Sightwitch (The Witchlands #2.5) by Susan Dennard
In the Sir Mayan Mountains there is a convent of sightwitches. Waiting to be called by the goddess and receive the gift of foretelling, Ryber works alongside her sisters till they are called one by one into the mountain without returning. Realizing something is amiss she enters the mountain with The Rook to save her sisters from the goddess only knows what. After a perilous journey, Ryber discovers much about the history of the witchlands and the magic they possess that has been hidden away.
The Story
So as you guys probably realized, I am obsessed with this series, I just love every bit of it. What I think is misconceived with this book is that since it is a novella that it is not important to read. But after reading this book, I did a reread of Truthwitch & Windwitch as a warm up before diving into Bloodwitch, and boy was I glad to have read this book. Trust me, if you are into the Witchlands (and if you haven’t given it a try, please do!) then you will benefit by having read this book as well. Okay, down from my soap box.
Unlike the first two books, Sightwitch takes a different approach in telling the story. The book is formatted as a journal with excerpts from Ryber’s life that help build an understanding of her background. These excerpts include diary entries from both Ryber, her threadsister, and from Eridysi’s Lament, which is referenced in the prior books.
The story follows Ryber before she becomes a member on Prince Merick’s ship. Essentially, it leads up to her meeting eventually meeting Kullen who we know she becomes heart threads with, but that is hardly the point of the story. The point is all the discoveries that she makes while she is trying to save her sisters.
The World Building
Like I said, this book provides a lot of background information that is essential to The Witchlands as a whole. That aside I loved the atmosphere set in this book. Because it is told mostly through Ryber’s POV we get the reverence that she held for the Convent and the sisterhood she had there, and what it meant for her to move from a serving sister on to a sightwitch. Because everything is so sacred to her we get this feeling of awe as to the goddess, the powers that have been blessed, and ultimately for the 12 paladins and the history that they have. Along with all the history we are given, there is foreshadowing of foreboding that Windwitch started to encroach on.
The Characters
I absolutely love Ryber. She sort of starts off as this too focused, tunnel visioned girl. She is so set on doing everything perfect to become this renowned sightwitch. It isn’t until she starts breaking the rules that she so fully enforces on herself that her adventure starts. I feel like Ryber doesn’t really start to see what she’s capable until she is really pushed to the limit with desperation not just for her own life, but those of her sister and other sightwitches. We all know I am a HUGE fan of camaraderie in a book, which might be one of my favorite things within The Witchlands, is the concept of threadsisters/threadbrothers. I absolutely adore the fact that you can choose this too, it’s not forced by fate.
The Rook is introduced in this book (though it’s not his first appearance! We see him in Windwitch overlooking Aeduan in the contested lands! Something I didn’t notice before!). I love the mystery behind this anthropomorphic (holy SAT word!) bird. Like what is it’s role??
The Soundtrack
SHAED – Trampoline
