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beyonder 's review for:
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
by Lish McBride
4.5 stars. This was fun. Really fun. I would have loved to give it a perfect rating just for how much I enjoyed it. But there were just a few too many small flaws floating around, and it didn't really stick the landing.
This book is sold on it's wonderful irreverent humor and relatable human characters. Cowards and casual relations and jaded people with day jobs. The Sarcasm and the pragmatic believable reactions when mundanes encounter the supernatural evoke Dresden Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, October Daye and numberous other urban fantasy universes. It plays with tropes left and right without getting too campy either.
The magic system was almost entirely compatible with that from Dresen Files: Circles, spell caster's will, methods of summoning and conversing with spirits, the Sight that spell casters get. It's to the point that I think the Author must be a fan of Jim Butcher, or at least share his his influences. While it does threaten constantly to stray into Harry Potter style brokenness for the sake of plot, I felt like it came through mostly unblemished in that regard.
Sadly I can't not see that it shares another of Dresden Files' less admirable traits. I have been hearing more and more of the books I like being referred to as the "white male wish-fulfillment" genre. This is something I can't argue with, especially in Hold Me closer Necromancer. This is the story of an unambitious failure of a white boy being handed the entire world of power and glory on a silver platter. With no effort on his part, he goes from a fast-food working college drop-out and no plan to the all-important best necromancer alive (because he was born naturally stronger and had been handicapped all along). He kills the villain at the end and automatically inherits His wealth, property, and even his position on the freaking magic council. This kid is being coddled and elevated by the plot, even if he gets his ass kicked repeatedly along the way.
I would still recommend it and I still plan to read the sequel, but I recognize it for the escapist-porn that it is.
This book is sold on it's wonderful irreverent humor and relatable human characters. Cowards and casual relations and jaded people with day jobs. The Sarcasm and the pragmatic believable reactions when mundanes encounter the supernatural evoke Dresden Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, October Daye and numberous other urban fantasy universes. It plays with tropes left and right without getting too campy either.
The magic system was almost entirely compatible with that from Dresen Files: Circles, spell caster's will, methods of summoning and conversing with spirits, the Sight that spell casters get. It's to the point that I think the Author must be a fan of Jim Butcher, or at least share his his influences. While it does threaten constantly to stray into Harry Potter style brokenness for the sake of plot, I felt like it came through mostly unblemished in that regard.
Sadly I can't not see that it shares another of Dresden Files' less admirable traits. I have been hearing more and more of the books I like being referred to as the "white male wish-fulfillment" genre. This is something I can't argue with, especially in Hold Me closer Necromancer. This is the story of an unambitious failure of a white boy being handed the entire world of power and glory on a silver platter. With no effort on his part, he goes from a fast-food working college drop-out and no plan to the all-important best necromancer alive (because he was born naturally stronger and had been handicapped all along).
I would still recommend it and I still plan to read the sequel, but I recognize it for the escapist-porn that it is.