The writing is good, but this one lacks the near overabundance of honorifics and manners that Goblin Emperor had, because it takes place in a different part of the world where those things don’t matter as much. Celehar is an interesting character and I didn’t dislike his story. I wanted to love this book as much as I loved The Goblin Emperor, but alas I did not. He gets himself involved in a will dispute and a murder investigation, and finds an adventure or two along the way. After the events that happened to him in The Goblin Emperor, Celehar now lives in Amalo, a city in the provinces, away from court life. It helps him to do things like solve murders and bring grieving people closure, and settle wills and the like. He has the ability to communicate, somewhat, with the recently dead. This is the story of Thara Celehar, who is a Witness for the Dead. No matter his own background with the imperial house, Celehar will stand with the commoners, and possibly find a light in the darkness. Now Celehar’s skills lead him out of the quiet and into a morass of treachery, murder, and injustice. It is his duty use that ability to resolve disputes, to ascertain the intent of the dead, to find the killers of the murdered. 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.
He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honestly will not permit him to live quietly.
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. Now Celehar lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. The favor of the Emperor is a dangerous coin. 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. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had set the bombs that killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his father’s Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thanks to the author, as well as Tor for the review copy! So, I dove right in as soon as I was able. I loved The Goblin Emperor, and this one was pitched to me as a sequel to it. When an advance reader copy of this book was offered to me, I couldn’t say no.
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