Review: Witchlanders by Lena Coakley

Title: Witchlanders
Author: Lena Coakley
Format: print copy
Pages: 400
Source: Bought myself

From Goodreads: "High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future. It’s all a fake.
At least, that’s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes—one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people’s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated?
But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he’s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change, when he discovers that the prophecies he’s always scorned—
Are about him."

 My opinion: I loved it!! I've had this book on my shelf for a while now and when I finally got around to reading it I had to ask myself why I waited so long! Ryder and his sisters and mother live in the Witchlands, and Falpian lives in the Bitterlands with his father, mother and sisters. The Witchlanders and the Baen (from the Bitterlands) are mortal enemies following the great war, at which time the Witchlanders drove all of the Baen over into the Bitterlands. But there is a connection between Ryder and Falpian that could change the course of events drastically.

I am a new fan of Lena Coakley's and will definitely be reading anything she writes! Her writing is flawless, the pace of the book was perfect, and talk about character development! Even the secondary characters, which are as well fleshed out as the main characters, grew over the course of the book! There was enough action to keep you reading from the first page to the last, and I actually read it in 2 days because I couldn't put it down! The author describes the surroundings in such a way that you can easily see everything that is happening.

Here is a perfect example of what I'm talking about: "It's all over, he tried to tell himself. Things will go back to normal now. But dread lay coiled at the pit of his stomach. He had the feeling that the future was stealing up behind him, about to tap his shoulder with a cold finger, about to break the spell of this perfect twilit night." I get a shiver just reading it again!

Things were tied up to a point at the end of the book, but it felt to me as though it was being left open for a possible sequel. I've looked but can't find any information on whether this is going to happen or not. I have a message in to Ms. Coakley now asking her just that question, and hopefully I will be able to update this post when I get the answer! Be that as it may, I absolutely enjoyed reading this book and can definitely highly recommend it to all fantasy lovers out there :)