Susan diRende

When barbarian sea raiders attack her village, a kitchen girl fights back with the only weapons she has, her boning knives, accidentally convincing the raiders she must be a witch. It just so happens they’re used to witches, as the islands where they come from are ruled by them, and whenever they find a new one, they need to take them back to be trained. They take her along and her “Luck” along the way does turn out to be a unique type of magical power.

So the newly-christened Knife Witch begins an absolute thrill ride of adventure including, the sea captain and his pirate crew, a girl and her dog, an amorous giant squid who wields magic of his own, a coven of wicked witches and an evil empire. And that’s just for starters. There are also crafty spymasters, ancient magic and primeval gods and their avatars.

This is one of those novels where even though the initial shape of the story seems to be going to familiar places, it always ends up somewhere unexpected. I’ve read a lot of books, and can usually anticipate plot points as I’m reading, but this is a novel where I was surprised not just once, but numerous times by the absolutely innovative and sometimes hilarious plot twists and unique worldbuilding. There’s a moment in one of the battles with the Knife Witch’s adversaries that I have been waiting for someone to write for a long time. And someone finally did it, Susan diRende. It happens in this book. And it’s too good to spoil. But I hope you find it as satisfying as I did.

Note: I read this in an ARC copy from the publisher and it was very, very badly edited. I understand the editors have made another pass at it since then and I hope some of the issues have been cleaned up. It is the only thing I didn’t like about this book.… (plus d'informations)