Review: Death of the Necromancer

Nicholas Valiard is a man of ancient and noble lineage, yet his childhood was spent learning the ways of thieves and pickpockets in the harshest slums of Ile-Rien's royal capital, Vienne. Adopted by Edouard Viller, a scholar of Natural Philosophy, after his mother's death in the slums and educated at the finest university to be a physician and a gentleman, he has returned to his skills and knowledge of the streets to seek vengeance. against the man responsible for his foster-father's execution as a Necromancer, whose practice in Ile-Rien is the vilest offense.

As the underworld figure Donatien, Nicholas has devised a long and complex plan to bring down Count Montesq, the corrupt and powerful lord whose machinations brought about Viller's unjust execution. While breaking into the cellars of a noble house one night for the purpose of stealing gold to implicate Montesq in a criminal scheme, Nicholas and his fellow thieves are attacked by a ghoul and discover a secret room from which something has very recently been stolen.

Soon, Nicholas is confronted by a Spritualist and conman who knows about the break-in and it's not very long before strange happenings, disappearances, ancient and powerful magic and ritual murder have drawn Nicholas and his allies into a web of conspiracy and terror at the center of which may lie unthinkable evil and only joining forces with former enemies may keep them alive to see the end.

Though the book has some of the external trappings of Gothic horror, the story is classic suspense thriller at heart. Wells sets her story in a beautifully-realized Fantasy world reminiscent of Vienna, Budapest and Prague at the end of the 19th Century in which everything is vaguely familiar and yet sorcery and witchcraft are not only real, but accepted facts of life, existing alongside trains, factories and modern sewers. It is a world where layers of ancient city and often-blood-soaked history lie buried only inches below the surface of safe, civilized, electrically-lit streets. Wells does not over-explain her world, but simply puts it forth and allows it to speak for itself.

Some of the characters are recognizable "types", but they rarely succumb to being stiff or puppet-like. Even the anti-hero Nicholas, whom I found occasionally unsympathetic and childish, is well-rounded in his faults and strengths and his firebrand girlfriend, Madeline, is convincing, rather than stock, in her brilliance and stubbornness. Prefecture Inspector Ronsarde and his companion, Dr. Halle, will ring a chorus of familiar bells to mystery fans, but they ring comfortably. The rest of the cast of good guys is equally charming and I'd have difficulty saying which one I enjoyed most, though I did find Reynard, the dilettante, gay, ex-cavalry officer to be the one I'd most like to know, in person. He is handled remarkably well and offers some of the best moments of both dry wit and realistic heroism in the book. Arisilde, the drug-addicted, scatterbrained sorcerer is also managed very consistently and it's a pity the story requires him to be limited in his time on stage.

The villains are a little less-well realized, but, they are, for the most part, so thoroughly venal, if not outright evil, and so little seen as they play quarry to our heroes' hounds that a touch of the cardboard isn't really remarkable, nor does it undo an otherwise grand cast of characters in a fast-moving, twisty and grimly-engaging story that is hard to put down.

I found this book very satisfying and enjoyed it considerably more than I had expected, since it did have more than a whiff of cheesy horror in its cover copy. If I had a complaint it would be that Avon did the book a disservice in its cover design and marketing which hearkened to dark, Gothic terrors and fantasy cheese with a piece of interior cover art which is straight out of the "marginally-talented friends of the artist" school of book-binding.

Overall, an enjoyable and engaging read for those who like Dark Fantasy, Steampunk and Suspense. The Death of the Necromancer is the third of four books in Wells' "Fall of Ile-Rien" series, but I found it very easy to pick it up and dive straight in without having read any previous books by this author. I didn't even realize it was part of a series until I was done and went looking for more information.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Kat R - RAM - Seattle

Book Review: Death of the Necromancer