By Meghan Mazzaferro
Content warnings: death, fire, fire injury, violence, transphobia, deadnaming, sexual assault, child abuse, body horror, genocide, cannibalism, racism, animal cruelty
H.E. Edgmon’s Witch King duology follows Wyatt, a trans witch desperate to be free of the expectations and prejudices of fae society. Two years after fleeing into the human world, Eymr, Wyatt’s mate and prince of one of the fae kingdoms, finally catches up with him. With people questioning Emyr’s right to rule and fae society trying to slip back into the old ways, Emyr needs his mate if he has any hope of keeping the kingdom together. But Wyatt knows what it’s like to be a witch in one of the fae kingdoms, and he knows that this world is rotten at its core. Now Wyatt has to decide whether to protect himself and his freedom or face his past and work to make the fae world a better place.
This duology is spectacular. It’s been on my radar for years, but I finally got the chance to read both books for the Trans Rights Readathon in March, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them since. I struggle with fae books because the concept of fated mates isn’t my particular cup of tea, and I find fae books can fall into tropes I don’t prefer, but this book turned everything I expected about a fae book on its head and gave me a story about tearing down corrupt systems, fighting for equality, finding queer community, and developing healthy relationships with the people you love. I need to say it again—I’m obsessed.
Wyatt is an incredible main character. He’s snarky and self-deprecating, self-aware, and struggles with trauma and PTSD, and H.E. Edgmon is so gentle with him. Wyatt deals with so much in this book, he makes bad decisions and is put into incredibly challenging positions, and we couldn’t have this story from anyone else’s perspective. Wyatt’s unique voice keeps the book moving and sheds the perfect light on fae society, the choices other characters make, and Wyatt’s own actions.
The side characters in this book all feel fleshed out and real, and two months later, I can still visualize each of them clearly and hear their distinct voices. These characters leap off the page and make you love them (or hate them, the villains in this book suuuuck in the best way), and the community these characters build with each other has a grip on my heart that will stay with me for a long time.
I can’t go into too much detail about the actual plot as this review covers both books in the duology, but I will say that these books deal with corrupt systems, long-hidden mysteries and legacies, oppressed communities, and the weight on young people to change the world. Each of these points are hit so well, and I feel like the pacing of the duology is spectacular. Things keep building and building, while still having moments to allow the characters to breathe, and I was so invested in the mysteries and the work these characters were doing to tear down this mess of a system and rebuild something better. It deconstructs things like the fated mates trope and explores the concepts of love and destiny from a queer lens, which brought me to tears several times.
This duology is one of the best stories I’ve read so far this year, and I highly recommend checking it out if you’re a fan of fantasy, queer fiction, or revolutionary stories with snarky main characters. It is so good.