I doubt that “well okay then” was the intended reaction. And yes, unsurprisingly, the resolution to the main mystery was largely unsatisfying and lackluster. No matter how bad, I need to know the answer. I continued for one reason and one reason only: I’m a complete slut for mysteries. It didn’t take long until I started skimming. But combined with the character issues, it made the book awfully tedious to read. The plot is also very meandering, with a lot of random subplots and a weak main thread (which might have better worked as a novella?), which would be entirely fine if everything else was in order. I went there, I talked to that person, then I went to that place, I had some tea, and so on. The writing, this time in first person, is also dull and lifeless. We only ever see her through other characters’ eyes.
The only semi-interesting one is Arveneän, the murdered and quite unsympathetic opera singer, but well…she’s dead. The side characters are entirely forgettable. And he undergoes no growth, no change whatsoever. He’s dutiful and restrained – and that’s it. Not only do the characters lack the charm that The Goblin Emperor had, Celehar has no personality at all. The biggest issue with the book is the characterisation. In particular, the cases he focuses on here are the murder of an opera singer (mostly this), an inheritance dispute, and a woman who died in mysterious circumstances shortly after her marriage. The story follows Thara Celehar, a witness for the dead and a minor character from The Goblin Emperor as he goes around his job, investigating the causes of death of various inhabitants of Amalo and helping resolve their disputes. I had a little warning, fellow fans of The Goblin Emperor disappointed, my experience with The Angel of the Crows tempering my expectations, I knew it was not a true sequel and different…but I did expect a certain degree of craft that just wasn’t there in the end. It’s always difficult when one of your most anticipated releases of the year turns out to be a complete disappointment.
ARC received from the publisher (Tor) in exchange for an honest review.
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