It feels good to be back in one of my favourite fantasy worlds. There are trams, post-offices, newspapers, and photography (in this world, photography is a very questionable occupation, which was interesting). I have not had much luck with steampunk/fantasy before, so this series is very refreshing.

Compared to The Witness for the Dead, this novel has a tighter plot, with not as much happening in ca 240 pages. This makes it a much better book.The Goblin Emperor is still the golden standard, though.) Also, the relationships between characters are evolving in lovely ways and some new interesting characters are introduced. Once again, I enjoyed the combination of fantasy and mystery, and how meticulously Thara Celehar follows his calling, no matter how big or small the mystery. Despite a lot of dark things happening, there is kindness, hope, and glimpses of humour.

Thara Celehar, it was nice to meet you again. I wish you would stop shouldering all your burdens alone and learn to accept that your friends do care about you. I can see some of your barriers coming down. You do need more laughter and dancing in your life.

The ending is promising - I think more books are coming ;)

P.S. I had a dream about seeing a performance at Vermillion Opera, with some great music and scenography. I’d love to have more such book-related dreams… ( )

I loved this so much! A great follow-up to "The Witness for the Dead", and another great entry in this story universe! I actually liked it even more than Witness, though I love both of them.

The new cast is wonderful, and I love how much the people around Thara care for him, and I particularly love to see more development in his relationship with Iana. All the Anora scenes were excellent. The plot was well-paced and I was glued to the page, wanting to know what happened next. I loved all the little mysteries interspersed with the bigger one. They were lovely. Thara's knowledge and thoughtfulness is wonderful to read.

Overall a truly wonderful detective fiction story, and another great entry in this universe. And now while I wait for the next volume, I'll probably go reread "The Goblin Emperor" for the 8th time. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/06/2023072-grief-of-stones-katherine.html ( )

The sequel to The Witness for the Dead is just a good as that one. Short version is if you liked book one then book two is just as wonderful. In this book a grieving Marquis petitions for the death of his wife to be investigated even though it was 3 months prior, and everyone says it was a natural death. In looking at everyone that might have had a grudge against her, he goes to a founding school and is passed a note from a student begging for help. At the same time this is going on he gains an apprentice, a widow who had the gift come to her later in life and has had no religious training or much use of her gift. What is happening at the school becomes a much larger mystery when the girl who passed the note is found to be murdered that night, but Celehar can’t see who did it with his gift.

There is the usual religious intrigue that seems to be part of his life but the murders get solved and the other crimes that come to light during the course of the book are also stopped. These are great mysteries set in a fantasy world and I hope there will be so many more to read in this setting. The audio of this is wonderful and has the same narrator as before.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss
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As usual, an incredibly rich story. It's a murder mystery... or two, or several, but while that's what drives the story it's not what it's about. Celehar and those around him, the interactions and developing relationships of every sort are what make this so rich. The new Witness is fascinating; Celehar's old opponent gets twisty, and messes himself up; we get to see more of the cartographers, the judicial Witnesses, and the opera (though not in-depth like the last book, for that last). We also encounter photographers, foundling girls and a couple schools for them, and university Scholars - the fabric of the city exposing new folds and patterns. I read it in one sitting, and I expect I'll read it again several times, and discover new aspects each time. The names continue to be very confusing - particularly as one family name showed up in two very different groups. But the relationship was eventually explained. Wonderful. ( )