The Laughing Listener
Buddy Read w/ Malanie February 2019
Format: Audiobook & Hardback
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 14 hours & 42 minutes

Story Rating: 3 Stars
Performance Rating: 4 Stars
Overall Rating: 3 Stars

Wow! Wow wow wow. I don’t know how to write this review because… wow. FEELINGS. This was a buddy read I did with my shiny wonderful friend Malanie and THANK GOD because it would have been a STRUGGLE to get through this book alone. But even though there were aspects of this book I didn’t like, I somehow ended up loving this??? Idk, I’m honestly super confused.



THE GOOD

The thing I was most impressed with was the world building because HOLY CRAP was it well thought out. There was a lot of stuff that confused me (more on that later), but even when I didn’t understand everything I could tell how much time Dennard put into this universe. The descriptions of the places, the people, the government, the religion… It was all there in great detail and I really loved it. Even when I was confused or frustrated, this world was so spectacular that it made me keep reading because I really wanted to understand it.

Also, the characters and relationships in this book gave me life. Iseult is my new girl crush because she was such a strong, badass mofo. And her friendship with Safi was so awesome to watch. Any time a book gives me those powerful female friendships I fall in love. Threadsisters and threadbrothers seem really similar to parabatai, so like SIGN ME UP. Mal and I also thought there was some serious threadbrother potential between Aeduan and Leopold and I NEED THAT IN MY LIFE. GIVE ME ALL THE FUZZY FRIENDSHIPS.



THE UGLY

I was just SO FREAKING CONFUSED THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS READING THIS!! It was so frustrating! From the very beginning, Dennard throws a ton of information at you without a whole lot of explanations and I did NOT know what was going on. I started listening to the audiobook, but then had to switch to my hardback copy so I could process the information better. One of the central conflicts is that 20 years ago, there was a huge war between the nations that ended when they came together to sign the Twenty-Year Truce to create peace. But obviously that’s coming to an end and everyone is freaking out and gearing up for another war. But no one EVER SAYS WHAT THEY’RE FIGHTING ABOUT???? Why was there a huge world war? Why are you all throwing yourselves into it again?? WHAT IS HAPPENING????? And there were a ton of smaller details that weren’t explained either. Like threadsisters and threadbrothers—how does that bond work? Do people choose their threadsibling, or is it something that forms on it’s own? And the Carawen Monks. What the HELL were the Carawen Monks?? They seemed like religious assassins???? Grrrrrr!!



And I need to take a moment to dump on Merik and Safi. Because that guy seriously needs to take a CHILL PILL and Safi needs to start actually THINKING things through. Safi just runs around doing whatever the hell she wants and then when shit hits the fan she’s all “Oops!”



Meanwhile, Merik needs to TONE IT DOWN. At one point Mal called him dramatic it’s really the best word to describe him. He might be the most dramatic queen I’ve ever read about, which was hilarious in the beginning, but got super old by the end. Dude needs to just STOP.


Live footage of Merik’s dramatic entrances and exits.

FINAL WORD

Despite all of my confusion and frustration, I ended up loving this??? The characters and world are so good, that I just HAVE to know what happens next.

#1 ↦ Truthwitch ↦ ✦✦✦✧✧
#2 ↦ [b:Windwitch|29939390|Windwitch (The Witchlands, #2)|Susan Dennard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462296317s/29939390.jpg|41438285] ↦ ?????
#2.5 ↦ [b:Sightwitch|35481848|Sightwitch (The Witchlands, #0.5)|Susan Dennard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1503985079s/35481848.jpg|56877251] ↦ ?????
#3 ↦ [b:Bloodwitch|39863277|Bloodwitch (The Witchlands, #3)|Susan Dennard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1537551594s/39863277.jpg|41438287] ↦ ?????