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The Witness for the Dead

The Witness for the Dead

Epic FantasyHigh Fantasy
Published
2021
Language
English

Synopsis

The Witness for the Dead is a standalone high-fantasy novel by Sarah Monette (writing as Katherine Addison), set in the same richly realized world as The Goblin Emperor. Thara Celehar, once a respected Prelate and now an outcast living on the fringes of court life, possesses a rare gift: he can speak to the dead. As a Witness for the Dead, his duties are grim but necessary — resolving inheritance disputes, identifying murder victims, and occasionally bringing justice by uncovering who killed them. When a string of murders targeting wealthy women in Amalo points toward a serial killer, Thara's investigation draws him into a deadly game against one of the realm's most powerful men.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

DarkTenseMysterious
Morally GreyMultiple POVs

Genres

Epic Fantasy High Fantasy

About the author

S
Sarah Monette

Sarah Monette is an American fantasy and horror author born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1974. She holds a PhD in English literature from the University of Wisconsin, where she specialized in Renaissance revenge tragedy, and lives near Madison. Under her own name she wrote the Doctrine of Labyrinths series and the Iskryne novels co-authored with Elizabeth Bear. In 2009, after her publisher balked at her sales numbers, she began releasing fantasy under the pen name Katherine Addison, starting with...

Characters

Thara CeleharProtagonist

A disgraced Prelate of Ulis and Witness for the Dead, a necromancer who can speak to the recently deceased; he is exiled from court after an affair with the emperor's sister.

All characters in The Witness for the Dead