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I was so worried heading into this book, because I absolutely adored Addison's first book set in this world, The Goblin Emperor, but had irreconcilable differences with her most recently published book, The Angel of the Crows. And the books she's written that aren't under this pen-name are books that don't seem up my alley at all. What if Goblin Emperor was a fluke???
Well, this book might not speak to me on the same level as Goblin Emperor, but I'm pleased and relieved to report that I really enjoyed it nonetheless!
Goblin Emperor was a book that took place almost entirely among the upper-class, in the closed and formal environment of the Emperor's court. Witness for the Dead, by contrast, takes place in a cosmopolitan city with characters from a wide range of social classes and experiences, and I love how the author takes this opportunity to show the differences in the way that religion and culture are lived out in this extremely different sphere. You get a very different view of the world, in a way that makes you realize just how constricted Maia's world really was.
Thara Celehar, the main character of this book, like Maia is a traumatised person dealing with that trauma. But Celehar mainly deals with it by repressing like hell and throwing himself into overwork in his very stressful job of listening to dead people and telling the live ones what's what.
The book is sort of a murder mystery, but it doesn't have One Main Mystery the way genre mysteries tend to. There are three mysteries that are through-lines for the whole book (a drowned opera singer, a poisoned newlywed, and a family dispute over a will) but Celehar's life is just dealing with one dead person after another, so there's lots more cases interspersed among the big ones. And the book does give you answers to all the mysteries, which is good.
The thing is....the thing is the character arc, I guess. ( cut for spoilers )
EDIT: I thought I had read somewhere that there were going to be sequels to this but now I can't find any evidence of it. If you know anything about this please let me know!! Because if this is the actual end of Celehar's story I might riot.
Well, this book might not speak to me on the same level as Goblin Emperor, but I'm pleased and relieved to report that I really enjoyed it nonetheless!
Goblin Emperor was a book that took place almost entirely among the upper-class, in the closed and formal environment of the Emperor's court. Witness for the Dead, by contrast, takes place in a cosmopolitan city with characters from a wide range of social classes and experiences, and I love how the author takes this opportunity to show the differences in the way that religion and culture are lived out in this extremely different sphere. You get a very different view of the world, in a way that makes you realize just how constricted Maia's world really was.
Thara Celehar, the main character of this book, like Maia is a traumatised person dealing with that trauma. But Celehar mainly deals with it by repressing like hell and throwing himself into overwork in his very stressful job of listening to dead people and telling the live ones what's what.
The book is sort of a murder mystery, but it doesn't have One Main Mystery the way genre mysteries tend to. There are three mysteries that are through-lines for the whole book (a drowned opera singer, a poisoned newlywed, and a family dispute over a will) but Celehar's life is just dealing with one dead person after another, so there's lots more cases interspersed among the big ones. And the book does give you answers to all the mysteries, which is good.
The thing is....the thing is the character arc, I guess. ( cut for spoilers )
EDIT: I thought I had read somewhere that there were going to be sequels to this but now I can't find any evidence of it. If you know anything about this please let me know!! Because if this is the actual end of Celehar's story I might riot.
