SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison: https://t.co/Nmmd10yYkM
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) June 6, 2022
Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3
Short Review (cont): The sequel to The Witness for the Dead is delightfully charming for the first half, as Thara Celehar takes an apprentice & investigates a murder and a suspicious school, only to become impactful and poignant on grief in its second half. Really liked this
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) June 6, 2022
2/3
Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on June 14, 2022 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
The Grief of Stones is the sequel to Katherine Addison's The Witness for the Dead (my review here), her spinoff from the award winning The Goblin Emperor. I liked The Witness for the Dead quite a bit - not a given since I didn't particularly love The Goblin Emperor - as its main character was really enjoyable and the plot was essentially a Holmes-esque slice of life mystery type story (unsurprisingly, Addison also wrote a direct Sherlock Holmes pastiche lately) that worked very well with that character. And so even though not everything worked - like I didn't have any care for the political subplots and the biggest mystery ended kind of abruptly - it was still a very enjoyable novel and I was very happy to get a sequel.
And The Grief of Stones is a really good sequel - absolutely delightful for its first half and then poignant and tense for its second half, as things get serious and contemplative and require a major shift for the protagonist. I didn't reread book 1 prior to reading this one, so I often found myself at a loss as to who certain characters were or what certain titles were....and yet I didn't really feel that I lost anything out as a result, with there being more than enough present just in this novel to keep me very entertained and very satisfied, especially with main character Celehar having to take a new potential Witness under his wing. My only real complaint is that the book ended where it did, in a way that is reasonable, but also makes me want more to see the main character wind up with a more happy ending, and therefore makes me wish badly for a book 3.
--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
Thara Celehar, Witness for the Dead, has settled in somewhat into life as the Witness for the Dead in the city of Amalo. While the political/religious hierachy he fits into remains a mess, he's gotten used to it, and he has a good relation with the police/burial authorities who bring him questions, the populace trusts him to bring him petitions, and there's even a subversive opera master who treats him like a genuine friend and who might have a greater interest than that.
But things can't remain static for long, and soon Celehar is tasked with a surprise: a woman he is to train as a fellow Witness for the Dead, who came to realize the power to hear the dead late in life and has no training of her own. And when he is sent to look into the death of the wife of a noble, ruled as being natural but suspected by the widow as being murder....the investigation spirals into something more, something that will change Celehar's life as a Witness for the Dead, and beyond, and force him to confront not just the monsters of his past, but his place in the future....
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The Grief of Stones starts out being utterly delightful as it follows Celehar, first on his own, and then for large parts with his new apprentice Tomasaran, as he goes about his job and just his ordinary business. And I mean goes about his ordinary business - the book describes how Celehar does ordinary things like checks directions from the Cartographers, how he looks for directions and asks questiosn fo ordinary peoples, and more - and instead of this being boring, it just is particularly charming in Addison's prose. It gives Celehar's life well....life, and makes it feel just so real, and Celehar is such an enjoyable character that it's a pleasure to follow him as he does his job and tries to figure out his own personal feelings about his own nightmares and about his own current personal life.
It doesn't hurt that Addison fills this part of the book with stuff that keeps the plot moving, adds new things that are both familiar and unfamiliar, and new characters and mysteries to charm and intrigue - even if none of them are on their own super unique. New character Tomasaran, as a widow who was forced out of her family and essentially left with nothing but to then try to pursue a calling as a Witness for the Dead despite knowing nothing about it is a delight as she tries to learn and forces Celehar into a teaching role he's quite good at despite not realizing that very fact. The mysteries faced by Celehar feature such new touches as "photographers" - (think pornographers at worst, sometimes of children or violence) - ghosts and hostages, late night burglaries, and keep everything moving as Celehar goes beyond the call of his duty to investigate at times....and gets into trouble.
That trouble leads to the second half of this book, a supernatural threat that results in Celehar and his companions having to figure out what to do with what results - itself highly interesting and entertaining in its own way - and comes with tremendous personal consequences for Celehar. But these are Consequences that he does not need to face alone, and his friends and companions help him take action to get through them, so that they aren't his alone to bear....even if he still wants to grieve for some of his loss alone. It's very well done - and really my only complaint is that it ends on a bit of a sad note, and I feel like there's a happier ending to be had here for Celehar....maybe in a future third book.
If there is such a third book, well, I will definitely be back for it, because this is just such a delightful series of small time and sometimes bigger time mysteries, with a really enjoyable main character and cast. And to be honest, that's with me often not remembering what half of the fantasy terms used by Addison in this world actually mean or who certain political actors are. That's how enjoyable this is. Super recommended.
The Grief of Stones starts out being utterly delightful as it follows Celehar, first on his own, and then for large parts with his new apprentice Tomasaran, as he goes about his job and just his ordinary business. And I mean goes about his ordinary business - the book describes how Celehar does ordinary things like checks directions from the Cartographers, how he looks for directions and asks questiosn fo ordinary peoples, and more - and instead of this being boring, it just is particularly charming in Addison's prose. It gives Celehar's life well....life, and makes it feel just so real, and Celehar is such an enjoyable character that it's a pleasure to follow him as he does his job and tries to figure out his own personal feelings about his own nightmares and about his own current personal life.
It doesn't hurt that Addison fills this part of the book with stuff that keeps the plot moving, adds new things that are both familiar and unfamiliar, and new characters and mysteries to charm and intrigue - even if none of them are on their own super unique. New character Tomasaran, as a widow who was forced out of her family and essentially left with nothing but to then try to pursue a calling as a Witness for the Dead despite knowing nothing about it is a delight as she tries to learn and forces Celehar into a teaching role he's quite good at despite not realizing that very fact. The mysteries faced by Celehar feature such new touches as "photographers" - (think pornographers at worst, sometimes of children or violence) - ghosts and hostages, late night burglaries, and keep everything moving as Celehar goes beyond the call of his duty to investigate at times....and gets into trouble.
That trouble leads to the second half of this book, a supernatural threat that results in Celehar and his companions having to figure out what to do with what results - itself highly interesting and entertaining in its own way - and comes with tremendous personal consequences for Celehar. But these are Consequences that he does not need to face alone, and his friends and companions help him take action to get through them, so that they aren't his alone to bear....even if he still wants to grieve for some of his loss alone. It's very well done - and really my only complaint is that it ends on a bit of a sad note, and I feel like there's a happier ending to be had here for Celehar....maybe in a future third book.
If there is such a third book, well, I will definitely be back for it, because this is just such a delightful series of small time and sometimes bigger time mysteries, with a really enjoyable main character and cast. And to be honest, that's with me often not remembering what half of the fantasy terms used by Addison in this world actually mean or who certain political actors are. That's how enjoyable this is. Super recommended.
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