Wench was a promising title that ultimately fell short for me. I loved the idea of following a tavern wench as she tried to get back her tavern and found it was really interesting. I was also pleasantly surprised by the role magic played in the story. However, the book ultimately failed to please me. Tanya was the only character who had a real arc. Other characters felt unimportant and under-developed. They had very little backstory and served no purpose beyond helping Tanya. They didn’t feel like real people. Relationships also suffered. Most of the relationships Tanya has by the end of the book seem unreal because they were never actively built up through the novel. Her romantic relationships are never given the time to form. She just suddenly has feelings for the characters. They just don’t seem like reality. By the end of the book, I had trouble believing that Tanya had built any real relationships through the novel because they felt poorly executed.
The plot was also wildly unpredictable. I liked what I read from the synopsis, but the more I read, the more I wondered “how did I get here?” It felt like the book took sudden and unexpected turns. This isn’t bad in theory because being too predictable can bore readers, but it isn’t done right in Wench. I had trouble believing in everything that was happening. It took turns that didn’t seem logical.
Despite my ideas about the characters and plot, the book was really fun to read. While I was disappointed that it didn’t live up to my expectation, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The book was interesting and easily held my attention. I’d be eager to see other stories told in the same universe as Wench because I think it’s very promising.