Someone on these here internets (I wish I could remember who it was) recommended this one and oh boy was it right up my alley.

The setting is a dark fantasy world after a war in which one culture's gods or "heralds" wiped out the other's. The main character could be right out of a classic cyberpunk story. Down on her luck in her youth she traded her life to one of these heralds for the power to speak to the recently dead, and as the story begins she's waiting for the contract to come due.

In trying to save a man's life she binds him to her shadow and that starts a second ticking clock. Can she find the magic to separate them before one of them consumes the other?

I admit some of the world-building lost me at times. But the characters more than made up for it. The main character Karys and her newly attached friend Ferain build a delightful chemistry. Her childhood friend-turned-enemy-turned-friend again and a scholar trying to help solve the mystery round out the crew nicely. Everyone gets a few moments to shine and the interplay between everyone hits just right.

The story is weird and gross and gory and funny and sad. Definitely worth a read.