I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison Series: The Goblin Emperor #2
Published by Tor Books on June 22 2021
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 240
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A delightful fantasy/mystery and a loveable main character make this a must read for fans of The Goblin Emperor.
I’ll start this review by confessing that I have not read The Goblin Emperor, and after reading The Witness for the Dead, I think it’s perfectly fine to dive straight into this sequel first. This was my first experience with Katherine Addison, and I quite enjoyed it! Addison has created a wonderful fantasy world that is unlike anything I’ve read before, and I would definitely be interested in reading more stories set in this world.
The story revolves around an elven character named Thara Celehar, a Witness for the Dead who can “see” a newly dead person’s last moments by touching them. Citizens can ask him to “witness” whenever they have questions about a particular death, and Celehar takes his calling very seriously. There are several mysteries in the story, but the main one involves the murder of an elven woman named Arveneän Shelsin, an opera singer whose body was pulled out of a canal. Although he’s not a detective, Celehar is swept up in the mystery surrounding Shelsin’s death, which leads him on a circuitous route through the city, from the seedy dock areas to the glittering Vermillion Opera house. Little by little, Shelsin’s abrasive personality comes into focus as Celehar interviews those she was closest to. It seems like she had plenty of enemies, so finding the actual killer promises to be challenging.
This is a rather quiet, meandering story that takes its time and focuses more on the characters than the actual plot, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Celehar is definitely the star of the show, a thoughtful, religiously devout goblin who isn’t treated very well by most of the people he comes into contact with. Yet he retains an optimistic outlook despite this fact and treats everyone with kindness and respect. His ability to communicate with the dead makes people fear him, and even worse, a past affair with a married man resulted in scandal and a step down in status, and he’s reminded of it often. Celehar had some lovely, endearing quirks, though. For example, he always feeds the stray cats in his neighborhood, and he’s very particular about wearing the correct clothing for the occasion. There is one funny series of events where Celehar is forced to wear a bright yellow coat—his sedate black one became unwearable—and he’s mortified to be seen in public with it. Addison fills her story with quirky details like this that made me laugh, and I loved Celehar even more because of them.
The other standout character for me was the manager of the Vermillion Opera, Pel-Thenior. He and Celehar spend a great deal of time together, and I had the sense that there could be a romance between them had the story been longer. Pel-Thenior is a possible murder suspect, at least in the beginning, since he confesses that he hated Min Shelsin and her antics. In fact, there was no love lost between Shelsin and the rest of the members of the opera either. As Celehar delves deeper into her relationships with the other cast members, he uncovers a high maintenance, highly volatile personality, and it becomes clear that no one really liked her at all.
Addison’s worldbuilding also won me over, with its oddly formal people and multi-faceted religions and traditions. I loved the attention to detail, like the many kinds of exotic tea that Celehar drinks—and believe me when I say that goblins take their tea very seriously! I was delighted to see some unexpected horror elements as well. Celehar is called upon to take care of a ghoul problem—ghouls are like zombies, rising from their graves if certain precautions aren’t taken, and if they aren’t dealt with immediately, they can turn deadly and start eating people. There is another scene where Celehar is forced to spend the night on a haunted hilltop, and it was fun seeing his reactions and the way he dealt with the dead. And I have to mention the Vermillion Opera, where a lot of the action takes place. I thought it was a fantastic setting for a murder investigation, with so many larger-than-life personalities all vying for a few choice roles, and I loved the decadent descriptions of the theatre itself.
The only thing that really tripped me up were the characters’ names, which were very long and hard to pronounce in my head as I was reading. Characters are often called by more than one name, which also confused me, because of certain honorific designations and depending on whether someone is addressing them in an informal or formal manner. Eventually I trained my brain to skip over the names entirely so I wouldn’t be pulled out of the story, and ultimately it didn’t really affect my enjoyment.
Now that I’ve had a taste of Katherine Addison’s unique world, I’m eager to go back and read The Goblin Emperor. I think new and old readers alike will really enjoy this one.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
It would be terrifying to have Celehar’s gift, but it makes a good concept for a story.:-) I, too, get tripped up by long, twisty names in a book. Great review!
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…One-Sentence Reviews: My 2nd Quarter 2021 Reads
Thanks Priscilla:-)
Since I’ve had The Goblin Emperor on my TBR for a very long time, I would feel guilty about picking up this one without having read the other, but your review made me very curious about both the main character and the story, which means I might jump straight to Witness for the Dead – and shut up my guilty conscience! 😀
Thanks for sharing!
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…CATALYST GATE (The Protectorate #3), by Megan O’Keefe
I feel like they could be read in any order, but I definitely want to read The Goblin Emperor now:-)
I am so glad you enjoyed it! The attentio to details and the quirky details about the main character were lovely, really!!
Yes, so many cool details, I loved it.
This one sounds like it’s just up my alley – thank you for your lovely, detailed review, Tammy:). I’m now going to see if I can track down The Goblin Emperor…
Thank you Sarah, I do think you’d love these characters and setting:-)
Annddd… I’ve just bought The Goblin Emperor and requested the arc of The Witness for the Dead:))). Wish me luck that I get hold of a copy!
Cool! Good luck!
I don’t think I’ve ever read about a goblin so that on its own calls out to me. And other than that I really like that it’s more characters driven than plot. Sounds like a really good read!
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Monthly Wrap-Up: June 2021
It was! I’m really wanting to go back and read the first book now.
So glad this one can be read out of order. I love series that let you jump around, as I often tend to acquire later books before the first one. Great review!! I am definitely a character-driven reader.
Megan | Bookstacks & Golden Moms recently posted…My Favorite Books for the First Half of 2021!
Thanks Megan! If you like character driven stories, you’ll love this.
Excellent review, Tammy. At first, I was not going to read this review as it is of the second book in a series. Often, such reviews contain spoilers for the first book which I want to read. But then, I read along. I am glad I read this review. Now I know, the series can be read out of order. I love character-dricen fantasies too, Tammy. But a character-driven goblin story. Well, that will be the first for me.
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I think it’s completely different from the first book. I know that Celehar was a minor character in the first book, but this is his own story in a different city, I believe.
Like you I’ve yet to read The Goblin Emperor so I’m very happy to know I can start there or here with no issues. And I like the addition of some mystery in a fantasy setting. Did you find yourself able to visualise the look of the goblin main characters throughout, or did you find yourself sometimes seeing them as human?
I was able to visualize them pretty well! They have long ears and they go up and down depending on their mood, so that was pretty cool.
Great review! I was really wondering how you’d find it as a stand-alone, without having read The Goblin Emperor. I laughed about the tea — I was so amused during this book hearing about all the types of tea and when and how Thara enjoys them (or doesn’t). Quick note, though — I don’t believe he’s a goblin! He’s elven, as far as I know. Regarding the names, yes, they’re incredibly challenging, but ultimately, it’s one of the things that makes this world so enchanting to me. When you read The Goblin Emperor, be sure to read the notes at the end about grammar and forms of address. It helps so much! (as does the glossary of names, which I referred to constantly.) Also, one final recommendation — the audiobooks make the names really sounds magical and otherworldly, and I loved hearing it all so much! (Although I don’t think I could have followed the story via audio without having read it in print first.)
Oh oops I must have missed that detail, I will have to revise that part! Now I want to read The Goblin Emperor on audio now, I love what you said about the names:-)
Celehar was amazing! He was definitely the star of the show 😀
He was, I loved him!
Glad you enjoyed this, Tammy! I believe the mention that Celehar is elven was in The Goblin Emperor… He really is the highlight of this book! 😀
Maybe that’s why I missed it! lol
I love the premise of this story and the characters and setting sound really interesting too. Glad this book was a hit for you. 🙂
It was nice to read about such a NICE character for a change:-)
Addison seems to excel at great characters and Celehar was definitely the star of the show. I enjoyed this one for the differences it brings to the world. The Goblin Emperor is set at court and is glitzy – it also has an excess of honorific and protocols that can be difficult to get your head around. I think it is a little deeper in terms of the story line whereas this one felt like we were getting a snapshot of a week in the life of Celehar. I loved being in the city and the attention to detail that really brought the place to life. The factories, tea shops and opera and I would definitely pick up more books with this character, I think he could easily carry a series.
Lynn 😀
I’m excited to see what she writes next!
Oh wow, this premise sounds so good — and i appreciate that a reader can come to this in the second book and still understand what’s going on. When I find a new series, that’s one of the things I look for in the reviews I see.
This was such well contained story that it didn’t bother me that I hadn’t read the first book:-)
Goblin Emperor was so heartwarming. I hope you’ll enjoy it too.
My plan is to get to this one later this year.