Witchsign by Den Patrick
Jun. 22nd, 2025 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Do you bear the sign of the witch? Because if you do, gods help you.
It has been seventy-five years since the dragon’s rule of fire and magic was ended. Out of the ashes, the Solmindre Empire was born.
Since then the tyrannical Synod has worked hard to banish all manifestations of the arcane from existence. However, children are still born bearing the taint of the arcane, known to all as witching. Vigilants are sent out across the continent of Vinterkveld to find and capture all those bearing the mark.
No-one knows when the Vigilants of the Synod will appear and enforce the Empire’s laws…
But today they’re coming …
18-year-old Steiner Vartiainen lives in the remote northern fishing town of Cinderfell with his 16-year-old sister Kjellrunn (Kjell) and their father Marek. Having never been any good at school and being unable to read or write, Steiner works with Marek as a blacksmith and is enjoying a flirtation with Kristofine, the daughter of the local tavern owner. But Cinderefell’s residents view the Vartianen family with suspicion because Kjell is known to spend a lot of time in the forest and is rumoured to bear a Witchsign, meaning that she can do magic.
Although Cinderfell is on the outer reaches of the Solmindre Empire, it remains subject to its rules and whims. This means that it is subject to annual visits from Vigilants, sinister mask-wearing representatives of the Empire who inspect children up to the age of 16 to determine if any bear Witchsign. Those who do are taken to Vladibogdan where they are never seen or heard from again. This year is the last time that Kjell and her schoolmates are to be subjected to the Vigilants and given their father’s concern for her - not helped by the fact that a Vigilant was killed in a nearby town - Steiner agrees to accompany her to offer moral support. But something goes wrong and the Vigilants - the cruel Shirinov and Khigir - detect Witchsign on Steiner and deaf to Steiner’s protests that he doesn’t have Witchsign, put him on a ship to Vladibogdan together with dozens of other children where he worries about what will happen to him once they realise their mistake …
Meanwhile Kjell is guilt-ridden at the loss of her brother and unable to explain how the Vigilants could have made such a mistake given that she knows she has Witchsign, feeling connected to both the earth and the water. With Cinderfell’s residents being more hostile to her than ever, she takes refuge in the forest where she finds a mysterious old woman living in an abandoned cottage who just might be able to make sense of and learn to control the power within her …
Den Patrick’s fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) has interesting world-building that incorporates Norse and Russian history and tries to subvert the tropes of normal ‘young people discover magical powers’ fiction. Unfortunately the pacing is slack, the storytelling doesn’t stand on its logic and the characterisation - particularly of the antagonists - is rarely above the superficial, meaning I won’t be reading on.
I picked this up because I’d previously read THE BOY WITH THE PORCELAIN BLADE, which had some great world building and a good sense of pace such that while I hadn’t continued with that series, I was keen to read Patrick’s other work.
I’m going to start by saying that I think I can see what Patrick is trying to do with this trilogy. He’s using the traditional tropes of young people coming into their magical powers to battle against an evil empire (complete with magical schools) and trying to subvert them. So we have Steiner go to Vladibogdan but spends most of his time in caverns beneath the school so he learns nothing of how it works or how the students are treated beyond what Maxim tells him and what he sees. Similarly Kjell meets the mysterious Mistress Kamalov who can teach her how to control and harness her powers but there are very few scenes showing that learning. I don’t have a problem with not having those scenes if there is something else there that is more interesting but unfortunately, for me there wasn’t.
When it comes down to it, for a 450 page novel there actually isn’t a huge amount of story here. There’s a lot of exposition and backstory - most of which is not particularly subtle - but given that the story is split between Steiner and Kjell’s points of view I didn’t come away from the book feeling that there was much depth to either of them. The side characters are worse, particularly Shirinov and Khigir who between them are two cackles away from going full Skeletor at times. Similarly the Matriarch-Commissar who runs Vladibogdan is very tropey and it wouldn’t surprise me if, in later books, there’s a link there to Steiner and Kjell’s missing mother.
The internal logic of the story flags at times. For example, no good reason is even given for why Steiner is allowed to keep his special bots and sledgehammer at Vladibogdan. There’s a point early on about how use of magic drains life force but at no point does either Steiner or Kjell ask about it. All this and the pace is off, particularly towards the end where Patrick packs in a lot of action and it doesn’t help that Patrick uses smart Alec quips at times to undercut drama, which really pulled me out each time.
All in all, there just wasn’t enough here to keep me interested and as a result, I will not be reading on.
The Verdict:
Den Patrick’s fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) has interesting world-building that incorporates Norse and Russian history and tries to subvert the tropes of normal ‘young people discover magical powers’ fiction. Unfortunately the pacing is slack, the storytelling doesn’t stand on its logic and the characterisation - particularly of the antagonists - is rarely above the superficial, meaning I won’t be reading on.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
It has been seventy-five years since the dragon’s rule of fire and magic was ended. Out of the ashes, the Solmindre Empire was born.
Since then the tyrannical Synod has worked hard to banish all manifestations of the arcane from existence. However, children are still born bearing the taint of the arcane, known to all as witching. Vigilants are sent out across the continent of Vinterkveld to find and capture all those bearing the mark.
No-one knows when the Vigilants of the Synod will appear and enforce the Empire’s laws…
But today they’re coming …
18-year-old Steiner Vartiainen lives in the remote northern fishing town of Cinderfell with his 16-year-old sister Kjellrunn (Kjell) and their father Marek. Having never been any good at school and being unable to read or write, Steiner works with Marek as a blacksmith and is enjoying a flirtation with Kristofine, the daughter of the local tavern owner. But Cinderefell’s residents view the Vartianen family with suspicion because Kjell is known to spend a lot of time in the forest and is rumoured to bear a Witchsign, meaning that she can do magic.
Although Cinderfell is on the outer reaches of the Solmindre Empire, it remains subject to its rules and whims. This means that it is subject to annual visits from Vigilants, sinister mask-wearing representatives of the Empire who inspect children up to the age of 16 to determine if any bear Witchsign. Those who do are taken to Vladibogdan where they are never seen or heard from again. This year is the last time that Kjell and her schoolmates are to be subjected to the Vigilants and given their father’s concern for her - not helped by the fact that a Vigilant was killed in a nearby town - Steiner agrees to accompany her to offer moral support. But something goes wrong and the Vigilants - the cruel Shirinov and Khigir - detect Witchsign on Steiner and deaf to Steiner’s protests that he doesn’t have Witchsign, put him on a ship to Vladibogdan together with dozens of other children where he worries about what will happen to him once they realise their mistake …
Meanwhile Kjell is guilt-ridden at the loss of her brother and unable to explain how the Vigilants could have made such a mistake given that she knows she has Witchsign, feeling connected to both the earth and the water. With Cinderfell’s residents being more hostile to her than ever, she takes refuge in the forest where she finds a mysterious old woman living in an abandoned cottage who just might be able to make sense of and learn to control the power within her …
Den Patrick’s fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) has interesting world-building that incorporates Norse and Russian history and tries to subvert the tropes of normal ‘young people discover magical powers’ fiction. Unfortunately the pacing is slack, the storytelling doesn’t stand on its logic and the characterisation - particularly of the antagonists - is rarely above the superficial, meaning I won’t be reading on.
I picked this up because I’d previously read THE BOY WITH THE PORCELAIN BLADE, which had some great world building and a good sense of pace such that while I hadn’t continued with that series, I was keen to read Patrick’s other work.
I’m going to start by saying that I think I can see what Patrick is trying to do with this trilogy. He’s using the traditional tropes of young people coming into their magical powers to battle against an evil empire (complete with magical schools) and trying to subvert them. So we have Steiner go to Vladibogdan but spends most of his time in caverns beneath the school so he learns nothing of how it works or how the students are treated beyond what Maxim tells him and what he sees. Similarly Kjell meets the mysterious Mistress Kamalov who can teach her how to control and harness her powers but there are very few scenes showing that learning. I don’t have a problem with not having those scenes if there is something else there that is more interesting but unfortunately, for me there wasn’t.
When it comes down to it, for a 450 page novel there actually isn’t a huge amount of story here. There’s a lot of exposition and backstory - most of which is not particularly subtle - but given that the story is split between Steiner and Kjell’s points of view I didn’t come away from the book feeling that there was much depth to either of them. The side characters are worse, particularly Shirinov and Khigir who between them are two cackles away from going full Skeletor at times. Similarly the Matriarch-Commissar who runs Vladibogdan is very tropey and it wouldn’t surprise me if, in later books, there’s a link there to Steiner and Kjell’s missing mother.
The internal logic of the story flags at times. For example, no good reason is even given for why Steiner is allowed to keep his special bots and sledgehammer at Vladibogdan. There’s a point early on about how use of magic drains life force but at no point does either Steiner or Kjell ask about it. All this and the pace is off, particularly towards the end where Patrick packs in a lot of action and it doesn’t help that Patrick uses smart Alec quips at times to undercut drama, which really pulled me out each time.
All in all, there just wasn’t enough here to keep me interested and as a result, I will not be reading on.
The Verdict:
Den Patrick’s fantasy novel (the first in a trilogy) has interesting world-building that incorporates Norse and Russian history and tries to subvert the tropes of normal ‘young people discover magical powers’ fiction. Unfortunately the pacing is slack, the storytelling doesn’t stand on its logic and the characterisation - particularly of the antagonists - is rarely above the superficial, meaning I won’t be reading on.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
