4.5 (391 ratings)

The Witch Roads

Name: The Witch Roads
Rating: 4.5 (391 reviews)
Author: Kate Elliott
ISBN: B0DDJCP62D

by Kate Elliott

witches

About this book

Book 1 in the Witch Roads duology, the latest epic novel by fan favorite Kate Elliott.

Status is hereditary, class is bestowed, trust must be earned.

When an arrogant prince (and his equally arrogant entourage) gets stuck in Orledder Halt as part of brutal political intrigue, competent and sunny deputy courier Elen—once a child slave meant to shield noblemen from the poisonous Pall—is assigned to guide him through the hills to reach his destination.

When she warns him not to enter the haunted Spires, the prince doesn’t heed her advice, and the man who emerges from the towers isn’t the same man who entered.

The journey that follows is fraught with danger. Can a group taught to ignore and despise the lower classes survive with a mere deputy courier as their guide?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Publication Date: May 25, 2026
ASIN: B0DDJCP62D

Reader Reviews

A great read

August 3, 2025

Wonderful resourceful protagonist, sharp dialogue and exchanges canny world building and poignant love. Imagine fantasy that includes menstrual preparations and freedom to choose one's layered identity. One of Elliott's most intricate and moving. ) 3 people found this helpful

May 9, 2026

This was ok. I hate it when a story is pushed along by a mysterious past. This one was one big push. Only in the last 1/3 was some of the past revealed. It left a cliffhanger for the next one. I’m not sure I’m interested enough to finish the duology. )

Exceptional character stories with compact world-building

June 12, 2025

Kate Elliott always manages to pack in so much world-building and character within only a few hundred pages. I came into the book expecting a possibly deadly adventure that would be the entire story but instead I got a main character who has lived a full, eventful life (in both good and bad ways). Elen's sunny and irreverent personality was already a draw in the beginning, but slowly peeking into her past and learning exactly how this personality has started and grown to what it is was the best...

My new favorite series

November 27, 2025

Absolutely outstanding new series - Elliott does a fantastic job of both creating this world and revealing it in a natural way, showing rather than telling all the details of it. I was hooked immediately! It's one of the few books where I need the full trifecta: physical book, ebook, and audiobook, so I can return to it again and again. )

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July 8, 2025

I enjoyed the tactic of a world building with a sort of China legacy. The deputy courier is between a rock and a hard place while trying to guide a possessing spirit to where it needs to be. It is very much a wide to small scale story about the pressures of a distant court for a prince to do a mission in the hinterlands. I did like the tactic of conflating both of what the courier sees and the learning lessons of the possessing spirit. The occupying spirit seemed to have elected to go to a...