The Death of the Necromancer

mass market paperback, 544 pages

Published July 1, 1999 by Eos.

ISBN:
978-0-380-78814-9
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (18 reviews)

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. Under cover of darkness on the streets of the gaslit city, he assumes the guise of a master criminal, stealing jewels from wealthy nobles to finance his quest for vengeance: the murder of Count Montesq. Montesq orchestrated the wrongful execution of Nicholas's beloved godfather Edouard on false charges of necromancy, the art of divination through communion with spirits of the dead, a practice long outlawed in the kingdom of Ile-Rien.

But now Nicholas's murderous mission is being interrupted by a series of eerie, unexplainable, fatal events. Someone with tremendous magical powers is opposing him, and traces of a necromantic power that hasn't been used for centuries appear. And when a spiritualist unwittingly leads …

2 editions

Review of 'The Death of the Necromancer' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Writing a review after having read it about 2 years ago. Need to re-read, but I remember why I liked the book and got at least a few people to read it. Martha Wells is becoming one of my favorite sci-fi AND fantasy author, with murderbot diaries, city of bones, and death of the necromancer. This book has a tight plot, really good characters, and an interesting and well sketched out world. It's a really good mystery / thriller set in a fantasy world (and since I read it in another review, I can't no think of it as 'Lies of Locke Lamora'+'Sherlock Holmes', so if you liked either of those universally liked books, you'll like this).

Here is the other review I mentioned: www.goodreads.com/review/show/344454509?book_show_action=false

My
review of 'City of bones': www.goodreads.com/review/show/3567508659?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Review of 'The Death of the Necromancer' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

An impressive Victorian-ish second-world fantasy. A bit of a caper, a bit of a mystery story... a difficult book to classify, but well worth reading

A reader recommended this to me as being similar to my second book, and so I thought I'd better figure out if that was a compliment or not! I'm pleased to report that I'm entirely flattered by the comparison, as Wells does an impressive bit of storytelling.

I was a little worried jumping in at the second book, but I needn't have been, since it works well as a stand-alone story. The world is one of magic and wizardry, but somewhat institutionally controlled and limited by wards. There's also an interesting split between the male practitioners of magic and the female ones which is observable but not commented upon... I'm not sure if that's more elaborate in the previous book, but it was interesting if …

Review of 'The Death of the Necromancer' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Una mezcla interesante de misterio con fantasía, metiendo a personajes inspirados en Sherlock Holmes, Watson, y posiblemente Lupin, en una ciudad inspirada en Paris, pero con sus magos y nigromantes por ahí sueltos.
Como un buen libro de misterio, tarda un poco en arrancar con la acción, porque todos los personajes van varios pasos por detrás del rival, pero cuando las cosas empiezan a moverse, lo hacen bien, con sus sorpresas, sus planes dentro de planes y todo lo esperable.

avatar for quirk

rated it

4 stars
avatar for otterlove

rated it

4 stars
avatar for betty

rated it

4 stars
avatar for Aubrey

rated it

5 stars
avatar for spilliams

rated it

4 stars
avatar for iamd3vil

rated it

5 stars
avatar for ghostchaser

rated it

4 stars
avatar for johnnycastrup

rated it

5 stars
avatar for anonymole

rated it

5 stars
avatar for DaveCline

rated it

5 stars
avatar for fear025

rated it

3 stars