The Necromancer's House

By: Christopher Buehlman

Narrated by: Todd Haberkorn

"You think you got away with something, don't you? But your time has run out. We know where you are. And we are coming." The man on the screen says this in Russian. "Who are you?" The man smiles, but it's not a pleasant smile. The image freezes. The celluloid burns exactly where his mouth is, burns in the nearly flat U of his smile. His eyes burn, too. The man fades, leaving the burning smiley face smoldering on the screen. "Oh Christ," Andrew says. The television catches fire.

Andrew Ranulf Blankenship is a handsome, stylish nonconformist with wry wit, a classic Mustang, and a massive library. He is also a recovering alcoholic and a practicing warlock, able to speak with the dead through film. His house is a maze of sorcerous booby traps and escape tunnels, as yours might be if you were sitting on a treasury of Russian magic stolen from the Soviet Union thirty years ago. Andrew has long known that magic was a brutal game requiring blood sacrifice and a willingness to confront death, but his many years of peace and comfort have left him soft, more concerned with maintaining false youth than with seeing to his own defense. Now a monster straight from the pages of Russian folklore is coming for him, and frost and death are coming with her.

©2013 Christopher Buehlman (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The logic of the plot is eclipsed by the eruption of characters who evoke Dickensian whimsy and range from the merely unusual to the bizarrely imaginative. Within this magical universe, rivalries, revenge, and self-seeking contend with the willingness to sacrifice." ( Publishers Weekly)

Scary!

I enjoyed the story and reader. My only complaint is Chapter titles would have made it easier to follow.

Very good. Almost a five

Wish this had half stars or was out of ten


I like the pacing. It’s almost like poetry at times. It’s weirdly dark and turns some relatively common magical tropes into more interesting takes on standard magical “spells”. I’m Canadian, He mentions Canada a few times. Bonus points…

Baba Yaga brought to life in modern day America...

This book has cast a spell over me... I've never before listened to a book over and over again like I have this one. I love the characters and the narration is the best! The story is like none other, it almost makes me believe there is a folklore character by the name of Baba Yaga.

This book is at the top of my list of favorites-- favorite line: "here is the devil" If you only listen to it once, you might not get all the very clever nuances. Great story with a satisfying ending... I just wish this was a series.

I loved it!!

It's really weird and you have to pay attention to the flashbacks so you won't get lost! I really loved the different accents and voices of the characters! The saddest part is that it's over! Would be great if there were a sequel, I've just fallen in love with Andrew!!

loved the world it was set in

loved the world it was set in. did not love the characters as much as do with this authors other books. would definitely be interested in another book in this setting.

Well-written book marred by an irritating reader

"The Necromancer's House" isn't Christopher Buehlman's best book ("The Blacktongue Thief" holds that honor), but it's still a solid, well-plotted story with interesting characters and a fascinating take on the existence of magic and a community of mages in the modern world. If you enjoy Niel Gaiman or Joe Abercrombie, you should find this book to be right up your street...

IF you can get past Todd Haberkorn's narration. I don't know if Mr. Haberkorn has dyslexia, or simply needs to take a vocabulary class, but I have never in my life listened to an audiobook that left me shouting corrections at my headphones.

"but the dezinens of Oswego..." ""Did you mean 'DENIZENS?'"
"they piled her with drinks..." "I actually think they 'PLIED' her with drinks, don't you?!?"
"not knowing the lyrics was no impeedment to singing along..." "Did you mean 'IMPEDIMENT," TODD? F-ing IMPEDIMENT???"

Etc., etc., etc. Probably every 10 minutes or so there's a mispronounced, misread or wholly invented word (that isn't in the text; I own the book) that changes the meaning of the sentence and pulls you out of the story completely. Haberkorn's characterizations are good, but damn he needs a remedial reading course.

Gerta performance but disjointed story.

I loved the description of this book and was excited when I started it but the story was too disjointed and hard to keep track of what was going on. It did not flow smoothly. Todd Haberkorn's voicing was the only thing that kept me listening. As always he did a amazing performance. If I had been reading the book in stead of listening, I probably would have put it down. The story was good just had no real flow and was choppy.

Maybe I’m missing something…

Well. I REALLY enjoyed ‘Between Two Fires’… then I really enjoyed‘Black Tounged Thief’
But this one confused me.
There’s a lot of borrowed material.
Not just from Russian Lore but Japanese animation.
It’s so weird to me how these references even entered this novel having read the two aforementioned novels first.
There was still a familiar originality but the parts that seemed stolen from pop culture were disappointing.
Like I mentioned in the title, I may be missing something.
I’m experimenting with this author and am otherwise extremely impressed with his work. This one just sent me for a loop.

Fast paced found family weirdo goodness

This is the kind of book that is best read with absolutely zero context beforehand. It’s asking you to go in blind at breakneck speed and put the pieces together yourself, who is imho a fantastic metaphor for some of the themes in this book, especially that of radical acceptance. And as someone who’s been in recovery for over a decade, this is the first book I’ve read that has not only woven the themes of recovery into not only into a characters arc, but has married it to the incredible magic system that Buehlman creates here. This is my second Buehlman book (the first being the incomparable Between Two Fires—GO READ IT) and I honestly have to say I love love love the way this dude writes!

Creative and engaging

Would you consider the audio edition of The Necromancer's House to be better than the print version?

Having read all three of Christopher Buehlman's published horror novels now, I can say that it has been a treat following his success. I know the author from his Renaissance Faire performances and have been a huge fan of his work there for years. I have to say that this book begins much like his performance work at Faire. "Unapologetic-ally Descriptive" was what a friend of mine and I came up with when we discussed the book over a few beers when we were both finished with it. Christopher Buehlman has a knack for painting a very detailed picture with his words. And that's how he hooks you!

In addition to his descriptive prowess, he is not afraid to delve into psychology and personal stories with his characters. And in this way, side characters who may not begin as characters you care about become Very important to you throughout the story.

The narrator on this work was great overall. The pacing and performance aided in a couple of "driveway moments" for me. However, I could not give the narrator a full 5 star rating like I wanted to because he MISPRONOUNCED the author's name. How does one mispronounce an author's name that they are narrating??? I am shocked that the narrator was not asked to re-record that one piece or that another voice was not hired to provide a recording of the book credentials.