Truthwitch

A Witchlands Novel

By: Susan Dennard

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a "witchery", a magical skill that sets them apart from others.

In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble - as two desperate young women know all too well.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It's a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially among the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.

Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her - but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi's hotheaded impulsiveness.

Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship's captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

©2016 Susan Dennard (P)2016 Listening Library

Amazing story, not my favorite voice acting

I loved the story, but the voice actor's accents weren't my favorite. It felt like an awkward combination of middle eastern and Russian. It also bugged me that the narrator's voice is so "normal" sounding compared to everyone else's accents. I wish she either always had the accent or never did. The flip flipping was a little distracting.

As for the story itself, it was wonderfully written and draws you in. It drops you into the world and you learn more as the story develops. I can't wait to learn more about the magic of the world and to meet other types of witches. I literally just finished that book and I'm itching for more. I need it! This will definitely be a read again for me, but maybe with a physical copy. I think I'll enjoy it more that way.

A great book.

Although I read some comments saying that the book was jumbled and didn't offer at least a chapter of back story to explain the world. If you're smarter than these people and don't wish to have the entire plot and background thrown at you in the first two chapters, then you'll like this book because it does a great job at leading you into the world and explaining it's self throughout the book in a way that keeps it entertaining. I'm definitely going to get the new book when it comes out. Also if you don't like fantasy YA novels then I don't recommend reading this, but if you are into it or want to try it out, then this isn't a bad place to start but I'd recommend the 'Throne of Glass' series.

Needs an Introduction/Appendix/Footnotes

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

1.) EXPLANATION ON NEW TERMINOLOGY
I understand that worldbuilding would be important for this fantasy series. Unfortunately, the first few chapters were rife with unfamiliar terminology that the author did not explain such as Thread Sister, Heart Thread, Car Awen, Thread family etc. This became a problem for me as I had a hard time keeping up trying to understand what's going on and the significance of those terms.
Thus, I do not recommend buying the audiobook version if there's no written copy (complete with appendices) along with it. I just found the new terminologies so confusing that it greatly detracted from the story (IMO).

2.) FOCUS on making the main characters' motivation more understandable for the readers
I found it hard to sympathize with the main characters Safi and Iseult. For various reasons, they come across (to me) as whiners. I already started having a dislike for Safi the moment I found out that she gambled both hers and Iseult's savings. And further into the book, I got even more annoyed by hers and Iseult's immaturity. While I admire that they know how to fight, I kind of got annoyed by how these two angst about how their biological family don't care about them even after said family proves that they care. I mean, "HELLO!? Safi's uncle actually made sure Safi was educated and even planned her safe escape from the dirty old man AKA the Emperor who wanted to marry her. And Iseult's mother was instrumental in stopping a mob from killing Iseult?!"
In short, while Safi and Iseult did not grow up in a lap of luxury, they seem to have a hard time empathizing with people who are not them. I find that it went on for some time that during the time they manage some sort of character development, it was too late. I was wishing for the book to end 3 hours ago

3) EXPLANATION ON WHY THE TRUTHWITCH IS SO IMPORTANT
I came into the book not understanding why Safi's power is so important to Emperors/kings/etc. And I came out of it still not understanding it. From what I can see, Safi is a human lie detector. She can sense if someone is telling what that person believes to be true. But whether that's what really is the truth is another matter. Sure, Safi's ability would be great in interrogations. But in politics? I think it's much more murky.

4.) MORE BACKGROUND on HOW ISEULT AND Safi became as close as they are during the events of the book
I get that both girls care about each other. But they do so at the expense of the people around them. And that made me have little to no sympathy for the girls. I feel that if I had more background to their history together, HOW EXACTLY THEY MET AND BECAME AS CLOSE AS THEY ARE NOW. And by this, I don't just mean Safi or Iseult just relating a summarized history of their friendship. I need to read about it in more detail. If that were the case, I feel that I would have had more sympathy for them. But as is, I really just felt annoyed with them.

Would you ever listen to anything by Susan Dennard again?

It really depends on whether I find the synopsis interesting enough. But in regards to this series, I don't plan to listen to the next book

Did Cassandra Campbell do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

She did a good job narrating. However, a few problems with character dialogue. The characters in the book come from different countries. The book even points out that one character had a different accent. But they all sounded the same to me. Also, there's an unfortunate time when it took me a few minutes to realize that what I initially heard as "Monkey Brain" was actually "Monk Ivaine"

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. Right before listening, I was having a bad time and was actually hoping that this story would lift my spirits. Unfortunately, I found it hard to keep up with the worldbuilding. Terminology I never encountered before were left unexplained for too long. And the main characters irritated me more than entertain me.

Any additional comments?

Had I known then what I knew now, I would not have bought this title. I understand that others might feel differently. But I just did not get much enjoyment from it. I think the audiobook version should have some sort of introduction into the world of the Witchlands prior to narrating the story proper. Without it, I think that a lot of listeners will just feel lost early on into the book

Should have listened to the sample

I don't know if the story is good but I can't listen to this. The voices are awful. I'll get the Kindle version.

Horrid Reader

The idea of this story is interesting but the accent the narrator uses for the characters is horrific ! I can’t focus on the story because the reading is so distracting. I just can’t finish.

Narrotator Gives all Characters the Same Accent and Voice

If all the characters have the same accent, that's cool, but I cannot discern who is who based on the narrators performance. It's a shame ... seems like it would be a great story. I just wish the narrator would give characters a MUCH better definition ... like changing her voice a lot more ... I've heard it done by others. Seems pretty routine.... totally ruined the book for me.

Story is clearly a vehicle for characters

...but it's still enjoyable. Parts of the plot that a lot hinge on are either confusing or seem unsuitably minor for their central roles, but it's still a decent read. The narrator and her bizarre accents are hit-or-miss for me. I wish she had done the whole production without them, but they weren't un-listenable. I would recommend you listen to this, but don't expect too much.

Read this one in print.

This is a great story that I read in print before listening to the audiobook. I preferred the former experience, as the character voices in this performance are mediocre and all very similar.

Don’t skip this story entirely, though! It’s going to be a TV show soon, so read it now! :)

great story!

Couldnt stop listening. Enjoyed the story. didnt like the fake accent and isolde & sophie ran together during storytelling. too little distinction from character in voices.

Fell flat

Most importantly, the accents were voiced in such a way that I could almost believe the narrator was making fun of them. Her narration would have been 4 or 5 stars if she simply didn’t make the accents and didn’t raise her pitch voicing sofi. The story felt shallow and I didn’t enjoy it. The plot line was just getting to a place, god it was boring. Personally I didn’t like the characters either, I thought the MC was an arrogant brat.

Great

Really engaging story, fantastic narration. hope there's a sequel /more by this author /narrator :)

weird female voices

I really enjoyed the book story not exactly what you'd expect so was pleased with that. I really like the softness of the narrators voice but it took a while to enjoy her female voices but it's worth it to keep going as you do slowly get used to it.
I hope the next book is out soon 😊

Unuputdownable!

This book was so good I was unable to stop listening and it therefore caused me a sleepless night as I just had to keep listening until I heard it all the way through in one sitting! It has a gripping storyline and the characters are well drawn, the narration is well done and on the whole I cannot find a single fault!
I am desperate to know what happens next in the lives of the characters as they have become 'real' to me and I feel as interested in them as I am in my neighbours. What a fantastic author!!

Good story but quite complex for an audiobook

I liked the story but as an audio book I found it quite a complex story line that might have been better as a written book. I was a bit dissapointed that the book didn't have more of a proper ending but it's obviously written to be one of a series. I found it odd that all the characters had a weird type of Russian accent and sometimes it was hard to know which character was speaking or thinking each time. It takes a while to get used to the book jumping between characters all the time but you get used to it eventually. I would listen to the next one but I need something a bit lighter first!

Not good

Cannot get into this story. It starts as if you missed chapter one and over explanation of unimportant things. Narator is not too bad.

Not much of a story

Mostly wierd words and inner monologs about feelings and impressions about one or another character. twelve hours in and I barely know what the story is about, but I know exactly what each character think of each other...

not bad

this was a slow start. but ended well. left me wanting to pick up book 2. so not bad.

awful voice

hate when the reader has such a dissapointing voice totally ruins the whole experience and you can become involved with the story.
sge souds almost.Like a machiene, no hate to her personally of course
but i cant listen to this at all

Humour is lost

This book could've had good characters with funny lines, but the narrator had no comedic timing.
This didn't read as anything overly original to me, but it was nice that it put importance into friendship as well as romance.