susan Dennard, an American bestselling author, has penned a slightly gripping young adult fantasy story, Truthwitch that marks as the series opener for The Witchlands , laced with magic and heroic adventure, teenage friendship goals and cliched and steamy love drama, this book fits the bill for those looking for a thrilling teenage fantasy story, that is high on drama. This book revolves around two teenagers destined to fight with their powers to protect their empire against those who have waged a war upon them, but predictably, these young girls want nothing but freedom and for that, they would go at any lengths to break their ties with their duties and responsibilities and not to mention, they are powerful witches with some magical gifts in their bones.


Synopsis:

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.



Two normal teenage girls, named Safi and Iseult, who after a certain age develop some witchery magical powers, that people, if they knew about it, can kill others to own them, hatches a plan to escape their land of Witchlands, into somewhere free and nothing to care or worry about. Predictably, the whole empire, and also the enemy empires get a hint about Safi's magical power of being a truthwitch, the power to tell a lie from a truth, and they all get berserk and they wrack their nerve and entire armies to get to her. Whereas Safi and her best friend, Iseult, who is a threadwitch, with a power to sniff the deepest emotions of any human being, rebels against the forces and tries to help the empire against a wicked king and many more mercenaries and a bloodwitch.

Well its my fault that I picked up a book based on its nonsensical hype, well that's what the reviews are supposed to do, to give an insight about how the book is. Alas, the reviews only speak of its glory, seems like reading quality of readers are dropping day-by-day,. Out of thousands of glorious reviews, only a few talk about the book with a bit authenticity, rest are all fake. Even some of the popular YA authors too have praised the book so highly, I wonder if they were paid to do so. As you can see from my rant, I'm mad, yes I'm mad for wasting my time on this book, and when I begin reading a book, be it good or bad, I stay till the very last page.

What went so wrong with the book? Well I'm getting to that.
First let's talk about the most cruicial thing, that matters the most in a fantasy series, the world building. The world building lacks everything depth, resonance, login, vividness, clarity or anything that will let the readers comprehend with it. The author has introduced so many mystical and unique terms and words about the world she is trying to build up, yet she has failed drastically to explain them fully to her readers, and thus they are left clueless. Although I was feeling pointless to stay focused into the story line. The world building has no profundity, because of which the readers might feel lost in a world with so much happening in an instant.

The writing style is not at all any good, I don't know how majority of the readers put up with such a writing style, everything is vague and has no meaning. And that's why, the pacing felt a bit slower, since most of the time, I was left wondering the whys and the hows. The narrative is mostly dull, although sometimes, the dialogues had a bit of flair. Otherwise, everything is tad bit boring.

The characters, another, major disappointment in the book. The main character, Safi is dumb and has no heroic skills in her, she has an attitude and doesn't at all resemble any normal teenager. Whereas, her best friend, Iseult have something in her, an interesting flair that will slightly grip the readers minds. The villains like Merik, has many flaws, but the author has failed to project them in a compelling manner. The rest of the characters are also not that fascinating enough to talk about it in this review. Honestly, I forgot about the characters, what role they are supposed to play or what they were actually playing, god knows, everything is like a mist in this book, you just need to assume the who's who and the road to the unknown.

The love story, I would rather not talk about it, since this is the main flaw of the book, that compelled me to throw the book hard against the wall. Please don't read it, you are going to regret it terribly.

Verdict: Hitting my head against the wall!

Courtesy: Thanks to the publishers from Pan Macmillan India for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book, in return for an honest and unbiased review.
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Author Info:
Susan Dennard has come a long way from small-town Georgia. With a masters degree in marine biology, she got to travel the world—six out of seven continents, to be exact (she’ll get to Asia one of these days!)—before she settled down as a full-time novelist and writing instructor.
She is the author of the Something Strange and Deadly series (from HarperTeen) as well as the forthcoming Witchlands Series (Tor, 2015). When not writing, she can be found hiking with her dogs, exploring tidal pools, or earning bruises at the dojo.
Visit her here



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