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A review by bobshmob
The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
3.5
Overall I thought it was a pretty good book, especially given the time it came out. It’s aged pretty well.
First off, I am definitely biased against this sort of “gentleman thief” genre, so that might affect the score.
Pros:
- plot was interesting and had enough twists and turns to keep it moving
- the world was very well built and engaging
- I loved how inclusive the book was. I had no idea it was written in the 90s, and I wish I had read books like this as a kid.
Cons:
- I didn’t quite buy Nicholas as a mastermind thief. The amount of times he accidentally gives away more than he means to is off the charts, and he is somewhat impulsive
- I didn’t feel like there was a lot of motivation for some of the characters to love Nicholas, mostly Madeline and Reynard. Madeline says she loves acting above all but put off the season in the theater just for him? Reynard has committed to spending his entire existence playing a character for reasons (???)
- Arisilde was the worst character for me. Part powerful wizard, part damsel in distress, with the least convincing depiction of opium addiction I’ve read. Much of the story about him felt contrived to forward the story.
- A lot of the plot points seem to rely on the characters randomly running into each other
- I know this is an area where you need to suspend your disbelief for these kinds of novel, but makeup during that time period was not so believable that you can just make 10000 disguises that no one will see through.
I know the cons seems to outweigh the pros, but I did have fun reading it and will probably read more books set in this world.
First off, I am definitely biased against this sort of “gentleman thief” genre, so that might affect the score.
Pros:
- plot was interesting and had enough twists and turns to keep it moving
- the world was very well built and engaging
- I loved how inclusive the book was. I had no idea it was written in the 90s, and I wish I had read books like this as a kid.
Cons:
- I didn’t quite buy Nicholas as a mastermind thief. The amount of times he accidentally gives away more than he means to is off the charts, and he is somewhat impulsive
- I didn’t feel like there was a lot of motivation for some of the characters to love Nicholas, mostly Madeline and Reynard. Madeline says she loves acting above all but put off the season in the theater just for him? Reynard has committed to spending his entire existence playing a character for reasons (???)
- Arisilde was the worst character for me. Part powerful wizard, part damsel in distress, with the least convincing depiction of opium addiction I’ve read. Much of the story about him felt contrived to forward the story.
- A lot of the plot points seem to rely on the characters randomly running into each other
- I know this is an area where you need to suspend your disbelief for these kinds of novel, but makeup during that time period was not so believable that you can just make 10000 disguises that no one will see through.
I know the cons seems to outweigh the pros, but I did have fun reading it and will probably read more books set in this world.