Hi friends, happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m posting my review of the fourth novel in the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard, Witchshadow.

You can read my review of books one – three here: The Witchlands Series

Witchshadow by: Susan Dennard: A war is brewing and Iseult is caught in the middle. Stuck between wanting to save her friend and Threadsister, Safi, and embracing her new powers she must choose her side and summon dangerous magic she’s never seen before. This novel had a lot of world building, so much so that the reader found themselves getting lost among it, in good and bad ways. The fact that there was just so much to remember about the world and the characters, it felt very overwhelming; the reader really wanted to like this but it got to the point where it was just too much information to retain and keep track of and it took all of the reader’s attention to stay focused in the world. On the flip side there were also slight moments where they would get lost in the plot because the writing was really good and some scenes and characters were more interesting than others and the reader just felt more connected and invested in their story. There was a lot of ups and downs and the magic was fun to explore in this novel; there were also quite a few twists and turns that the reader didn’t see coming that were very surprising. The characters just from the start of this novel to the end really went through a lot that changed and shaped them. Watching each of them go on their own journeys through this war was pretty captivating. What really struck the reader was the friendship dynamics and how far they would go for each other, that was truly beautiful to read. The end felt somewhat final, but it was very open ended, so much so that there could be another book set in this world to see the repercussions of everything that happened in this one. Overall, this was still a compelling story that had a lot of great elements.