the witness for the dead by katherine addison

I found the ending to be somewhat contrived, but the journey to reach it was engaging.ĭuring the investigations, it is emphasized several times how traumatizing hearing the memories of the dead can be for Thara. The murder plots themselves were reasonably engaging, and I think that someone primarily interested in murder mysteries would enjoy them. Even without that direct comparison, it just didn’t really hit me emotionally. Contrasting this with The Goblin Emperor, where we see Maia meaningfully dealing with his past as he handles Setheris and the trauma of an abusive upbringing, I found it to be lacking. Unfortunately, this was only touched on lightly – and it was “told” rather than “shown.” There wasn’t much actual on page character growth related to this outside a single conversation with another priest. This seemed to be an attempt to provide Thara with closure for a past murder he Witnessed, wherein he had to sentence his own lover to death. These two threads are used to compare and contrast the difference between a crime committed by someone who gave in to a monstrous impulse rather than someone who is, fundamentally, a monster. Ultimately, the plot revolves around two primary murder mysteries: an opera singer found dead in the river, and a woman who was taken from her family and murdered by the husband she eloped with.

The favor of the Emperor has proven insufficient to lift him above petty administrative squabbles, and the spector of his own queerness as a gay man that continues to haunt him. In his new role with the church, he finds himself called upon to use his ability to hear the memories of the recently dead to resolve contract disputes, investigate murders, and more. The Witness for the Dead follows Thara Celehar, the Witness Maia brought on in the first book to investigate the late emperor’s assassination. Often, it felt like showing trauma on-page was used as a substitute for characterization or growth. The archaic and dense courtly language that gave The Goblin Emperor its charm and delightful sense of otherness was also much reduced. It seemed to take the things I’d loved in The Goblin Emperor and watered them down, replacing the intensely character-focused narrative with a plot-focused one. Sadly, it did not capture that same spirit, though it did seem to try. I wanted to feel that same magic, rooting for an underdog character doing their best in a strange, mysterious, and often opaque new world. Reader, I desperately wanted this book to be The Goblin Emperor 2.

I reread The Goblin Emperor before diving in, and I was primed for the continuation of those warm, optimistic feelings. I went into The Witness for the Dead with a full heart and high hopes.

Thank you to Tor Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review! The Witness for the Dead will release on June 22nd, 2021.

The witness for the dead by katherine addison