The Death of the Necromancer

Another reviewer called this Lies of Locke Lamora meets Sherlock Holmes. I have to agree. This was SO GOOD. I really liked Wells' world-building. There was so much rich backstory that was alluded to in the book that I almost wish there was a prequel just so I could see Nicholas's early adventures. But this book worked so well without it. Wells did something quite different - this book isn't the beginning of the characters' stories. It opens in the middle (perhaps even the beginning of the end?) of their stories and it really worked. The characters came fully formed, sprung from the mind of the author like Athena from Zeus's head. It was apparent they had rich and full lives that the readers had not been privy too, and that they would show more continue to have rich and full lives after the last page.

As for the plot of the book, it starts off deceptively simple, but soon starts to twist in a labyrinthine manner and it was all I could do to hold on for the ride. As soon as I thought I knew where the plot was going, Wells surprised me once more.

This was the first book I've ready by Martha Wells but it will certainly not be the last. This is fantasy at its best. show less

This is a very well-crafted fantasy detective novel with French 1800s/early 1900s Batman meets Sherlock Holmes that people who are not me may actually enjoy (and clearly do, judging by the love I see for this entry in the series). Personally I felt it could have been at least half its length, much like "The Element of Fire" could have been at least half its length. That being said, I struggle to agree with the suggestion that if you're interested in reading this series, you should skip EoF and start with DotN. While I do honestly agree that reading EoF likely ruined my reading experience to some degree with this one, because they are both overly long and kind of boring novels, and this is the second in the line so I'm more exhausted of show more it, and I think DotN actually does a number of things better than EoF and shows how far Wells came as a writer at this time, reading EoF also makes a large part of the last third of DotN enjoyable, and if I'd skipped it, I would have likely missed a large part of what made this book bearable.

If you like more stereotypical mystery stories in the vein of Sherlock Holmes or Batman, skip EoF. Read this one. This will likely appeal to you more than EoF. If you like high fantasy and mystery and political intrigue, start with EoF. If you want Martha Wells writing good fantasy, I'd recommend skipping the whole thing and just reading her Raksura series.

I also think the last third is generally, EoF aside, the more enjoyable part of the book. It's still overly long and boring, but it has a lot of the more fun character interactions, in part because Arisilde is in so much of it. So if you're struggling, maybe skim a bit until you get to that last third. Or drop it and read something else, like Murderbot.

My favorite characters are far and away Reynard and Arisilde, and I would have honestly enjoyed them as protagonists much more than Nicholas and Madeline. Really, we could have had a fascinating m/m mystery novel, and instead we had... this. Ah well. The cast was by and large well-crafted, and the universe was well-designed and believable. You can really see how good Wells is at creating complex and believable story universes, even this early on. They're just not... very compelling story universes.

I don't know that I'll give the rest of the series a shot. I know some of the cast sticks around for the following trilogy, but I'm not a big fan of "next generation" stories, which is another part of why I didn't like DotN, although the timeskip between EoF and DotN was far more substantial. If you want a mystery queer fantasy series with a faux foppish European with a dark past, read KJ Charles "A Charm of Magpies" series. That's shorter, funnier, and overtly queer, and much tighter. Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's novels are also great for queer fantasy mysteries with large, complex casts. And they're long, but use their time well. Or maybe just rewatch "Mask of the Phantasm" or "Batman Beyond" for some good Batman stories. I know at least the latter holds up decently well. show less

Delightful. The Lies of Locke Lamora co-ops The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

The book blurb doesn’t have it quite right: “Nicholas Valiarde is a passionate, embittered nobleman with an enigmatic past. Consumed by thoughts of vengeance, he is consoled only by thoughts of the beautiful, dangerous Madeline. He is also the greatest thief in all of Ile-Rien…”

No, no, no. Nicholas Valiarde is a classic comic-book dark hero. He has a secret persona; to the respectable world he is the adopted son of a noble hung for necromancy (naturally, he was framed), but in the underworld, he is Donatien, master thief. Like all dark heroes, he has a mission of vengeance--against the unscrupulous Count Montesq, the man who framed his father. He’s show more a bit obsessive about his goal and at one point, pauses to weigh public interest against his quest for retribution. He is assisted in his pursuit by a team with dark pasts: Reynard, a disgraced soldier; Crack, accused murderer and man of few words; Cusard, elderly master thief; Arisilde, sorcerer with an addiction problem; and Madeline, a stage actress (I kind of suspect Wells of having fun here–either Madeline was slumming or she’s implying something about acting).

As Viliarde is robbing a house as part of an elaborate plan to orchestrate Montesq’s downfall–because a simple murder is too easy–he and his crew discover someone has been at the scene before them and left a ghoul. Later that night, an ominous golem appears at his estate, sent by a spiritualist of suspicious origins. In an effort to learn more, the crew infiltrates an estate to attend a seance led by the spiritualist. Adventures continue, but since that’s only the first sixty pages, I hate to add any more at the risk of spoilers. Suffice to say that it’s a great deal like Robert Downey Jr.‘s version of Sherlock Holmes with as much action as introspection, and a fondness for disguises.

The world and culture sounds a great deal like 19th century London, so it is easy to immerse in the story. There are coaches, lanterns, tenements and opium addictions. There are references to people educated at the sorcerer’s college in London/Lodun, and Persian/Parscian rugs. The various magic systems are not entirely explained–sorcerers, witches, and necromancers–and references are made to the Fay and the Unseelie Court. Since necromancy is the most pertinent of the magic systems, it is explained well enough, and we get tantalizing glimpses of the rest. Characters are done well, and I give Wells a note of applause for having an alternate-sexuality supporting character without making it an issue, and for having a lead female with appropriate pluck and cleverness, and the ability to convincingly cross-dress. Evilness was nicely divided between the human and the supernatural, and provided plenty of tense moments, particularly in (of course) the sewers.

While the plot is brisk and the tone is serious, Wells seems willing to poke a little fun at her revenge-obsessed hero. I chuckled a few times at her sly humor:

Arisilde was on his hands and knees…”let’s see where this goes. I love secret tunnels, don’t you?”
“My back’s bad,” Cusard said quickly.
Lamane immediately asserted that his back was bad, too.

“He (Nicholas) should be grateful to them for destroying the great Inspector Ronsarde, something that he had never been able to do…. He wasn’t grateful, he was homicidal. It wasn’t enough that they endanger his friends and servants, they had to attack his most valued enemy as well.”

Dialogue is pleasantly snappy at times, with Reynard trading barbed witticisms, and Madeline sassing an elderly lady, but without characters becoming so enamored of their wit that they stop to trade one-liners with Evil. I enjoyed Wells writing style and found it sophisticated enough to maintain engagement, but not so ponderous that I lost interest. One of the underlying plot points is an interesting extrapolation of the classic detective-criminal meeting, and I was impressed that the writing made it seem possible.

Small things prevented this from five stars, including a couple of small moments that felt a bit deus ex machina later in the story. Still, it’s one that I’d consider adding to the library, I added to the library, in hardcover, no less, and I’d wholeheartedly recommend. Note: nominated for a Nebula.

Note, for those worried about series: It is most definitely a stand-alone novel, and far better than anything else in the series--really more of a shared world, not a series.

“Could you be any less forthcoming? Nicholas wanted to ask, but he reminded himself that he was avoiding a quarrel.”


Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/the-death-of-the-necromancer-by-martha... show less

I adored this! I haven’t read a good fantasy with thieves and con artists since Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Everything about this—the main characters, the supporting characters, all the sneaking around and disguises, the worthy foes and tricky alliances, the revenge, and the little bit of romance—I just ate it up.
I did most of this on audio, and the reader, Derek Perkins, did a great job. I would have preferred Nicholas to sound younger than Perkins made him sound—sometimes I got him confused with Reynard—but otherwise, I really enjoyed his performance.
I’ve read Martha Wells’s sci-fi, high fantasy, and now historical fantasy, and I’m so impressed with her range. Her unique characters, be they robots or thieves or show more sorcerers, are what I love most about her work, but she spins a good yarn too. The pacing for this was as good as the Murderbot books, and the heroes just as reluctant to get “sentimental” about their comrades (even though the reader knows better). I clapped and cheered for Nicholas, Madeline and their crew, and I smiled so hard at Nicholas’s final maneuver.
So much fun! show less

Set a hundred years after The Element of Fire, this is a complicated and compelling mystery, with characters who try to conceal just how deeply they care.

Nicholas Valiarde wants revenge on the man responsible for orchestrating the wrongful arrest and execution of Nicholas’s foster-father on charges of necromancy. Nicholas has taken on the identity of a underworld figure and gathered a somewhat disreputable team around him, but, with the final goal in sight, they uncover disturbing evidence that someone in the gas-lit city is practicing necromancy.

I took a long time to feel properly emotionally invested, partly because these characters are more inclined to toss off lighthearted comments or tell each other not to “be so damned show more sentimental” than wallow in emotion. But as the story progresses, it becomes obvious how much they care about justice and about each other. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more focus on emotions (especially in regards to Nicholas relationship with Madeline, and to having to work with someone they had both long considered an enemy -- so much potential!) But this still is an excellent story. Just one with slightly different narrative priorities to me.

“That’s true.” The Queen slumped back in her chair suddenly, frowning. “I’d forgotten.”
Thank you, Doctor Uberque, for a thorough grounding in the history of court law, Nicholas thought, though he didn’t believe for a moment the Queen had forgotten that obscure fact. It was like watching Madeline play a role, only underneath it all Madeline was basically harmless and the Queen was anything but. The woman uses candor like a loaded pistol. He still thought her courtiers probably mocked her, but if they did it within her hearing, they probably didn’t do it twice. show less

This is a very enjoyable heist story, set in a Victorian not-Europe with sorcery and lots of colorful, memorable characters. For the last ten years, ever since his foster father's execution, Nicholas Valiarde has assumed a criminal alter ego and pulled off high-profile thefts with the help of his little gang. Now he's close to his ultimate goal: revenge on the man who framed his foster father for necromancy. But it seems someone is using his foster father's research for an evil purpose. Nicholas and his gang have to turn their considerable talents to finding and stopping this sinister new player.

The characters get much of their appeal from archetypes--e.g. quickwitted actress, eagle-eyed investigator, antihero revenge-obsessed criminal show more mastermind--but they have a lot of personality, act and speak believably, and don't feel like stock characters. All their backstories are full of plot hooks and I wanted to read those stories too. I especially wanted to see more of Madele!

The setting isn't gender egalitarian, since women have only recently been admitted into universities. The cast is mostly men. I think there are only three women with names, of which Madeline is the only female main character. On the plus side, Madeline does have a very active role. I also really like that gay relationships are present but unremarkable in this society.

The story is more plot- than character-focused, and the plot is tight and self-consistent. Everything that happens is the result of a previous event (isn't that a requirement for any good plot?). And the words on the page never get in the way of the scenes. I'm only mentioning this because I read the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy first, and I had some problems with it; I felt the plot wandered and a lot of things were resolved by deus ex machina, and I also kept noticing several frequently repeated phrases. I didn't notice any of those things in The Death of the Necromancer. show less

Hugely enjoyable -- it's a hundred or so years later in Ile-Rien and Nicholas Vaillard, aka Donatien is working to wreak revenge on a nobleman named Montesque who was responsible for having his foster-father put to death as a necromancer. And that's only the surface of this plot . . . Wells can manage a complex fight scene and very involved relationships of different kinds. Altogether appealing!

Spousal unit and myself have taken to eschewing the teev and listening to audiobooks in the evenings. The first (see Element of Fire above and this one have Derek Perkins reading -- can't recommend him more highly! ****1/2