Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Aether. Void—wait, what?
Sorry, guys, this isn’t exactly a
Harry-Potter-meets-Avatar-the-Last-Airbender kind of world. But it’s not that
far off. Truthwitch is the first in a
series that takes place in a fantasy world called the Witchlands, where people
can be born with a witchery (no, not Witcher), or a special power connected to
some element of the world or human nature. Sounds like a gripping world, right?
Almost like the setting for a tabletop or video game RPG. Much like an RPG
resembling D&D or Skyrim, this is a complex world ruled by several
kingdoms, with hundreds of years of politics influencing the characters as they
pursue their own goals. The only problem: Dennard doesn’t tell us much about
it.
Bit by
bit, we learn about the Twenty Year Truce—a pause button on a centuries-long
war, but it’s about to expire—and the Origin Wells. The wells provide the magic
of the Witchlands, but they’ve been drying up for unknown reasons. There are
many types of witchery, and some categories are so broad they can be divided
into subcategories (Tidewitches, people who can control the ocean tides, are
one type of Waterwitch; Glamourwitches and Voicewitches are types of
Aetherwitches). Clearly the Witchlands universe is rich in both history and
mythos, yet the reader doesn’t get a good grasp of such complexities until deep into the book. Why are the Cahr
Awen, a prophesied pair of heroes, such a big deal? They’re going to save the
world? Would’ve been nice to have that piece of trivia front and center!
Flawed world-building aside, Dennard does success in
creating engaging characters. Safiya (Safi) and Iseult (Iz) take the lead as
our heroes. The two young women have a powerful friendship. At the start of the
story, they’re living and training with a Weaverwitch who we don’t see much of,
but we learn enough to understand that each girl has been honing her specific
witchery and learning some handy melee combat skills. Their friendship belies
their disparate backgrounds. Safi is a noblewoman who has left behind her
privilege and responsibilities to live a rougher, simpler life. On top of that,
she must hide that she’s a Truthwitch—someone who can tell when someone is
lying. Well, that’s a useful skill, but is it really so valuable? We learn it’s
not even 100% reliable if the person she’s checking really believes what they’re
saying, regardless of objective veracity. That said, her mentor and family have
impressed on her that this power will be sought by rulers as the international
temporary peace agreement comes close to expiration.
Iseult, on the other hand, is more threatened by racial
prejudice and a nasty jerk back home. She belongs to an ethnic group most
people in the Witchlands hate for some reason. Why? Not really explained. Maybe
because they’re nomads, like the Romani people, living by their own society and
laws. Iseult is also a Threadwitch; she can see people’s emotions and
connections to others. That power may not seem all that useful until another
Threadwitch, the unseen Puppeteer, uses these threads to turn people into
zombies. Whoa!
For all their power, Safi and Iz are just young women trying
to figure out where they belong in the world. At the start of their adventure,
they take a heist job to pay back a debt to a gambler who blindsided Safi’s
truth-sensing ability. Unfortunately, the job goes awry when the wrong target
falls in their trap—and the girls come face to face with a Bloodwitch. All
right, what’s a Bloodwitch? Someone who can smell the witchery on other people and
follow their scent. And apparently it’s a type of Voidwitch. What’s a
Voidwitch? Like I know! I guess it’s the “dark side” or unnatural side of
witchery, but again, so little background is given, which is a shame since our
Bloodwitch character, initially a lethal antagonist, has promise as an
interesting character later on.
Back to Safi and Iseult—they’re now on the Bloodwitch’s
radar, not mention the radar of law enforcement in Veñaza City, so the girls
make a plan to leave town. That doesn’t pan out, either. The girls get
separated, and their mentors individually advise them. Safi goes to stay with
her visiting uncle, who’s attending a summit to address the Twenty Year Truce,
while Iseult returns to her family in a settlement not far from the city. The
girls promise to reunite, which they eventually do, but not before their worlds
are flipped over by unwanted engagements, kidnappings and attempted
assassinations.
They eventually reunite and fall to the mercy of Prince Merik,
a Windwitch from a small kingdom trying to outwit his more power-hungry sister
and protect his starving people. When you see how explosive Merik and Safi are
around each when they meet, you just know
they’re going to fall in love. But it’s complicated—there’s a reward to return
Safi to her unwanted betrothed, but her uncle has employed Merik to get her to
safety, which puts the prince and his people at odds with just about every
other kingdom in the lands. The messy situation forces Safiya to realize that she
can’t just worry about herself and Iseult—she has a responsibility to everyone
who she endangers just by being a Truthwitch. Iseult, on the other hand, is
fighting to stay in control of her mind and emotions as the Puppeteer makes
long-distance psychic calls to taunt her to the dark side. The girls’ loyalty to
each other holds true. However, by the novel’s end they are once more apart and
forced to make their own way while still promising to see each other again.
Yeah, a lot
happens in this book, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. It’s
deserving of a second reading, if only to make sense of everything that
unfolds. For anyone up for it, the Witchlands series has an official website
that provides background on all the kingdoms—but if you have to go to a website
to really understand the world in your novel, you might want to rethink how
you’re handling expository material. Still, I’d like to pick up another
Witchlands book, which is apparently coming next year. At least the story isn’t
as vague as Destiny’s.
Rating: 3.5/5
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