Sneak Peek!! You'll LOVE Susan Dennard's TRUTHWITCH if you enjoy Avatar: The Last Airbender, Final Fantasy, X-Men, and more!

A sneak peek now, a full review when the book releases!
(Basically, it's a feature to squee about books I really love that aren't coming out anytime soon. 
It's way too early to review them, but not too early to tell you to start salivating and adding it to your TBR List!)


For the second time this year, I'm putting a You're Gonna Love Me stamp of approval on a book that I can't review just yet because the release is still so far away, but I'm way too eager about it not to talk about it at all!!

If you love Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Final Fantasy video game franchise, and X-Men (in any of its forms), you're REALLY going to enjoy TRUTHWITCH by Susan Dennard when it releases on January 5, 2016!

....Annnnnd today I'm going to tell you WHY in VISUAL FORM!!!!!

(PLUS, Susan Dennard does this awesome thing on Twitter called #TruthwitchTuesday and today is Tuesday, so this is my contribution to the campaign! ^.~)

Title: TRUTHWITCH
Author: Susan Dennard
Release Date: Out January 5, 2016
Publisher: Tor Teen
Received: ARC for Review
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17558817-be-with-me

SUMMARY:

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a “witchery”, a magical skill that sets them apart from others.


In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.

Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her—but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.

Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

I cannot wait to tell you guys how much I enjoyed reading TRUTHWITCH, but to get you excited now, it reminded me of some very popular franchises in some really fantastic ways!!

In particular...

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

If you love ATLAB, you're pretty much guaranteed to love TRUTHWITCH! Elemental magic, y'all!!!!

Whenever there were fight scenes featuring elemental magic, I envisioned ATLAB every time. And I mean that in the best way! Dennard wasn't copying the show in any manner, but the fight scenes were so visual that they brought those scenes to the forefront of my mind. Any other comparisons are my own wish for ATLAB to continue in small ways because I want more and can't say goodbye even after all this time! For example, there's an exiled prince on a ship who has a power-hungry sister and an ostracized aunt mentoring him.

Some of the battle scenes and the use of wind, water, etc. totally remind me of fight scenes from ATLAB. There are some truly epic fight scenes. Even if you haven't seen ATLAB, watch these two brief videos and you'll have a better visual once you read TRUTHWITCH!



There's also a terrifying Bloodwitch named Aeduan adding danger and peril to the pages. Aeduan has powers that remind me of Bloodbending:


I love how Dennard took some of the amazing elements of a show beloved to us both and created something that felt familiar, yet altogether new!

FINAL FANTASY X

Okay, okay, TRUTHWITCH reminds me more of Final Fantasy X than it does any other FF game in the franchise. Buuuut that's also a high compliment because FFX is my favorite! It was the first one I played, the first one to have spoken dialogue, and it's movie-quality cutscenes and epic romance and amazing storyline stole my heart!

In particular, there's one battle onboard Merik's ship that reminds me of an epic battle with Sin, the big bad of FFX!

(Back in the days of LJ and avatar making,
I made this icon of Sin from THIS scene I'm
reenvisioning as I read TRUTHWITCH!)

The ship is viciously attacked by a pair of seafoxes (And I've since razed Susan Dennard on Twitter for having never played FFX. YET. Some gamer!! ^.~ Go on, help me tease her! ^.^)



X-MEN

There's one scene in particular toward the end--and I would quote it, but a co-worker has my TRUTHWITCH ARC at the moment. Sorry!!

Buuuuut it basically reminds me of how in the X-Men movies when Storm uses her abilities, her eyes roll into her head and her pupils shine white!



THAT COVER!!!
(It will appeal to fans of anime, Final Fantasy, Assassin's Creed...)

Okay, the fights are also anime-esque. So is the book's cover!

(Well, maybe it's a little more video game-ish because it reminds me of Final Fantasy and Assassin's Creed, BUT STILL!!!)

ARE YOU HOOKED!?

One of these things has to have you interested in TRUTHWITCH now, right!?

I myself am not a visual reader AT ALL, but Susan Dennard is so good at writing visual scenes that, as I read, I was reminded of things I love in so many small ways!

Annnnnnnnnnnnd.........that's my spoiler-free way of NOT talking about this book's plot and still (hopefully!) making you intrigued enough to pick TRUTHWITCH up when it comes out!


Will you be reading this when it comes out!?


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