A review by kittyg
Necropolis (The Necromancer Thanatography, #1) by Shane Simmons

4.0

* This is one of the #SPFBO titles I read for this year as a judge *

I have to admit, this one was a fun one. Imagine a world where Necromancers are for hire, they're snarky, they're sassy and they're involved in crazy day-by-day activities. That's this book.
We follow a main character called Rip Eulogy. He's a Necromancer by trade and he's a fairly comical guy in general. This is Urban fantasy of the sort I enjoy, and that's pretty particular. I find humour in books and fantasy to be pretty niche and subjective, and this book managed to completely tap into what I love about snark and wit.

There's a big adventure in this book, all to do with goldfish un-dead, slaughterhouses, ghost-like wraiths and more. Rip, of course, is at the centre of all of it, and we follow him and his friends as they try to suss out what on earth (or beyond) is going on.

I really enjoyed the tone of this book and the way it was a very easy story to follow, but it had layers of complexity and plot too. The characters of Rebecca and Rip are the two we see most, and although I can't say I'd like them both if I met them I did understand them and their scenarios and actions throughout the book as I read.

My one real niggle with this story was the ending which I found a little bit of a cop-out. I think it would be interesting to see where book 2 goes (as I see there is one planned) and I would read that, but I would have liked the plot to resolve in this one slightly more 'believably' (hard to ask when it's fantasy).

Overall, this is a solid start to a series which I think I could really enjoy going forward. I found myself constantly reaching to pick up the book wen I wasn't reading it, and I would certainly recommend it if you think the madness above sounds good to you! 4*s