I’ve been a fan of Martha Wells since the first Murderbot Diaries book, All Systems Red. So of course I was so excited when I heard about Witch King. I know she’s written a lot of fantasy before, but this would be my first venture into that side of her work. Without knowing what to expect, I dived in. Thrilled to report that I was not disappointed.
Kaiisteron—demon, witch king, and Prince of the Fourth House of the underearth—wakes up suddenly from a curse that kept him trapped in stasis when a weasel of a mage tries to steal Kai’s power. During his absence, the world has changed. The Rising World Coalition, the commonwealth of nations forged in the aftermath of a bloody revolution Kai helped lead, is at risk of collapsing. On top of that, Tahren, the immensely powerful wife of Ziede, the closest thing Kai has to a best friend, has gone missing. The attempt on Kai and Ziede’s lives, the dangerous political machinations, and Tahren’s disappearance are all connected, but to whom? And why?
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Witch King
With the help of two youngsters whose lives they save, a nosy historian, and some very reluctant co-conspirators, Kai and Ziede set off across the empire, from islands to seas to coastal harbors to isolated fortresses. Their quest leads them to a place Kai never wanted to see again: the palace where his mortal enemies held him captive, the place where he was tortured and beaten, the place where he nearly died trying to escape. Someone is hunting them, and the closer Kai and his companions get to where it all began, the bigger the threat becomes.
The world of Witch King is lavish and crunchy. Wells excels at descriptions, both macro and micro. From grand vistas and ruined cities to the color of the embroidery on a robe and the scent of a muddy river bank. I could picture every detail of Kai’s world. I wanted to crawl into the pages and live there. True, Wells doesn’t tell the reader much about the history of the world or the specific events that bridge the gap between Kai’s time in the grasslands, the Hierarchs’ brutal rise and subsequent fall, and the rebuilding of the world left in their wake. For some readers, not knowing the hows, whys, and whats of this world will be a hurdle to their enjoyment. For me, however, I didn’t mind it. It doesn’t so much matter how they got to where they are; what’s important is how they plan to move forward. We learn just enough of the past to give the present meaning and the future dreams.
The plot is fairly straightforward: find out who is trying to sabotage the fledgling government and rescue the missing lover. The meat of the novel is the journey, not the destination. Kai’s story jumps between the past—his life with the Saredi, his imprisonment in the Hierarchs’ court, and his escape—and the present, which is his quest across what’s left of a once-thriving world. The events of the past mirror or affect the events of the present, to the point where the reason why Kai behaves the way he does in the present (particularly with regards to taking in Tenes and Sanja) are directly tied to his growth under the influence of Bashasa. And it plays a major role in the reveal of the villain and their motivations.
In many ways, Witch King reminds me of the Murderbot Diaries. We didn’t know much about Murderbot’s world in the beginning, either, just the little snippets our grumpy little cyborg murderer deigned to share. Violence runs through both stories, not in a graphic, over-the-top way but in a realistic, “we live in a harsh world where bad people do terrible things” way. We have unlikely heroes in both Kai and Murderbot, characters who don’t hesitate to hurt those who deserve it, especially when those bad guys are wielding their power over those who are weaker. Wells also apparently loves a huge cast of characters. Each Murderbot entry brings in new characters and locations, while Witch King has a cast so big I couldn’t always remember who was who. But with both stories, I didn’t find that to be a problem. Each character in Witch King gives the reader a glimpse into more of the vast world Wells has built. They’re all from different parts of the empire, geographically, culturally, and hierarchically.
Lastly, like with the Murderbot Diaries, Wells builds a world where queerness isn’t, well, queer, but a normal part of society. Here, two of the women characters are in a committed, long-term relationship. Kai himself swaps bodies without any concern about gender presentation or anatomy. In the beginning, he wears a body that once belonged to a young woman but is always referred to as he/him. He comments later that a set of miserable mercenaries may be people forced to present as a gender different from how they actually identify. This is a world where gender and anatomy are not inherently intertwined and nobody thinks twice about it.
Wells also hints at a relationship between Kai and another man, although we never see the two of them act on it. Perhaps this is my asexual and aromantic perspective coming to bear, but to me it felt like a queerplatonic relationship, one where there is a deep connection but not necessarily rooted in sexual and/or romantic attraction. Acespec-ness and arospec-ness are a lot messier than a lot of allos realize, and this felt pretty on-par to how we navigate relationships. Or it could just be me headcanoning too much. Either way, it worked for me.
If it’s not already glaringly obvious, I absolutely adored Martha Wells’ Witch King. Based on the ending, she left a door open for a potential sequel, and I would like to put down my $30 now for a copy. I consumed this book body and soul. I don’t often re-read books, especially ones clocking in at over 400 pages, but I fully plan to read this again on audiobook. It was challenging, immersive, and sprawling, and I loved every moment.
Witch King is available from Tordotcom Publishing.
Read an excerpt here.
Alex Brown is a Hugo-nominated and Ignyte award-winning critic who writes about speculative fiction, librarianship, and Black history. Find them on twitter (@QueenOfRats), instagram (@bookjockeyalex), and their blog (bookjockeyalex.com).
