Witch King

By: Martha Wells

Narrated by: Eric Mok

Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

"Narrator Eric Mok makes this wonderfully inventive and diverse fantasy eminently accessible... Mok's Kai is appealing and relatable--he sounds simultaneously young and resigned, weary of death and pain and betrayal and yet still hopeful for something better. Listeners will hope we get more of this fascinating world."- AudioFile

From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes a remarkable story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.

"I didn't know you were a... demon."
"You idiot. I'm the demon."
Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' WITCH KING....

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.

But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?

Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.

He’s not going to like the answers.

WITCH KING is Martha Wells’s first new fantasy in over a decade, drawing together her signature ability to create characters we adore and identify with, alongside breathtaking action and adventure, and the wit and charm we’ve come to expect from one of the leading writers of her generation.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.

©2023 Martha Wells (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Enjoyed the story and narration

Counterpoints to the negative reviews: This narrator reads at a more normal speaking pace, rather than the slower reading pace of some narrators. The narrator is clearly understandable, expressive, and keeps an even pace throughout. Due to brain issues I have to listen to most audiobooks at 1.2x speed to comprehend them, but this book was already at the perfect speed for me.

For those complaining this is not like The Murderbot Diaries, Witch King is in the fantasy genre, is novel length, and is written in third-person POV, so it's going to be different. If you like Martha Wells's other fantasy books, you'll probably like this one too. The worldbuilding is fascinating, and once you understand the Past chapters are flashback interludes, it's not too difficult to follow. I usually struggle to keep track of characters in an audiobook, but I was able to keep them mostly straight except for Bashasa and Bashat, though I figured it out eventually. (I think Bashat may be Bashasa's descendent?) The narrator uses different voices for the characters, which helped a lot with keeping them straight. The characters are three-dimensional and likeable, and I only wish there was a sequel so I could spend more time with them! All in all, Witch King is a creative story that kept me intrigued, gradually revealing Kai's earlier past while he's on a quest to solve the mysteries of the recent past and the present.

Amazing story and superb reading!

This story is absolutely amazing and so well written! The reading only adds to the magic! I highly recommend this book!!!

Story confusing, overly complicated and boring

loved murderbot. this book is not very good. strangely complicated but ultimately boring. confusing twin plot lines. Didn’t care about anything including the demon protagonist.

Interesting

Interesting story but needs more character development. Took a lot of concentration to follow. Worth reading

Narrator seemed like he couldn't speak fast enough

The lore was very fun, especially for a little one shot, but the narrator read the sentences so quickly and with little inflection, it was frustrating to listen at times. You don't need to read slowly, but it would have been better had he not been racing to get every sentence out of his mouth.

World building was very fun!

Disappointed

Could not follow as an audiobook.
If you love the Murderbot concept and want more… this is NOT it!
Pushed myself to finish and won’t put myself through it again.

Solid but underwhelming

I really enjoyed the Murderbot Diaries, but this felt more confused with a lot of characters and worldbuilding but not enough cohesion. It felt like it belongs as a piece in a series, not a standalone or the first book, and a lot of threads felt unresolved by the end.

It was...ok

I only made it 1/2 way through. Good voice acting, interesting world building but at the same time, I didnt feel invested in any of the characters. They paradoxically had interesting abilities, yet super bland personalites. The writing style just bored me to tears. It felt very: "and then....and then...and then..." and didnt let characters develop. I felt like I was reading a text book on macro economics.

Needed a lot more context

Difficult book to get into. The author just jumps right into the story without taking time to provide little tidbits of explanation along the way about the new world we were being plunged into. I spent much of the book just trying to understand what was going on. I also found the main character lacking of any real personality. Love Martha Wells but just needed her to spend more time describing the background and magic system early on.

Intriguing

An intriguing story full of compelling characters. Well performed by the reader. Here’s hoping for more!