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So! I have finished The Tomb of Dragons, third in the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy by Katherine Addison. I continue to love the series immensely, and it was definitely a satisfying conclusion to the series, even though I would have loved more denouement and just a chance to roll around in the world and this particular series' vibes some more.
In a non-human world of goblins and elves, our protagonist, Thara Celehar, is a member of the clergy for one of the world's gods, and has the ability to read the thoughts of the dead for a short period after death. This has put him in a bureaucratic role as the Witness for the Dead in the city of Amalo (following the events of The Goblin Emperor, where he has a secondary role, but you don't need to have read it to follow this essentially spin-off series.)
He has pre-book trauma that still affects him very much and part of the appeal of the emotional arc of the whole series is watching him gradually make connections with other people. His day job, however, lends itself to a series of large and small mysteries popping up throughout the books. If someone you know dies in this world, you can go to the office of the Witness of The Dead and petition them to witness for the deceased, which might mean solving their murder, or answering a question of inheritance, or finding a crucial scone recipe. (Yes, that's right, this is functionally magic casefic, my favourite!)
Don't let my scone reference lead you astray though, this is not a cozy genre fantasy. Way too much trauma and death and realistic poverty going on here for that, but not in a grimdark way, because there is also humanity, and hope, and tea houses and opera. One of the things I really love about Katherine Addison's worldbuilding is how she creates the sense of a depth of history, trends, and living culture. (See aforementioned opera and tea.) Also, none of the different regions, religions, or cultures feel like something from our world with the serial numbers filed off--in some ways, it reminds me of how Becky Chambers manages to create alien species that are genuinely alien.
The third book picks up where The Grief of Stones left off, after Celehar has (spoiler! cliffhanger!) lost his ability to speak to the dead due to a run-in with a particularly nasty ancient spirit, and proceeds to political intrigue, an immense clerical task that definitely hits some competence kink notes, and a relationship arc that has people writing fix-its I don't personally feel the need for, but YMMV.
I will say that there are a lot of honourifics, names, and job titles in the world that just don't want to stick in my head, but I had the same stumbling block with The Goblin Emperor, and am glad I persisted, and also Addison does not really give you recaps when people from the previous books pop up again, but it usually comes out in context. I am glad I reread the first two books before starting the third one, but I'm a frequent rereader overall.
In terms of the relationship stuff, ( spoiler! )
But I'm not sad at where the book ended, although I do want more now. It's been marketed as a trilogy, but I do hope she's going to do more with the world and characters, so fingers crossed! Anyhow, I did not intend to write an essay on the subject tonight, but it looks like it's spontaneous book review hour over here regardless.
In a non-human world of goblins and elves, our protagonist, Thara Celehar, is a member of the clergy for one of the world's gods, and has the ability to read the thoughts of the dead for a short period after death. This has put him in a bureaucratic role as the Witness for the Dead in the city of Amalo (following the events of The Goblin Emperor, where he has a secondary role, but you don't need to have read it to follow this essentially spin-off series.)
He has pre-book trauma that still affects him very much and part of the appeal of the emotional arc of the whole series is watching him gradually make connections with other people. His day job, however, lends itself to a series of large and small mysteries popping up throughout the books. If someone you know dies in this world, you can go to the office of the Witness of The Dead and petition them to witness for the deceased, which might mean solving their murder, or answering a question of inheritance, or finding a crucial scone recipe. (Yes, that's right, this is functionally magic casefic, my favourite!)
Don't let my scone reference lead you astray though, this is not a cozy genre fantasy. Way too much trauma and death and realistic poverty going on here for that, but not in a grimdark way, because there is also humanity, and hope, and tea houses and opera. One of the things I really love about Katherine Addison's worldbuilding is how she creates the sense of a depth of history, trends, and living culture. (See aforementioned opera and tea.) Also, none of the different regions, religions, or cultures feel like something from our world with the serial numbers filed off--in some ways, it reminds me of how Becky Chambers manages to create alien species that are genuinely alien.
The third book picks up where The Grief of Stones left off, after Celehar has (spoiler! cliffhanger!) lost his ability to speak to the dead due to a run-in with a particularly nasty ancient spirit, and proceeds to political intrigue, an immense clerical task that definitely hits some competence kink notes, and a relationship arc that has people writing fix-its I don't personally feel the need for, but YMMV.
I will say that there are a lot of honourifics, names, and job titles in the world that just don't want to stick in my head, but I had the same stumbling block with The Goblin Emperor, and am glad I persisted, and also Addison does not really give you recaps when people from the previous books pop up again, but it usually comes out in context. I am glad I reread the first two books before starting the third one, but I'm a frequent rereader overall.
In terms of the relationship stuff, ( spoiler! )
But I'm not sad at where the book ended, although I do want more now. It's been marketed as a trilogy, but I do hope she's going to do more with the world and characters, so fingers crossed! Anyhow, I did not intend to write an essay on the subject tonight, but it looks like it's spontaneous book review hour over here regardless.
