Tumgik
#witchlands
bloody-shadow666 · 7 months
Text
I think my favorite thing about Aeduan and Iseult is that they are obviously head over heels for eachother but neither of them has any frame of reference for those feelings so they're just ????? at all times. they're basically the "what was that?" "affection" "disgusting. do it again." meme
46 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
vote yes if you have finished the entire book.
vote no if you have not finished the entire book.
(faq · submit a book)
13 notes · View notes
riddlemefuckingthis · 5 months
Text
Just finished Ninth Rain yesterday afternoon and I need to say something.
This book is sooooo good, but I also got a very subtle vibes of Witchlands by @stdennard . Now, I don’t know if @sennydreadful has read those books but I have to make some parallels for y’all.
Witch from a nomadic people group and is exiled from her people because of an incident: Iseult and Noon.
Guy with big ego and hates that he’s crushing on said witch: Tor and Aeduan.
Mountain bats: Blueberry and Fulcor
Evil people who are returning from the past: Jure’lia and the Paladin
Starving, dying country that needs help: Ebora and Nubrevna
Witch who hears someone inside her head: Noon and Iseult
Noble woman that is trying to help but making everything worse: Safi and Hestillion
All I’m saying is that if you want to read a fantasy series that is like Witchlands or that is like Winnowing Flame, then this one just might be for you!
12 notes · View notes
vavuska · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media
The dead of Loraille do not rest. Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on. She’d rather deal with the dead than the living, who point and whisper about the odd girl who was once possessed by a violent spirit. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia fights back by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a high saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being now whispering in her head. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her in body and soul. But death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has a chance of stopping it. As Artemisia investigates a mystery of saints, secrets and dark magic, an ancient evil is stirring. Can an untrained girl, tormented by the burden of containing the revenant’s devouring power, have any hope of defeating it?
Tumblr media
The complete Book of the Ancestor Trilogy, a stunning epic fantasy series by Mark Lawrence! Red Sister: At the Convent of Sweet Mercy, young girls are raised to be killers. In some few children the old bloods show, gifting rare talents that can be honed to deadly or mystic effect. But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls. Grey Sister: Behind its walls, the Convent of Sweet Mercy has trained young girls to hone their skills for centuries. In Mystic Class, Novice Nona Grey has begun to learn the secrets of the universe. But so often even the deepest truths just make our choices harder. Before she leaves the convent, Nona must choose which order to dedicate herself to—and whether her path will lead to a life of prayer and service or one of the blade and the fist. Holy Sister: The ice is advancing, the Corridor narrowing, and the empire is under siege from the Scithrowl in the east and the Durns in the west. Everywhere, the emperor’s armies are in retreat. Nona Grey faces the final challenges that must be overcome if she is to become a full sister in the order of her choice. But it seems unlikely that she and her friends will have time to earn a nun’s habit before war is on their doorstep.
This two books are very similar: both the protagonists, Artemisia in Vespertine and Nona in The Book of Ancestor, are orphans raised in a female-dominated holy place, trained in their ways. Both became possessed by devious spirits at some point of the story and both are reluctantly call to save the day. Both the characters are highly influenced by the traumas they endured (physically and psychologically) but while Artemisia — at the beginning of the book — is more isolated and lacks of friends, Nona, despite her more feral nature, is more easily going with people who became loyal friends to her. Both in Vespertine and Book Of Ancestor Trilogy there's a great curruption in the secular and religious hierarchies, but while in Vespertine those religious authorities are victims in their own way, in Book Of Ancestor the corrupted spiritual leaders are more mundane and their action are plotted by the political plans and ambitions of the royal family members.
The main difference is that Artemisia is not a warrior herself: when the convent is attacked by possessed soldiers (Revenants), she takes up a reliquary kept by an elderly nun and, thanks to the spirit that resided there, she runs into the fight, saving the day. Afterward, she is arrested by a priest — probably a future love interest — in conflict with himself and his religious beliefs.
There are a handful of supporting characters with their own special traits: a soldier who experienced a similar trauma to what Artemisia went through as a kid, whom she's able to connect with and help; a fellow nun from the convent who is very different from Artemisia (I appreciated their enemies-to-friends relationship, and her cleverness); and a grouchy but powerful elder who you can't help but adore (which is very similar to the cunning Abbess who took Nona under her care) .
The Revenant is an interesting character, who is supposed to be evil, and it is in some ways, but it’s also caring: it's the revenant that taught Artemisia to take care of herself, to consider herself worthy of being cared for.
Artemisia isn't as kickass as Nona ––many of the badass moments were due to the revenant controlling her––but she has her strengths. I appreciated that she grew to trust and care for the revenant despite how she was raised, and that she was able to push out of her comfort zone at times. It's nice to see how people in similar situations can turn out differently based on their individual experiences.
Book of the Ancestor, on the other hand, follows the growth of young Nona Grey, adopted into a convent of nuns known for their martial and magical skills. Nona and her friends must learn how to utilize the magic of their world to hopefully save their empire. Nona’s story, as she taps into her own potential and makes peace with herself — and the violence within her — is well-written and the self-immersion in her thoughts is cathartic and immediate.
The world of Book of the Ancestor deserves special attention. It is, in my reading, wholly unique. Giant ice sheets are slowly covering the world, squeezing nearly the entire population of the world into a narrow strip of land. It's a fascinating concept and becomes a major part of the series.
Overall, I enjoyed the series. It's fast-paced with characters that I came to enjoy (more on that in a moment). The books have a fun magic system that leads to excellent pay-offs in each of the books, and Lawrence plays with time, too, keeping the tension high throughout the stories.
I'm not a huge fan of magical academy tropes, which are very prevalent in Book Of The Ancestor (like the first book of the The Poppy War Series by R. F. Kuang). There are occasional moments of familiar tropes (there is a brief period where the book seems like it is aping the story of the first Harry Potter book beat for beat; luckily, that quickly fades out), but in the end, Nona and her friends more than turn this into their own story…helped by the fact that this most definitely isn’t a Chosen One story. Indeed, within the first few chapters, it’s revealed that the Chosen One prophecy of this world is hokum designed to distract people – and it’s that sort of decision that makes Book Of Ancestor a great trilogy.
In Book Of Ancestor, magic and supernatural abilities are more common and accepted, while in Vespertine is more marginal, at the point that only elderly nuns have a deep knowledge of the precious powers of the reliquary that they kept.
Nona Grey is also very similar to Rin from The Poppy War Series by R. F. Kuang: high skilled warriors, dominated by their fury, but loyal to their friends, used as weapons by powerful authorities. Even if Rin, at the end, falls victim of her rage and is more eager to be manipulated than Nona, who seems to be unaware of the deeper meaning of her own battles all the time and just follows the Abbess' indications.
And also the detailed distinction made by Lawrence of the four tribes and their powers reminds me of the one created by Susan Dennard in her Witchlands saga, in which every nation has their own elemental-related talents.
9 notes · View notes
susandennardfan · 8 months
Text
The highly-anticipated finale in Susan Dennard's New York Times bestselling Witchlands series. Paths converge and prophecies unfold as Safi and Iseult—the legendary Cahr Awen—fight their way across the Witchlands to heal the final Origin Well. With ancient figures rising from the past, the Raider King’s armies gathering for war, and the magic at the heart of everything dying too fast, the entire world is now on the brink of collapse. But when Safi and Iseult reach the Air Well with the Bloodwitch Aeduan at their side, they discover too late that Eridysi's Lament is not the prophecy they thought it was—and their journeys are only just beginning.
11 notes · View notes
oncesneverenough · 8 months
Text
Aeduan did the Darcy hand flex. I repeat. The Darcy hand flex.
“He took a moment to answer, his hand flexing, as if she’d squeezed too tight.”
- Windwitch, Susan Dennard
Tumblr media
19 notes · View notes
andromeda3116 · 1 year
Text
and rereading windwitch and getting vivia's point of view and how she interacts with serafin, it's just. shit. this is such a well-written depiction of emotional abuse. vivia is desperate for her father's love and approval, and he seems to give it to her -- and then wrench it from her in turn. and she's left to make up excuses as to why, to fill in the gaps with what she must have done or said wrong. she knows he means best for her, he must mean best for her, surely he loves her and favors her, surely if she can be just like him then she can keep his favor and never disappoint him again, never lose his fickle favor again -- surely if he's angry at her it's because she failed him, that she wasn't good enough, she must have made some kind of mistake.
serafin never raises a hand to vivia. he never has to.
21 notes · View notes
Heyyy everyone!
I love reading books but never seem to have a bookmark. I can actually remember the page numbers where I stop reading and have no problem going back to the correct page, but bookmarks are fun!
And though it's a very simple one, I made a bookmark for myself with my absolute favourite phrases from the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
11 notes · View notes
libraryinthecountry · 2 years
Photo
Tumblr media
★ What was the last YA fantasy you read? Happy #StackSaturday bookworms! I actually can’t remember the last YA fantasy I read—it’s been awhile! Most of my fantasy reads this year have been adult or new adult books. However, these are a few of my favorite YA fantasy series! If you’re a #ThroneofGlass fan, you’ll probably enjoy these! I’d love to know which YA fantasy books you’ve been loving lately. ★ HASHTAGS // #fantasybooks #YABooks #bookstack #witchlands #fallingkingdoms #thekissofdeception #theremnantchronicles #vowofthieves #bookstagram #morganrhodes #susandennard #maryepearson #bookseverywhere #shelfie https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci6WvGFrH8F/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
28 notes · View notes
polite-bear · 2 years
Text
Mega throwback here but I finally finished Witchshadow and I am slain . Feel free to scream with me in the comments or DMS 😌
It was honestly incredible and I feel like my monkey-brain wasn't even fully appreciating it .
13 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
call out post for @zebsfloppyears they're causing violence and destruction
15 notes · View notes
bloody-shadow666 · 7 months
Text
Just finished Witchshadow, finally. There was no point in all of those 448 pages that I was having a remotely good time. What the fuck
4 notes · View notes
safifonhasstrel · 1 year
Note
Forget the supposed zk parallel (which I also don’t get). Let’s talk about how Iseult/Aeduan parallel jonerys. He’s the ostracised kid with mommy and daddy issues galore who, in order to escape his circumstances, joins an organisation whose initial purpose has faded into mythology. She’s the one nobody expected would become the hero, the messiah-esque character who struggles with her own power, the one who hails from a near-mythical ancestry, the one who becomes Moon Mother/Mhysa. They’re both separated by the story, but were always meant to find each other: Jon’s at the wall, Dany’s in Esoss. Iseult is from the current timeline, Aeduan was originally from a thousand years ago but was kept in the sleeping ice with his family. They both have shared ancestry: Valyrian and Nomatsi, but neither of the boys really pass as such. Let’s talk about it, Anna.
Yes, yes YES! this parallel is so much more up my alley. Also the ice imagery surrounding both Aeduan and jon. They both like women who can and will kill a bitch if necessary
3 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
This review of Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard I wrote 😭✋
29 notes · View notes
theunchosenpotato · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
I did a thing because the obsession for white haired characters is real. I likely won’t do this every day, but I’ll have some fun with some character portraits nevertheless! And also I’ll use less ink bc white hair 😭 #inktober #inktober2022 #inktoberprompts #bookish #acotar #shadowandbone #sorceryofthorns #childrenofbloodandbone #gameofthrones #witcher #throneofglass #whitehaired #bookcharacters #sarahjmaas #witchlands #lotr #elisekova #serpentanddove #poppywar #inktoberchallenge #drawing https://www.instagram.com/p/CjG-01TpU0c/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
2 notes · View notes
susandennardfan · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
it totally counts because the novella is basically a fourth book!
0 notes