The Death of the Necromancer

Ile-Rien Series, Book 2

By: Martha Wells

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Nicholas Valiarde is a passionate, embittered nobleman with an enigmatic past. Consumed by thoughts of vengeance, he is consoled only by thoughts of the beautiful, dangerous Madeline. He is also the greatest thief in all of Ile-Rien... On the gaslight streets of the city, Nicholas assumes the guise of a master criminal, stealing jewels from wealthy nobles to finance his quest for vengeance: The murder of Count Montesq. Montesq orchestrated the wrongful execution of Nicholas's beloved godfather on false charges of necromancy - the art of divination through communion with spirits of the dead - a practice long outlawed in the kingdom of Ile-Rien.

But now Nicholas's murderous mission is being interrupted by a series of eerie, unexplainable, even fatal events. Someone with tremendous magical powers is opposing him. Children vanish, corpses assume the visage of real people, mortal spells are cast, and traces of necromantic power that hasn't been used for centuries are found. And when a spiritualist unwittingly leads Nicholas to a decrepit mansion, the monstrous nature of his peril finally emerges in harrowing detail. Nicholas and his compatriots must destroy an ancient and awesome evil. Even the help of Ile-Rien's greatest sorcerer may not be enough, for Nicholas faces a woefully mismatched battle - and unthinkable horrors await the loser.

©1998 Martha Wells (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Wells continues to demonstrate an impressive gift for creating finely detailed fantasy worlds rife with many-layered intrigues and immensely personable characters." ( Publishers Weekly)

What you get when magic and revenge collide.

You can only see the hole truth when you look at the hole picture from all angles.

Action, Adventure, and Sorcery, Oh My!

Martha Wells is a superior storyteller and this second tale of Ile-Rien is an example of her at the top of her game. I highly recommend the audio version as the narration is equally well done.

Steampunky fantasy with a Holmesian flair

Martha Wells’ The Death of the Necromancer is book 2 of her Il-Rien series. Although set in the same region as book 1, the action takes place around the late 19th century. A nobleman who leads a double life, a master criminal and theft at night, is plotting an intricate revenge for crimes committed against a loved one. In the course of his elaborate setup, he encounters some powerful magic working against him. To add to the 19th century ambience, there is a Sherlock Holmes character with the nobleman taking on the role of Professor Moriarty.

Wells crafts a richly detailed plot with many creative escapes. The characters are quite engaging, and the various escapades have a ‘mission impossible’ flair to them.

The narration is well done with good character distinction. Pacing is smooth and a tad slow.

Pretty good

it was pretty good and there's nothing wrong with it that I can put my finger on, but it also didn't particularly grab my attention and I found myself zoning out a lot

Good story but hard to keep the characters straight

Great narration and compelling story. I hope the next in the series has character names that are not so similar. Too many dudes with similar sounding names and similar job descriptions.

Ocean's 11 gang meets Holmes & Watson

Kingdom-level fantasy with strong elements of magic, mystery, and political conspiracy. Pitch perfect narration. Easy on the ears with discernibly different voices. No irritating breathing sounds, affectations, or mannerisms.

As for the story, it's got vengeance, vivisection, resurrection, and insurrection. Political intrigue via golems and hedge witches, science and sorcerers, magical paintings and magical trees (a lá Hogwarts), and steampunk-ish spheres melding magic and technology. There's Unsealie Court Dark Fey and cute garden fairies, too (but not a dragon in sight).

(I listened, didn't read, so names may be misspelled.)

It's captivating, somewhat heartwarming, fast-paced and coherent. The story is set mostly in a fantastical rendition of old world London (Lodun) and Vienna (Vienne). Horses and carriages, ball gowns and butlers, telegraphs and ... sewers. (Lots of action down in the sewers.)

The good guys are a band of thieves, a likable cast of ne'er-do-wells reminiscent of Robin Hood. The leader of this gang is Lord Nicholas Valliard (aka Donaten the mastermind thief). His team includes Madeline, an actress and master of disguise (his lover); Cusard, a lock-pick thief; Captain Raynard, a calvary officer wrongfully discharged; and Crock, a prison escapee framed for murder.

Then there is Nicholas's friend Ariselde, an opium-addicted sorcerer, and Isham (Ariselde's manservant). Eventually Madele, an old hedge-witch, joins in.

And there's a queen -- fabulous character. In fact, nearly every female in this story is strong: Madeline, her grandmother Madele, the queen.

Plus, serving the queen is the tenacious and perceptive Inspector Sebastien Ransward, along with his discerning colleague Dr. Halle.

The villains are varied and many, but Nicholas primarily is after Lord Montesq, who fabricated evidence to frame his beloved adoptive father Edouard, which led to his hanging. Of course, he's first got to put a stop to the Necromancer.

I like how this author writes, slowly revealing character traits and pertinent life stories, weaving these tidbits into the story over time. Also, she avoids long info dumps, doesn't try so hard to convince me that her magical theories hold water, and goes easy on the internal dialogue, so the pace isn't mired in needless and redundant thoughts. She lets me draw my own conclusions about what the characters might be feeling and thinking. I appreciate this so much.

This is straight fantasy suspense. Sometimes gory, gruesome, scary. No real romance, since Madeline and Nicholas are already openly in love and cohabiting on page one. Yet their devotion is cool!

There is a touch of bromance, however, among the members of this Ocean's Eleven team. Crack loves Nicholas, especially. And an intriguing relationship sprouts between Nicholas (channeling a kinder gentler Moriarty) and Inspector Ranswald (a more socially adept Sherlock).

Some good plot twists.

My only quibbles are minor: A little too pat at the ending, and I'd be willing to sacrifice some high-octane action scenes and skullduggery for bonding time around the fire. Phew! These guys never get to rest! (Except for poor opium-soaked sorceror, Arisilde -- another fabulous character). Some parts are predictable.

It's all good. Not sure I would listen to it again and again -- as I do with favorites -- because it didn't totally pull on my heart strings. But maybe I will.

20 year old book by an author who is better today

I first encountered Martha Wells in the Murderbot series, which was really excellent. Thought I'd try for of her older fantasy, although I'm not a big fantasy reader. What this proved to be is a tremendously well written book that moves slowly. Her skill is apparent in beautifully rendered descriptions and characters. She has a gift for painting rich mental images, and her pseudo 29th century setting is finely detailed. Splendid vocabulary and authentic seeming settings. The plot is interesting, but predictable along the way. Action scenes are good. (One of her real strengths in the Murderbot.) Nice magic, ok monsters, overall professional job. My reservations are about an inbalance between slow, Jane Austin-like exposition versus moving the plot along.

Sherlock’s wayward apprentice…with magic

A great and entertaining story. The characters are written well enough for my taste and the story itself is engaging to the last bit as well. Set in a sort of Victorian era fantasy kingdom where magic and magicians are commonplace, the story follows our wayward main character as they attempt to avenge the death of their adoptive father before being pulled into a macabre string of murders. Definitely worth the listen!

Slow moving but compelling story line

The pace of the story was like a steady uphill climb but there was enough mystery and character building to keep my interest.