But for several reasons, I felt The Witness for the Dead is a much better book and a lot more effective.

My impression is that Katherine Addison has a fondness for writing mysteries, given that her last novel The Angel of the Crows was pretty much Sherlock Holmes fanfic with angels. Unfortunately though, this means he must interrogate everyone close to the victim, and before long Celehar is faced with the unpleasant possibility of having to confront some powerful and dangerous people. As the elven singer was something of an arrogant and petulant prima donna when she was alive, there is no shortage of people who disliked her, but did any of them despise her enough to kill her? If Celehar is to do his job properly, which means burying Shelsin with the respect she is due, then he needs to know the truth. His latest assignment takes him to the glamorous Vermilion Opera where he must investigate the death of Arveneӓn Shelsin, one of their star performers whose body was pulled from the canal in one of the seedier parts of town. His new post allows him to serve the common people, which he finds rewarding, though as we’ll soon find out, he has not been able to completely escape the world of politics.

This novel works perfectly fine as a self-contained story, and it’s something of a murder mystery, which held the greatest appeal for me.Īs the book begins, we discover that Celehar is now residing in the city of Amalo, far removed from the royal palace setting we were introduced to in The Goblin Emperor. You might remember him from the first book as the court Prelate of Ulis who helped Maia find out the truth about the deaths of his father and brothers, but even if haven’t read it, it won’t matter. Sometimes, he may even glean the final moments of their life-what they saw, what they thought, what they felt. The story follows protagonist Thara Celehar, who holds the titular role of Witness for the Dead, or someone who has the ability to speak to the recently deceased. The Witness for the Dead is marketed as a standalone sequel to Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, but to tell the truth, it’s more of a separate story rather than a direct continuation. The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own. I received a review copy from the publisher. Book Review: The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

Katherine addison witness for the dead