Title: The Witch King
Author: H.E. Edgmon
ISBN: 978-1335212795; 1335212795
Author: H.E. Edgmon
ISBN: 978-1335212795; 1335212795
Publication Date: June 1, 2021
Pages: 432
Price: $18.99 USD
Genre: Young Adult Fiction/ Fantasy/ Epic/ Romance/ LGBTQ+
Wyatt would give anything to forget where he came from—but a kingdom demands its king. In Asalin, fae rule and witches like Wyatt Croft…don’t. Wyatt’s betrothal to his best friend, fae prince Emyr North, was supposed to change that. But when Wyatt lost control of his magic one devastating night, he fled to the human world. Now a coldly distant Emyr has hunted him down. Despite transgender Wyatt’s newfound identity and troubling past, Emyr has no intention of dissolving their engagement. In fact, he claims they must marry now or risk losing the throne. Jaded, Wyatt strikes a deal with the enemy, hoping to escape Asalin forever. But as he gets to know Emyr, Wyatt realizes the boy he once loved may still exist. And as the witches face worsening conditions, he must decide once and for all what’s more important—his people or his freedom.
My Review:
❋ ❋ ❋
I reviewed an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Witch King (The Witch King #1) by H.E. Edgmon is a solid YA debut fantasy series opener. It's actually kind of tough to know exactly how to rate this one. It would probably come a little closer to a 3.5 star rating, but I've decided to round to a whole number. The story is very inclusive and creative and I loved getting to know the world Wyatt and Emyr inhabit. I really wanted to step into their world and see all I could. As for Wyatt, he's a complex character who has plenty of space to grow. He's not exactly a likeable character, but I appreciate that there's room for him to be a bit of a chaotic mess. Given everything he's been through and has experienced, I'm just glad he was able to come through the other side in one piece. My only real complaints about this novel were technical issues. The pacing's too uneven during the first half of the novel. Normally that doesn't bother me as much but as the novel's over 400 pages, it stood out to me and at times it drew me out of the story. Another element that drew me out of the story to a degree was the dialog for some characters which at times came across as forced or like its trying a little too hard to be right up to the minute. The present day references could be fun at times, but other times it didn't quite work for me. Overall, though, I highly recommend this debut. The series has the potential to be truly great. I have a feeling you'll want to try The Witch King if you enjoyed Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas and The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black. I'm looking forward to trying whatever this author does next and in the future.
My review is also on Goodreads.
About H.E.
H.E. Edgmon was born in the deep south but has had many homes, dropped out of school to do gay stuff, and is at least a little feral.
In both their writing and daily life, they aim to center the voices of Indigenous people, trans people, and survivors of trauma. It is always their goal to make fascists uncomfortable.
They have an eccentric little family of their own design, several very sensitive pets, and a lot of opinions. They can most often be found on Twitter @heedgmon.
This sounds pretty interesting. I love the graphic novel-like cover, it would definitely make me pick this up!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely makes it stand out!
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