B's Monday Review: The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

Series: The Cemeteries of Amalo (#1), The Chronicles of Osreth (#2)

Format: 320 pages, Paperback

Published: July 22, 2021 by Solaris

Fantasy/own

This was a standalone sequel to book 1, which I honestly do not remember much of anymore.

Thara Celehar is a witness for the dead and is in a new city. An unknown dead person is found, and he is the one that solves the mystery of who she is, and then who killed her. While solving that mystery he also witnesses for someone else. There are small sidequests while working out the main story.

It was all told in this calm manner. I enjoyed reading about Celehar, and I would love to dive into this world again.

Enjoyable murder mystery set in a fantasy world.

When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. He lost his place as a retainer of his cousin the former Empress, and made far too many enemies among the many factions vying for power in the new Court. The favor of the Emperor is a dangerous coin.

Now Celehar lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference. He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honesty will not permit him to live quietly. As a Witness for the Dead, he can, sometimes, speak to the recently dead: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. it is his duty to use that ability to resolve disputes, to ascertain the intent of the dead, to find the killers of the murdered.

Celehar's skills now lead him out of the quiet and into a morass of treachery, murder, and injustice. No matter his own background with the imperial house, Celehar will stand with the commoners, and possibly find a light in the darkness.