Witch King

· The Rising World Book 1 · Sold by Tor Books
66 reviews
Ebook
432
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

Winner of the Locus Award!

From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes a remarkable story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.

"I didn't know you were a... demon."
"You idiot. I'm the demon."
Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' WITCH KING....

After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.

But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?

Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.

He’s not going to like the answers.

WITCH KING is Martha Wells’s first new fantasy in over a decade, drawing together her signature ability to create characters we adore and identify with, alongside breathtaking action and adventure, and the wit and charm we’ve come to expect from one of the leading writers of her generation.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Winner of the Locus Award! From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes a remarkable story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose. "I didn't know you were a... demon." "You idiot. I'm the demon." Kai's having a long day in Martha Wells' WITCH ...

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Ratings and reviews

66 reviews
James T. Kolk
May 7, 2026
This book was terrible. The present day plot removed all the suspense that might have existed in the flashback plot, and the entire time the main plot is going on, an NPC repeatedly asks the protag, "Aren't you going to do something about this big deal?" The flashback is similarly designed to make you care about that question, but in the end, he finally reveals, "I dealt with that months ago, before the book began." Meanwhile, the protag gripes and makes you not care about what he *is* doing.
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George “G” Bluck
August 25, 2024
who wrote this? it reads like 25% Martha's and... what?? brilliant concept and typically strong characters who are written so well you can relate no matter their... background but what??? what happened here...
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Matt Dwyer
June 4, 2023
Fun but too much work for me. I do not think jumping back and forth in the story timeline was a good idea.
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About the author

MARTHA WELLS has written many novels, including the New York Times and USA Today-bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, which has won multiple Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards, and was adapted into an Apple Original TV series. Other titles include Witch King, City of Bones, The Wizard Hunters, Wheel of the Infinite, the Books of the Raksura series (beginning with The Cloud Roads and ending with The Harbors of the Sun), and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer, as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, and nonfiction.
MARTHA WELLS has written many novels, including the New York Times and USA Today-bestselling Murderbot Diaries series, which has won multiple Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Alex Awards, and was adapted into an Apple Original TV series. Other titles include Witch King, City of Bones, The Wizard Hunters,...

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