The Witness for the Dead
Books | Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure
4.2
(146)
Katherine Addison
"This trilogy is as close to perfect as books can get. . . . Magnificent."—T. Kingfisher, author of What Moves the DeadKatherine Addison returns to the glittering world she created for her beloved novel, The Goblin Emperor, with book one of the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogyLocus Award Finalist and Mythopoeic Award Finalist!When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had set the bombs that killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his father’s Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. He lost his place as a retainer of his cousin the former Empress, and made far too many enemies among the many factions vying for power in the new Court. The favor of the Emperor is a dangerous coin. Now Celehar lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference. He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honesty will not permit him to live quietly. As a Witness for the Dead, he can, sometimes, speak to the recently dead: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. It is his duty use that ability to resolve disputes, to ascertain the intent of the dead, to find the killers of the murdered. Celehar’s skills now lead him out of the quiet and into a morass of treachery, murder, and injustice. No matter his own background with the imperial house, Celehar will stand with the commoners, and possibly find a light in the darkness. Katherine Addison has created a fantastic world for these books – wide and deep and true.Within THE CHRONICLES OF OSRETHThe Goblin EmperorThe Cemeteries of Amalo trilogyThe Witness for the DeadThe Grief of StonesThe Tomb of DragonsAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
High Fantasy
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Author
Katherine Addison
Pages
208
Publisher
Tor Publishing Group
Published Date
2021-06-22
ISBN
0765387441 9780765387448
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
"Not as good as Goblin Emperor, but still rather fun."
Marsh
"Eh, it was ok. It started out reeeeeeeally slow and got up to about 35mph, max. If I could describe this book, I would say it is Abhorsen CSI. But not nearly as compelling or exciting as you would think based on that combination.<br/>The first book was paced frenetically like one of those west wing neverending hallway scenes where one aid after another is bombarding the emperor with decisions, ethical complexities, and actionable information for every moment of the book. This book is plodding and, honestly not complex in the ways you want.<br/>I still like the world and want to read the next book but this one just didn't land the same way its predecessor did. Part of it was that Maya was a visible minority punching up, and pointing out skin tone all the time so you could see where allies, accomplices, and bigots were. The white POV character is constantly pointing out that someone is mixed race or elven white etc but it honestly comes out like some old timey gumshoe playing "spot the octaroon". I appreciate not shying away from the topic of racial discrimination in speculative fiction, but if the POV character isn't a minority, it might be better if the author gave more agency to POC non POV characters and let them self-define in dialog instead of having everything twice filtered through the white male lens.<br/>I think the other big reason that it was hard to get into is that none of the characters grow, develop, or change. The protagonist has a fascinating back story that is explored even less than its brief mention in the first book. This book is very hard to find characters that I'm not ambivalent to, partially because cases are so open and shut that any antagonist has no chance for more crimes or redemption or ambiguity or intrigue and the most sympathetic victims aren't really characters because by the time you meet them, they're already dead and gone."
Bridget Anne