Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Witch King

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon

5 reviews

bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

2.5

“I am not the golden goose. I am more like an actual goose, hissing and honking and attacking small children who just want to give me bread.”

➽ I finally ended up reading The Witch King! I've had this book on my TBR for so long. The story follows Wyatt, a witch who ended up fleeing his arranged engagement and is now hiding in the human world. After his fiance finds him, he's forced to go back to the Fae, who treat his kind like outcasts. I liked the general idea of this setup so much that this book made it on to my anticipated releases list. There was potential in this story, especially as it discusses Wyatt's feeling of being other both as a witch and a trans boy who doesn't fit into the rigid bioessential expectations of the fae. While he was messy, I liked him for the most part, as he was the most interesting character in the story! Unfortunately, I didn't end up liking much else about The Witch King, which was a big disappointment for me!

➽ The romance didn't work for me at all. It's a soulbond, arranged (more like forced) marriage type of relationship which can always be a hit or miss. I didn't like how it was executed here and thought that Emyr's and Wyatt's relationship was unhealthy. They weren't good for each other, something the story even somewhat acknowledged, but in the end, it's what 'makes them perfect for each other'. The beginning of the story is already iffy as it consists of Emyr hunting down Wyatt and forcing him to come back to the Fae to fulfil the marriage. He threatens and blackmails Wyatt, so he doesn't have much of a choice as Emyr promises to keep hunting him down if he flees. The way he talked about Wyatt like he was a pawn was so uncomfortable. He's literally like 'because I might lose the throne, you have to marry me and carry my babies' without considering if this is what Wyatt wants, especially now that he has come out as trans. Emyr immediately makes a bad impression with how he decides everything for Wyatt and then has the gall to say that Wyatt came willingly. He was trying too hard to absolve himself of any lingering guilt by insisting Wyatt find happiness with the Fae.

➽ It was so icky how he kept saying he wouldn't let Wyatt go (so he's basically a prisoner) and use their marriage contract against him. It didn't help that the contract kills whoever breaks it. The whole situation was so iffy and uncomfortable. How am I supposed to root for Emyr as a love interest when he manipulates Wyatt into fulfilling the marriage and point-blank admits to killing him if he attempts to escape? The fact that Emyr has a one-sided soul bond with Wyatt was even worse. Their meant to be the perfect genetic match, but Wyatt can't even feel the bond, so it's just strange. The second half of the story wasn't as bad, because we learn more about Emyr and he stops being so overbearing. However, it was difficult to reconcile his earlier actions and believe he genuinely cared about Wyatt beyond the bond. Everything was just too messy for me and I wish the author had deconstructed the soulmates trope!

➽ I didn't get along with the writing style. It utilized too much modern slang, including memes and phrases that sound like they come straight from a Tumblr post. I enjoy pop-culture references and the occasional modern slang, especially in an Urban Fantasy book. However, the Witch King was oversaturated with these kinds of references to the point that it made me cringe. The writing itself could have been much better if it hadn't tried so hard to sound cool.

➽ I also wasn't invested in the plot itself. I appreciated the discussion of many real-life issues, coupled with the in-universe discrimination of witches. However, everything was so heavy-handed and lacked any subtlety. I wish the author had trusted the readers to understand what was being said. Unfortunately, the book ended up sounding preachy instead and I think it would have been better if it had focused on fewer topics but then done so more in-depth. There was definitely potential in the Witch King, but combined with the writing, it missed the mark.

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abarnakwn_ourcolourfulpages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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brianneh's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really liked the beginning of this book, but I thought it got a little bogged down and flat in the middle. I wasn’t quite sure what the goal was at certain points and felt like the plot meandered a bit.

I loved that there was so much good representation and diversity in The Witch King. I really enjoyed several of the characters we are introduced to, my favorites being Briar and Jin. I wish we’d had more of Jin overall! I’d also love to hear more from Briar’s side of things, I think it would be really interesting.

At first, I really found myself drawn to the main character Wyatt and his story. One of my favorite lines of his in the early pages of the book was:

“Gender is weird. The rules are all made up and people should just do whatever they want”

But as the book went on I found Wyatt to be a bit annoying at times. The book is told through first person point of view, which I think contributed to the meandering I mentioned, as a lot of time was spent on Wyatt thinking about things, then not really communicating those thoughts to people in a conducive way. Throughout the book, Wyatt comes up these schemes which he doesn’t really seem to think through, then never really has to face any real consequences to many of his actions. This way of thinking and acting may be true to course for some teenagers, but it’s not the most compelling thing to read.

There were also quite a few mentions about pregnancy, specifically unwanted and/or forced, which wasn’t marked in the content warnings here on StoryGraph.

Overall, I know a lot of people love this book, and while it wasn’t one of my favorites, I can see why others enjoyed it.

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freckled_frog_boi's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I loved the book. I loved the vast amount of representation we see, the way fantasy tropes are exposed for it's colonialist background, the anti-establishment evident in many characters. The childhood friends-to-enemies-to-lovers was a slow burn I loved. All very good stuff!

Wyatt is an angry mc (for good reason) but doesn't process that anger in productive ways, so I could get frustrated with him at times. I also recognize he grew up in a very restricted environment and has only a few years in the human world to deconstruct - so wyatt overlooks his white privilege in some of his monologues. He also

has to be warmed up to the revolutionary ideas of his friends, and i almost come to count on his friends more than him - i guess that’s why the plot twists work so well

But overall I loved reading it and I think you will too!

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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I loved the first part of the book and I truly love the writing, I just can't read about other people's dysphoria right now.

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