SF/F Review: The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells https://t.co/V1DuJT1TnL Short Review: 8.5 out of 10 (1/3)— garik16 (@garik16) March 9, 2018
Short Review (cont): Set in Martha Wells' world of Ile-Rien, this stand-alone book features a Master Thief being forced to deal with a powerful sorcerer whose forbidden necromancy possibly threatens the kingdom. A large but excellent cast of characters makes this a winner (2/3)— garik16 (@garik16) March 9, 2018
Martha Wells' Books of the Raksura is one of my favorite series I've discovered over the past few years, and her "All Systems Red" is also on my Hugo Ballot for this year. It's kind of surprising to me therefore that I haven't tried out reading any of her works in her prior series - the world of Ile-Rien. As I had run out of audiobooks to try out, I couldn't help but notice her Nebula nominated book in this world, The Death of the Necromancer, was available on Hoopla. So it was a natural book to try out for listening while I was commuting to work/exercising.
And, as I should have expected, The Death of the Necromancer is pretty damn good. The story contains a number of excellent characters (the villains are probably the least interesting parts of the story, but the other characters are generally well done), including its two leads: Master Thief Nicholas Valiarde and the actress Madeline, who are excellent guile heroes in their own right. In short, while it's not one of the best books I've ever read, it is typical Wells - an excellent often unpredictable story filled with a great ensemble cast.
Note: As noted above, I read this as an audiobook, and the reader is indeed excellent. So a worthwhile read in that format if you're interested.
More after the Jump:
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When he was young, Nicholas Valiarde was adopted out of jail (where he'd been imprisoned for thieving) by his foster father, Edouard Villier, a natural philosopher with grand designs of making a device that would enable any layman to tap into the powers of sorcery. Years later, Edouard was framed for the crime of Necromancy by the devious and ambitious Count Montesq and Edouard was executed as a result, despite being later exonerated of the crime. Nicholas has spent the last several years becoming a master criminal in the Ile-Rien underworld and assembling a crew of others - Stage Actress Madeline Denare, disgraced gentleman soldier Reynard Morane, sorcerer Arisilde, thief Cusard, bodyguard Crack, and others - to take revenge on Montesq for his crimes, all the while trying to stay out of the way of the incredibly brilliant detective: Inspector Ronsarde.
But when performing a theft for the last stage of Nicholas' plan to get revenge on Montesq, he and his team run afoul of the spiritualist Doctor Octave, who seems to have also burgled the same noble house on the same night. Even worse, Octave seems to know somehow of Nicholas' involvement in the theft, and he possesses somehow some of Edouard's last work - a magical sphere. In order for Nicholas to safely continue his plans against Montesq, he must find out a way to deal with Octave first.
But behind Octave is a powerful sorcerer, with no qualms about using powerful spells and forbidden necromancy in order to get what he wants, and what he wants could have an impact on the entire country of Ile-Rien. Unfortunately for Nicholas, his most powerful ally and sorcerer, Arisilde, is an opium addict whose reliability is only getting worse by the day. And if Nicholas can't stop the necromancer, well...revenge will be the last thing for him to worry about.
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Wells' Raksura books are fantastic because they eventually come to encompass a LARGE cast of characters, all of whom are developed with distinct personalities and are excellent. The same is true of this book. Nicholas is our POV character for about 3/4 of the book and he is a fantastic example of the master thief/guile-hero main character - Wells does an excellent job showing his cunning without making him sound too perfect or too patronizing (a common problem with these types) while also imbuing him with real motivations and character. And the other POV character, stage actress Madeline, is also excellent as a main character (although I kind of wish we got more of her, as she would disappear for large bulks of time).
But again, it's impressive how great the rest of the cast is as well besides the mains. Whether it be sidekick Reynard, sorcerer Arisilde, the Sherlock Holmes-ian Ronsarde, I grew to actually care for the characters (Ronsarde could easily be the protagonist of his own book, but it would be a very different book). Even the bodyguard Crack, a man of few words, is interesting and someone I found myself caring about. Wells paints an interesting world and is just a master at making each character seem distinct, even if they only have a few lines.
The book is also paced extremely well, with set pieces interspersed with moments to breathe throughout, and events make sense throughout while never being entirely predictable. And the ending wraps it all up excellently. This is actually the second book in the world of Ile-Rien, but I haven't read any other and it didn't hinder me at all (some references to events about a century back appear to be references to that prior book, but again, I can't be sure since I haven't read that book and it didn't affect my enjoyment).
If the book has any weaknesses, it's that the villains aren't as interesting as the rest of the cast, and that it never truly ascends into "must read" territory (don't ask me how a book does that, I know it when I read it, but it's hard to describe). But it's just below that, and I look forward to reading the rest of Wells' Ile Rien novels, since all but one of them are available for me on audiobook.
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