Mini-ish Review--Sightwitch by Susan Dennard

From New York Times bestselling author Susan Dennard, Sightwitch is an illustrated novella set in the Witchlands and told through Ryber’s journal entries and sketches.

Before Safi and Iseult battled a Bloodwitch...

Before Merik returned from the dead…

Ryber Fortiza was a Sightwitch Sister at a secluded convent, waiting to be called by her goddess into the depths of the mountain. There she would receive the gift of foretelling. But when that call never comes, Ryber finds herself the only Sister without the Sight.

Years pass and Ryber’s misfit pain becomes a dull ache, until one day, Sisters who already possess the Sight are summoned into the mountain, never to return. Soon enough, Ryber is the only Sister left. Now, it is up to her to save her Sisters, though she does not have the Sight—and though she does not know what might await her inside the mountain.

On her journey underground, she encounters a young captain named Kullen Ikray, who has no memory of who he is or how he got there. Together, the two journey ever deeper in search of answers, their road filled with horrors, and what they find at the end of that road will alter the fate of the Witchlands forever.

Set a year before Truthwitch, Sightwitch is a companion novella that also serves as a set up to Bloodwitch, as well as an expansion of the Witchlands world.

Let me first say that I was reading this one while I was mostly sick. So my brain had a hard time comprehending things and most of all, trying to connect this to the Witchlands series at large. Sightwitch is Susan Dennard's novella installment of the series while we were all anxiously awaiting the release of Bloodwitch, Aeduan's story. Luckily, that's only a few short months away!

From my scattered knowledge, these were new characters we were meeting! Though there was mention of Merik, I liked that he was at least mentioned by name to help bridge some gaps. But I will say that I cannot remember if Kullen was an already established character or not. I want to say yes, just because this novella reminded me us that he's a part of Merik's "crew" or whatever! But let's move on to the story at large.

What I really enjoyed about this book was knowing that we were reading a collection of diary entries! There's a note at the beginning, addressed to Kullen, that tells us that the following entries are to recount what happened. I liked that! Going in, you know that this has already happened and you pretty much know the fates of our main characters, Ryber and Kullen.

Ryber is a potential Sightwitch, at least she wants to be one. Yet every time there's a summoning or tribal meeting with the sisters, she has yet to be called to receive the sight. Then her best friend, Tanzi, gets chosen and Ryber is generally happy for her. She knows that she will see her bestie again after a few days. But then the days turn into weeks and Tanzi has not returned. Soon, other girls are being called forward to receive the sight and Ryber starts to suspect something is wrong. 

Ryber decides it's time to find out what exactly is going on with her sisters and what happened to Tanzi, her own Threadsister. It's in the midst of this that she encounters Kullen, who doesn't know who he is, but all Ryber knows is that HE shouldn't be there, in a place that's basically for women only.

I suppose having a cold and not remembering a lot about this series hindered some of my reading enjoyment. I did enjoy Ryber and Kullen as characters though, despite what short time they spent together. I suspect that this won't be the last time we see them though, for why else introduce us to them (or Ryber at least!)!

The mystery behind the disappearing girls from Ryber's clan was an intriguing one, though the extra diary entries that were included that were not from Ryber were a tad confusing. I couldn't place if they were from before or after Ryber's time, though I had suspected it was before, but I couldn't really figure out what they meant. At one point I thought I saw some clarity but it didn't hold up much.

All in all, this was just a sort of okay read for me. Again, I was sick while reading, and my memory is already pretty spotty, add the clouded haze of illness and medicine and I'm lucky I could remember how to read! Lol. I am sure with the next full installment light will be shed on all this that I read and connect some dots, but until then, I remain kind of skeptical about this one.


Overall Rating 2.5/5 stars--again, just a slightly better than okay read!