Reviews with content warning for Death - Windwitch

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Windwitch by Susan Dennard

5 reviews

eviethebookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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deb_is_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Ohh I had a really good time with this. I was so hesitant to pick this up because the summary didn't sound too appealing.

First of all I think this book is a little bit of a deviation from the last. The first book had a lot of plot movement but this felt more like character journey and world expansion. I personally love that but I think quite a few other fantasy readers don't like that.

I personally love the amount of new bonds formed in this one. Merick gained a friend after losing one, Safi gained allies, and Iseult relationship with another individual transformed into something else.

Also getting Vivia's new perspective was so great. I had no love for her in book 1 but I'm glad that Dennard is giving us multi-layered individuals.

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nytephoenyx's review

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

While I felt like Windwitch was scattered, I still enjoyed the book. Folks who like a solid beginning/middle/end may struggle with this second installment in Susan Dennard’s Witchland’s universe. Nevertheless, the vibrant world, interesting magic, and complex characters continue to impress and I intend to continue further into the series.

The most structured story is Merik’s. The prince was presumed dead after an explosion, and his POV storyline takes us through his quest for vengeance against his sister, Vivia, whom he presumes his murderer. We also follow Safiya and Iseult, but so much of their story takes place on the road that it takes extraordinary patience and interest to suffer through their POVs. Windwitch is primarily a bridge book, refining its characters and setting up the next big event in the series.

Susan Dennard excels in her world building. As a book with a lot of journeying, it would be easy to fall into information dumps and over-describing the landscape. Instead, she does an excellent job of surrounding us with the world and letting us uncover, bit by bit, the cultures and current politics. Fantasy is particularly vulnerable to over-description but Susan Dennard’s balance is excellent. I love the Witchlands as a fantasy world. While I’m listening, I am constantly thinking about how I can learn from her and improve my own writing.

The best part of this book was Cam. I’m not qualified to say one way or the other if they are a good representation of a transgender character, but I appreciated their existence as a principally important character. Cam’s unspoken background makes me what to learn more about what drives them. As a warning, though, they are deadnamed in the middle of the book, just once.

Should you run out and pick up a copy of Windwitch? Honestly… no. I really liked it, but a lot of my liking it has to do with my interest in the world and the fact I genuinely like Susan Dennard’s characters. Objectively, it’s not a very focused book and plot line is a really important fundamental. Nonetheless, those who enjoyed Truthwitch shouldn’t necessarily let it stop them from continuing the series. I may know that, from a technical perspective, Windwitch is not amazing. But I also really liked it. The heart wants what the heart wants.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-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

4.5

4.5 ⭐s. Oofffff things are heating up in the Witchlands!!! I'm loving this series so far, I'm so glad I picked it back up. A perfect crossover YA/adult fantasy series with the most loveable ensemble cast.

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ashlightgrayson's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

5.0

This review was last updated for my reread in 2022

I waited until Bloodwitch came out to start reading this book because I didn't want to wait to move on with the series. This book focused more on Iseult and Aeduan's relationship from enemies to amicable acquaintances. I really liked the level of distrust that Aeduan still had around Iseult because I think it was in line with his personality. He starts to slowly trust Iseult more and more. Eventually he starts training her as they travel together. Iseult and him are a lot more similar than they initially think and it's something that is very clear by the end of the novel. I'm hoping to have their relationship develop further in the next book.

I also want to see Iseult come to terms with her new powers and the fact that she has Voidwitch capabilities.

On her side of things, Safi has also made new acquaintances. My favorite was definitely Caden since he seems to have a good sense of humor and his true motives are ambiguous

until almost the end of the book

. As the title suggests, this story mainly focused on Merik's character development. Cam largely contributed to him facing his own demons and realizing that a lot of assumptions he had were wrong. I feel that we learned a lot more about Vivia's character in this installment. We get a much more nuanced view of her intentions and actions and a closer look at her complicated relationship with Merik.

By the end of the book they are in a much better place than at the beginning of the series. I think there is still a lot left unsaid between them that I expect will be addressed in future books

. I hope that we get more on Vivia in the next installment because she's one of the more interesting characters. She appears much more confident on the outside than she actually is and it was nice to see her be so vulnerable.

Overall, this book series continues to hold up on a reread and I actually appreciated it more the second time around (it has gone from a 4 star read to a 5 star read). It's the small interpersonal character moments that are most interesting to me and I'm looking forward to getting more of those. It will also be nice to have all of the main characters we have been following eventually reunite.

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