My Review of Sightwitch by Susan Dennard
My summary: Ryber is a Sightwitch hopeful, living her life in the hidden convent where the Sightwitches serve the Goddess of the world. She tries to do everything perfectly, but she has never been chosen to gain the sight. Her Threadsister is chosen by the Goddess, and then doesn’t come back. And soon the rest of the Sightwitches are chosen, until Ryber is the only one left.
Why I picked up this book: I feel in love with this series at Truthwitch, and keep managing to stumble on it again right before a new book comes out. This one, though a novella, is no exception.
What I knew going in: The summary from above, and the fact that I love this author.
My response: It was really good, but not amazing. It was done up as journal entries that sometimes had other people read them and leave comments, which was cute, and the way the storylines wove together really worked well. At the same time, the characters felt very one note, and I assume that’s because the book was so short, there was only so much time for development. I also knew how to solve the “puzzle” the book presents to the main character from the beginning, so there was less mystery to that. Still, overall enjoyable and a solid read.
I was also glad to finally see some more of the “wonderful world-building” they’ve been talking about for this series since the beginning. Truthfully, I wasn’t all that impressed by the world through the first two books. There are some clever things, but this book really starts diving into some of the deeper aspects of the world and I’m happy with what I saw.
Do I recommend this book?: If you have read the first two books in the Witchlands series, then this is a good accompaniment. Time will tell whether having read it will mean much for your understand of the two books that are yet to come out. If you haven’t read the series, then no.
