2016 book 13

Susan Dennard's Truthwitch
I feel like this book has gotten a ton of positive buzz, but I was not super into it? It's the start of a four-book series and there is a LOT going on: there's interesting world-building, where people are different kinds of witches/have different kinds of powers (over wind, water, iron, and more esoteric things), and the main character is the titular rare and valuable truthwitch, who can sense when people lie. There's also a lot of political stuff going on, some magical prophecy stuff, some GREAT friendship stuff (the protagonist's best friend is very interesting and I especially liked their partnership), some romance/burgeoning romance, family stuff, etc etc etc. It felt a lot longer than it was, somehow, and the writing was a little awkward (definitely needed one more pass with a proofreader--a few comma errors, and, more egregiously, confusing "elicit" with "illicit"). I was a little more into it by the end but maybe that was just pop culture Stockholm Syndrome (as per Alan Sepinwall). B.