Review: The Witch Collector (The Witch Walker Trilogy #1)

• Title: The Witch Collector

• Author: Charissa Weaks

• Series: The Witch Walker Trilogy #1

• Genre: Fantasy Romance / adventure

• Rating: ☆☆☆☆

"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆, 𝑹𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒂. 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆."

𝑰 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒄𝒍𝒆, 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉, 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏.

"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐," 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏. "𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔."

I have to commend Charissa Weaks for the setup of this trilogy. Whilst I thought it was quite the info dump and slow to start, the fact that this author has such great attention to detail made reading The Witch Collector an immersive experience. The world-building, whilst in-depth and sometimes a little much, is a big focus of this first story. Not only did Weaks introduce the main characters Alexus and Raina exceptionally well, but she set up the lore of the land and created a history that felt real. I enjoyed the learning aspects of this world, of the magic both Raina and other witches/sorcerers held, and of the dark past that led to Alexus and The Frost King's present.

Family and revenge are at the forefront for Raina, and I really enjoyed watching her preconceived notions of Alexus, The Frost King, her sister, and the world outside the vale be put to the test and morph along the way. The fact that as a main character she is also mute was a fantastic twist and one I enjoyed a lot. Because this book is dual perspective, we get to see her strengths and weaknesses from both her POV and from Alexus. I appreciated that he wasn't bothered by her lack of verbal responses and made her feel that her voice was heard regardless of any situation. Alexus was my favourite character even with how strong Raina is as a leading lady. He has so much history, darkness, and will that he made a formidable character in this book. I liked watching him fight his inner demons and allowing Raina to lead the way at times when he had been the one to guide her for the first half of their journey. I especially loved that the author didn't leave Alexus' hidden secrets for book 2. I'm certain there's a whole lot more to the Witch Collector than what we got in this first novel, but it was refreshing to have him honestly speak of who he was and be vulnerable to Raina. It's not often we get treated to such respect in the first book of a series like this from main characters who hide a lot of themselves from the world.

The romance built slowly, but I didn't mind this at all. I thought the progression fitted in well with the plot's journey and added spice to some areas that did lull in storytime. When they finally do succumb to their feelings, it's tastefully spicy, and the added weaving of their magic into it was a good touch. The magic of this world was very intriguing to learn. I feel there is still a lot more to learn of it, but from Raina's skills and those around her, there was a great deal to take on.

If there is to be any real complaint to this novel is that there's a lot of information to take on board. As I mentioned, it was slow and tedious at first, and there were several instances where I felt the moments were info heavy. I understand that it is needed to set up such a great world, and the fact that Weaks managed to set this world up in the word count this novel has was a feat in itself. Normally books with such heavy lore, a whole realm of gods, and regions have a bigger word count, and I wonder if there was more to this book if it would feel less dense in some parts. However, I do think overall the pacing works well as it is, and would hate for it to slow down even further to accommodate this notion.

I'm very excited for the next book in The Witch Walker Trilogy later this year.