OK!!! After DNFing at 60% for a while, I picked it back up and powered through. I didn't dislike it in the end, but it was a slog to get through--and the protagonist is frequently unlikeable and also the narrator, which made the slow progress slower.

I did enjoy the own-voices rep--I am so happy there are more LGBT+ fantasy stories being published. The cast was diverse, also great. Though parts of the storytelling were a bit heavy-handed on topics of oppression, colonialism, racism, transphobia, other bigotry, I didn't mind it; there are surely a few readers, whether because they're young or privileged or clueless, who benefit from reading it.

But Wyatt is a jerk to pretty much everyone, including his supposed super-close best friend, and that doesn't change much throughout the book, unfortunately. Part of that I'm willing to chalk up to "teenagers being teenagers," BUT at the very least, there should have been more pushback on the page from the other characters in response to the assholery, especially from Briar. Plus, like, character development would have helped.

The plot has a pretty basic premise ("fated mates" type arranged marriage "bond" thing, ugh), but there are a lot of subplots. There's a lot of politicking/conspiring around the fairy kingdom's monarchical succession, Wyatt's engagement with the prince, stuff about a gate to a fairy alternate dimension/world??!, witch vs. fairy political tension complete with secret societies, Wyatt's family drama, international fairy kingdom diplomatic relations!?!!, and Wyatt's Mysterious Past. I don't think all of these separate threads were badly written or unnecessary, but they did slow down the pace at several points.

There was also a bit of weird presentation at points because of Wyatt being both the narrator (therefore guide to this magical world unknown to the reader) and the protagonist who is, um, actually a native of the magical world. A few years (two or three? so not much time at all) passed between the Mysterious Past and the novel, but the way Wyatt talks about the fairy kingdom, it's like he is a total newcomer at points and at other points the most expert to have ever experted about it. Like...pick a lane?

So, there's a sequel. I am hesitant to pick it up, BUT I want to read more from this author, who I think has a lot to offer, and I suspect the sequel might take into consideration some of the criticisms that other reviewers had about The Witch King.