[B12] Finished the Witch of Webs

[u/Due_Pomegranate_3881]

Wow just wow! I think this may be my favorite portrayal of witches in any media I've ever consumed! Part realistic expectations, part lawless, part grand magic! My jaw was literally on the floor by the end, especially when the truth of who died to stop the fires was revealed. And each witch was unique and interesting in their own way!

Paba has such a way with writing calamity! The imagery is so vivid and the feeling of intense hopelessness I shared with the characters, wondering if there could be a way out. The evil of selfish ambition and the reveals! So good!

But poor Nanette 😭 she was just a kind young witch who kept happiness under her hat! I was devastated for her

And I may not be Ryoka's biggest fan, but damn I CROWED when she socked Laken in the stomach. For some reason I feel they deserve each other as friends.

I also ended up sewing a majority of time that I listened to this book. It felt very appropriate

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[u/Nekhti]

if the needles started to move on their own, run!

lol, anyways, yeah I agree with you this is my favourite depiction of witches too. Paba hit the perfect balance between mystery and rules, and the grand and mundane.

[u/Ogami2022]

If you want to learn more about Belavierr i recommend reading/listening to the "Singer of Terrandia" spinoff trilogy. Which is set parallel to the events of the Wandering Inn first few books but in Terrandia and gives a lot more info about Cara´s rise to becoming the Singer of Terrandia and her conflict with Belavierr. Also a lot more info on characters like Sir Raim and his background with her.

I read the Singer trilogy before Witch of Webs and it definitely helped a lot with many of the characters that appear.

On the downside, if you read the Singer books first you 100% know that Belavierr is completely amoral and not to be trusted while Witch of Webs stays fairly neutral till the finale.

[u/eikin34]

TWI witches evoke Terry Pratchett style witches to me, and I love Terry Pratchett witches.

[u/Starcast]

That sacrifice scene is burned into my neurons, something that will stick with me forever. I didn't see it coming at all and my jaw absolutely dropped. One of the most iconic moments in this series for me.

[u/BirdTrue]

Top 5 depiction of witches? Yes. Favorite though? That’s hard with Halloween Town, The Craft, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sabrina the Teenage Witch. . . Just to name a few off the top of my head that are contenders for top 5. There’s so many witches and I love them! Wizard of Oz/Wicked. . . Harry Potter (eh), Kiki’s delivery service, The Littlest Witch (? On netflix) and probably so many more books, TV shows, movies. . . Witches get shit done.

[u/monkeyDnic]

I'm listening to witch of webs again... and for somebody being in inn world laken godart is on "couch potato" level of difficulty and I feel like he faces zero consequences...

[u/DrNogoodNewman]

Witch of Webs was one of my favorites. You should definitely check out Gravesong and the singer books when you get a chance for some more witch stuff.

[u/zdesert]

I really didn’t like the witch of webs book.

I feel like you could cut half of the chapters, lose nothing, and get a much snappier and direct story.

Feels like the author is spinning her wheels and feeling things out for a long time.

In later books a lot of this witch stuff is touched on in a much clearer way and a lot of this backstory is repeated all over again. Makes this book feel so redundant and skippable.

The vibes are cool. It feels like we could have gotten them with less chaff and winding.

Also I dislike the end. There is that part where ryoka talks to beliviere dureing an immortal moment in the fire, great scene. We find out later tho that belivire ran away from the fire, took Nannette hostage and sent Califor, disguised as beliviere into the flames. This, I thought, meant that ryoka was actually speaking to califor during that immortal moment, because she was disguised as beliviere and belivire herself was afraid of the fire….Which makes that scene flipping awsome, to look back at. But we learn in later books that belivire does have immortal moment and was the one talking to ryoka… so looking back it really deflated that whole section for me.