Those of you who follow my blog regularly know that Truthwitch was one of my favorite reads last year and main protagonists Safiya & Merik even made it to my top favorite ships of 2016. To say that I was super excited to read sequel, would be an understatement. I simply could not wait to get my hands on Windwitch. So imagine my disappointment when it did not meet my expectations at all...
Windwitch (The Witchlands #2)
Written by: Susan Dennard
Published by: Tor Teen
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release date: January 10th 2017
Sometimes our enemies are also our only allies…
After an explosion destroys his ship, the world believes Prince Merik, Windwitch, is dead. Scarred yet alive, Merik is determined to prove his sister’s treachery. Upon reaching the royal capital, crowded with refugees, he haunts the streets, fighting for the weak—which leads to whispers of a disfigured demigod, the Fury, who brings justice to the oppressed.
When the Bloodwitch Aeduan discovers a bounty on Iseult, he makes sure to be the first to find her—yet in a surprise twist, Iseult offers him a deal. She will return money stolen from him, if he locates Safi. Now they must work together to cross the Witchlands, while constantly wondering, who will betray whom first?
After a surprise attack and shipwreck, Safi and the Empress of Marstok barely escape with their lives. Alone in a land of pirates, every moment balances on a knife’s edge—especially when the pirates’ next move could unleash war upon the Witchlands.
MY REVIEW:
Almost everything that I loved in the first book (Safi/Iseult interactions, Safi/Merik banters and chemistry, fast paced storyline) was completely missing in this instalment. There was nothing to make my heart beat faster, nothing to evoke a passion in me. Windwitch definitely suffers from "second book syndrome" and I'm hugely disappointed!
The only positives when comparing Windwitch to Truthwitch were that we got (a) more Aeduan+Iseult scenes and (b) plenty of Merik's POV (this guy is breaking my heart and he is definitely my favorite character in this series).
Usually, I don't have a problem with multiple POVs but in this case all those plotlines and POVs didn't work in the favor of the book as a whole. Safi's storyline was the least exciting one, even boring at times (pointless I dare to say). Which is sad since her POV was my favorite one in the first book. Same goes for new POV. Vivia's POV just did not touch the right buttons for me and I didn't care much about her.
Even though pacing and flow of the story were weird, world-building and writing itself was still strong and I look forward to third instalment which hopefully will bring more of what made me fall in love with this series in the first book.
Meanwhile, I'm going to think about this book as a filler, unnecessary evil to get the plot going to the right direction of another awesomeness to come. Because you simply CAN NOT create chemistry like Safi and Merik shared in Truthwitch and then just PUFF... let it completely disappear like it never happened. (I refuse to believe that this series will lose its potential so early in and throw away everything that made it special to me).
