Author: Susan Dennard
Publisher: Tor Teen
Length: 224 pages
Source: Purchased Book/Library Audiobook
From New York Times bestselling author Susan Dennard, Sightwitch is an illustrated novella set in the Witchlands and told through Ryber’s journal entries and sketches.
Before Safi and Iseult battled a Bloodwitch...
Before Merik returned from the dead…
Ryber Fortiza was a Sightwitch Sister at a secluded convent, waiting to be called by her goddess into the depths of the mountain. There she would receive the gift of foretelling. But when that call never comes, Ryber finds herself the only Sister without the Sight.
Years pass and Ryber’s misfit pain becomes a dull ache, until one day, Sisters who already possess the Sight are summoned into the mountain, never to return. Soon enough, Ryber is the only Sister left. Now, it is up to her to save her Sisters, though she does not have the Sight—and though she does not know what might await her inside the mountain.
On her journey underground, she encounters a young captain named Kullen Ikray, who has no memory of who he is or how he got there. Together, the two journey ever deeper in search of answers, their road filled with horrors, and what they find at the end of that road will alter the fate of the Witchlands forever.
Set a year before Truthwitch, Sightwitch is a companion novella that also serves as a set up to Bloodwitch, as well as an expansion of the Witchlands world.
Reviewer's Note: While this story is listed here and on Goodreads as "The Witchlands #0.5" I would heavily suggest reading this story after Windwitch. While I do feel you could read this story before Truthwitch, I believe it would be most effective as bridge book between Windwitch and Bloodwitch. You'll get more understanding of the characters and their predicament if you know about them from Truthwitch and Windwitch, and this story can be fully appreciated with that context. Also, I do feel this story is necessary to the overall series and should be read before Bloodwitch regardless of the reading order.
Review:
Protagonists: This story focuses on the journey Ryber takes before we see her in Truthwitch, in this story she's a Sightwitch sister who has yet to be chosen by her goddess, Sirmaya, to receive the powers of a Sightwitch. When something ominous starts to happen in the hidden Sightwitch Convent, Ryber has to venture into the Sightwitch Sisters' sacred mountain to save her sisters without the power of Sight. I loved getting to learn more about Ryber and her own personal goals for this story. She has an important role to play and I can't wait to see it come to fruition. However, Ryber's story is only half of this tale. The other half comes from the journal of Eridyci, another Sightwitch sister who lived long before Ryber, in the age of the Twelve Paladins and her story sheds much light on the past and how it may come into play in the present.
Romance: This story is also to the beginning of Ryber's relationship with her future Heartthread, Kullen. Much like other installments in this series, the romance is light. Burning brightly, but ever under the surface and never directly discussed amongst the characters. Still, the connection between Ryber and Kullen, as well as their chemistry and dynamic, is incredible. I loved getting to see them get to know each other and learn to work together to solve their problems. Unfortunately, their journey together is only part of an already short tale in this series, so we don't get a lot of quantity to their interactions, but the quality of their interaction more than makes up for everything.
World-Building: THIS! This is the book I've been waiting for, and it's only a novella. So, when I first read Truthwitch, shortly before the release of Windwitch, I loved the story, but I felt there was so much to the world building lurking beneath the surface and rarely expanded upon. Things like Eridyci and the Twelve Paladins, which are brought up in the main series but never really expanded upon, get shown off here in an incredible way. I loved learning more about the history of this world before witchery was more common. I feel like I came out of this story with such a deeper understanding of where the story is going and what's on the horizon, which is why I feel it's necessary to read before Bloodwitch.
Predictability: Other than things that are revealed in the previous installments, which aren't really presented as twists, there's almost nothing in this story that I predicted. There were a couple of things that I should have gotten before they were revealed, I just wasn't paying attention to the foreshadowing, but even then there are so many more twists that I wasn't able to predict which just made this story such a fun and exciting journey.
Ending: So, the ending, not the climax, is sort of predictable, as I know where Ryber and Kullen end up since I've read Truthwitch, but the final climax and the reasons why Ryber is on this journey were not nearly as predictable. The final climax is amazing and I loved how it was used and what it played into what we already knew from previous books, and what the things revealed toward the end of the story reveal for the story going forward.
Rating:
This is a fantastic end to an amazing story in this world and I really hope we get more novellas like this that really delve deep into the world building and provide a great opportunity to get to know a character who hasn't been quite as important to the main plot yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment