Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

I thoroughly enjoyed this and found it to be a light and easy read dominated by themes of revenge, friendship, magic, true love and justice. The plot revolves around two young women who are the best of friends, Safiya and Iseult, and their misadventures as they become entangled in a plot to break a twenty year truce that has held the country together but is shortly coming to a close.

Safiya is a Truthwitch and gets a sense of true or false whenever she hears someone talk, and this applies to her own inner voice. Her type of witchery has not been seen in a long time despite living in a world that is full of every sort of magic so she is seen and treated as a rare commodity. A king with a Truthwitch at his side would be a powerful ruler indeed.

Iseult is a Threadwitch who can see the interweaving threads that bind the relationships of everyone around her but who is set apart from those people as she cannot see her own threads. This is a peculiarity among Threadwitches and has led to her becoming an outcast from own family but may point toward a grander destiny.

The two young women could not be closer friends and there is a real strength in the writing during moments when this relationship is explored. There is no doubt they would die for one another but Dennard avoids this being overly dramatic or something sworn forlornly over an unconscious body by really excelling and picking up the pace whenever the two are even chatting together. The intereactions between the two are warm and genuine and reminded me of that playful dailogue between the two sisters in A League of Their Own.

"Lay off the high ones.

I like the high ones.

Mule!

Nag!"

As a pair a formidable match for almost any enemy or situation but when apart they are shown to be as flawed as anyone else and it is when they are apart when see their true fears as well as their secret hopes for their place in the world.

Both these main characters were interesting and worth investing time in and were ably backed up by a great supporting cast. A couple of male wind witches bring some sparks to the story as well as a glimpse into the rest of the world. The pacing is good with nary a slow point to be found and I was often swept away by the action unfolding within the coplex web of happenings.

I do have a few small criticisms. The magic system seems overly broad and somewhat undefined. There is the possibility of adding ‘witch’ to any word and that be a power, for example an ‘Icecreamwitch” or a ‘Jumpwitch’ or even a ‘Couchwitch” but there is little to no mention of a universal cost of using these powers, where the energy to perform such magic is drawn from and how these powers are discovered in the first place. When you are used to dealing with Sanderson’s fully fleshed out magic systems it makes this one feel a little half done. I can honestly say I have not clear idea what “cleaving’ is although my best guess is that it seems to be the power that bad people have and involves either taking people over or cutting away part of their soul. Also the “Big Bad’ is mentioned in passing by a religious fanatic in a case of mistaken identity but then reveals itself at the finale to indeed be the Big Bad but no one but this one lunatic seemed to be worried about it. If the bad was indeed that bad then surely more people in the world we inhabit would be talking about it.

Gripes aside it is a solid fantasy book for young readers. I recently discovered that my wife and I are having a little girl so I am twice as focused on strong female characters and the development of those characters and in this respect I this Dennard has done a fantastic job. Neither of the young women is in the same place they were when the book began but they both seem to be ready and responsible for what lies before them. I look forward to the next book in the series and rate this one 4 out of 5.

Susan is the author of the Something Strange and Deadly series as well as the forthcoming Witchlands series. She is represented by Tor and, apologies for being completely unprofessional, is hauntingly beautiful with a real Jennifer Garner meets Emily Blunt thing going on.