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A review by sauvageloup
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon
adventurous
dark
slow-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
3.0
An interesting book! I think Edgmon is still finding their feet as an author but it's a decent story.
pros:
- there's a lot of description, which does really help with imagining the characters, the setting and visualising the scene, making it vivid. (The beautiful art on the front also really helped).
- although there was perhaps a bit much, I did like how Edgmon included Wyatt's strong sexual attraction to Emyr was brought up repeatedly and centralised. It didn't skirt around the physical side of Wyatt's attraction and that was neat.
- Wyatt's friendship and closeness with Briar was nice.
- the setting of Asalin, with the dragons, Boom the hellhound, the magic, was all pretty cool.
- and of course, the diversity of characters was excellent.
- oh and I liked Wyatt's backstory; that was original and dark and cool.
- i appreciated also that Wyatt's deadname was never given. I thought at one point that it had and was gutted, but no. It makes sense a trans author would get this but I was glad all the same.
- oh and I appreciated how Wyatt wearing a binder and his feelings about his body were described and handled. The issue wasn't dealt with too heavy-handedly but it got the point across and that was cool.
cons:
- somehow the book didn't *quite* work. It was disjointed, a bit slow, a bit amateurish. The plot didn't come together neatly enough, with some plot points coming out of nowhere like Clarke orchestrating things whilst the other main reveal, I guessed from like, page 10 or whatever that faery was inhabitable and Leonidas had lied
- I'm not sure if there's due to be a sequel (there's no mention of one) but it feels unfinished and the ending a bit rushed.
- the plot was also just a bit weak. I didn't understand why Wyatt agreed to help Derek in the first place (though him influencing Wyatt does explain it a bit) and then none of Wyatt's attempts to 'get thrown out' work at all, even slightly. The whole thing seemed a bit weak and yet that was what Wyatt was meant to be doing for most of the middle of the book. The riot came out of nowhere and didn't seem well integrated... idk I can't articulate it exactly, but there wasn't enough tension. The stakes weren't clear and it all seemed like a lot of Wyatt monologuing until I got a bit fed up with him.
- then there was Wyatt's character development, which wasn't too bad, but it wasn't the best either. Somehow, he didn't seem to really connect deeply with Emyr. I got the sexual tension between them, but why Emyr put up with Wyatt's shit so much, I didn't really get. Also, Emyr forcing Wyatt to come to Asalin at the start was pretty out of character compared to how he was in the rest of the book.
- OH, so this is more of a personal thing, but Wyatt was grateful several times for Wyatt getting his pronouns right, even when talking abt a past story and,, I think this should be taken for granted?? I don't know, I understand that people can mess up, but in an ideal world, everyone would get the right pronouns and that wouldn't need to be appreciated i guess is what I'm saying.
- finally, I thought a lot of uh,, message? political stuff? was too on the nose. I understood the link between the guards' brutality and police brutality, about witch discrimination and queer people's discrimination, etc. just fine without it literally being spelled out on the page and I thought Edgmon could've given the reader more space there, rather than assuming the reader had exactly zero critical thinking skills. Maybe a me thing though.
Overall, I did enjoy it. I feel like Edgmon has some growing to do as a writer, but they have a lot of potential and I loved the descriptions. I would compare this book to Out of Salem in themes and tone, but I would say that I think Out of Salem did it better overall, with more originality, better writing and more engaging characters. But this was still a worthwhile read. It's always good to see more lgbt writers and stories being told and this definitely felt like a very contemporary, 'right now' story.
pros:
- there's a lot of description, which does really help with imagining the characters, the setting and visualising the scene, making it vivid. (The beautiful art on the front also really helped).
- although there was perhaps a bit much, I did like how Edgmon included Wyatt's strong sexual attraction to Emyr was brought up repeatedly and centralised. It didn't skirt around the physical side of Wyatt's attraction and that was neat.
- Wyatt's friendship and closeness with Briar was nice.
- the setting of Asalin, with the dragons, Boom the hellhound, the magic, was all pretty cool.
- and of course, the diversity of characters was excellent.
- oh and I liked Wyatt's backstory; that was original and dark and cool.
- i appreciated also that Wyatt's deadname was never given. I thought at one point that it had and was gutted, but no. It makes sense a trans author would get this but I was glad all the same.
- oh and I appreciated how Wyatt wearing a binder and his feelings about his body were described and handled. The issue wasn't dealt with too heavy-handedly but it got the point across and that was cool.
cons:
- somehow the book didn't *quite* work. It was disjointed, a bit slow, a bit amateurish. The plot didn't come together neatly enough, with some plot points coming out of nowhere
- I'm not sure if there's due to be a sequel (there's no mention of one) but it feels unfinished and the ending a bit rushed.
- the plot was also just a bit weak.
- then there was Wyatt's character development, which wasn't too bad, but it wasn't the best either. Somehow, he didn't seem to really connect deeply with Emyr. I got the sexual tension between them, but why Emyr put up with Wyatt's shit so much, I didn't really get. Also, Emyr forcing Wyatt to come to Asalin at the start was pretty out of character compared to how he was in the rest of the book.
- OH, so this is more of a personal thing, but Wyatt was grateful several times for Wyatt getting his pronouns right, even when talking abt a past story and,, I think this should be taken for granted?? I don't know, I understand that people can mess up, but in an ideal world, everyone would get the right pronouns and that wouldn't need to be appreciated i guess is what I'm saying.
- finally, I thought a lot of uh,, message? political stuff? was too on the nose. I understood the link between the guards' brutality and police brutality, about witch discrimination and queer people's discrimination, etc. just fine without it literally being spelled out on the page and I thought Edgmon could've given the reader more space there, rather than assuming the reader had exactly zero critical thinking skills. Maybe a me thing though.
Overall, I did enjoy it. I feel like Edgmon has some growing to do as a writer, but they have a lot of potential and I loved the descriptions. I would compare this book to Out of Salem in themes and tone, but I would say that I think Out of Salem did it better overall, with more originality, better writing and more engaging characters. But this was still a worthwhile read. It's always good to see more lgbt writers and stories being told and this definitely felt like a very contemporary, 'right now' story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia