Read May 2024
Recommended for series fans
★ ★ 1/2
I was looking forward to Necrobane, the follow-up book to The Warden, not the least of which is that The Warden ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger. Surprisingly, what I remembered as a life-or-death moment was speedily dealt with--not an issue of immediate danger, but of long-term safety. Aelis' mission becomes eradicating the potential skeleton hordes for both safety and political reasons.
The world is a sword-and-sorcery medieval world that will feel familiar to role-players. To date, we've met a dwarf, a half-orc, a half-elf, and learned that there is an uneasy peace with the orcs. Magic is fairly uncommon, with certain trained wizards becoming justicars, those that maintain legal order in the rural areas. Unlike many authors, Ford does a nice job of bringing the local village to life, both in character and in the type of labor it takes to survive.
I found characterization a mixed experience. Told in third-person, it primarily reflects Aelis' viewpoint. She has an academic outlook, and while she notices the people around her, she doesn't always credit them with capability. Integrating into the village continues to be a challenge. I felt unsure if this was due to inconsistent characterization or growth process. She can be challenging, so reader enjoyment may vary based on the extent one prefers to identify with main characters.
Unusually for the genre, Aelis has a significant romantic interest and this installment has her furthering her relationship with a half-elven woman, Maurenia. While the S&S fantasy tends to a love-em-and-leave-em philosophy, the relationship humanizes Aelis, as well as serving for a narrative foil for explanatory dialogue. I was ambivalent about it; while it didn't feel forced, it did occasionally feel intrusive, often distracting from the plotting.
Like The Warden, I enjoyed the writing. I continued to find the plotting mildly unpredictable, perhaps because Ford doesn't telegraph every plot point and the pacing is unusual. I found that rather than a typical 'find-the-McGuffin' fantasy plot, it tended to feel like a family vacation with young children instead of a straight-forward quest. Things that seem very important in one chapter (Aelis' ankle, Maurenia) become shoved aside until much later, only to become a crisis again. Maybe that's life, but honestly, it left me unsure of how much to believe what Aelis (or the author) had said. In the last section of the book, we literally have a prolonged recovery section that, while realistic, felt more like an extended epilogue and transition to the next book. While I appreciate the nod to the mundane life (see above), there's a reason most books skip over the day-to-day.
What I really wanted was more necromancy, or necrobane activity, as the case may be. Aside from two major works, magic felt rare. Still, it kept me reasonably interested, which is remarkable for a fantasy these days. Consider it a recommendation with caveats.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Tor/Forge for an advanced e-copy of the book. All opinions my own, as always.
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