Name: Ben Nathan's review of The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison
Item: The Witness for the Dead
Rating: 4
Author: Ben Nathan

Katherine Addison

"At once intimate and literally operatic, it's everything I love about Katherine Addison's writing, in ways I didn't know to expect. I loved it." —John Scalzi Katherine Addison returns to the glittering world she created for her beloved novel, The Goblin Emperor, in this stand-alone sequel When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had set the bombs that killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his father’s Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. He lost his place as a retainer of his cousin the former Empress, and made far too many enemies among the many factions vying for power in the new Court. The favor of the Emperor is a dangerous coin. Now Celehar lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference. He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honesty will not permit him to live quietly. As a Witness for the Dead, he can, sometimes, speak to the recently dead: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. It is his duty use that ability to resolve disputes, to ascertain the intent of the dead, to find the killers of the murdered. Celehar’s skills now lead him out of the quiet and into a morass of treachery, murder, and injustice. No matter his own background with the imperial house, Celehar will stand with the commoners, and possibly find a light in the darkness. Katherine Addison has created a fantastic world for these books – wide and deep and true.

The Witness for the Dead

Ben Nathan

It’s basically a murder mystery set in the Goblin Emperor world. 

Not as compelling or as good as the Goblin Emperor (5 ⭐️ read to me) but still entertaining and attention gripping enough. 

Amira BEN

It’s basically a murder mystery set in the Goblin Emperor world. 

Not as compelling or as good as the Goblin Emperor (5 ⭐️ read to me) but still entertaining and attention gripping enough. 

"At once intimate and literally operatic, it's everything I love about Katherine Addison's writing, in ways I didn't know to expect. I loved it." —John Scalzi Katherine Addison returns to the glittering world she created for her beloved novel, The Goblin Emperor, in this stand-alone sequel When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had set the bombs that killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his father’s Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it. He lost his place as a retainer of his cousin the former Empress, and made far too many enemies among the many factions vying for power in the new Court. The favor of the Emperor is a dangerous coin. Now Celehar lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference. He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honesty will not permit him to live quietly. As a Witness for the Dead, he can, sometimes, speak to the recently dead: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. It is his duty use that ability to resolve disputes, to ascertain the intent of the dead, to find the killers of the murdered. Celehar’s skills now lead him out of the quiet and into a morass of treachery, murder, and injustice. No matter his own background with the imperial house, Celehar will stand with the commoners, and possibly find a light in the darkness. Katherine Addison has created a fantastic world for these books – wide and deep and true. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Everything about this book is a constant reminder that writers create 1000 layers of the story that we never see until they let us in. Goblin Emperor was brilliant because of the story and its unique world. This deeper dive into that world was incredibly gratifying.

Paige Morgan

This is an excellent companion novel to Addison's THE GOBLIN EMPEROR, but it stands on its own as well, with only a couple of vague spoilery references to TGE, and I believe that new fans could easily start with this book first, and then turn to the other. 

Thara Celehar had a small but vital role in THE GOBLIN EMPEROR, where he was tasked to be a "witness" for the dead who were killed in the airship accident that kicks off the novel. In THE WITNESS FOR THE DEAD, readers are able to see more clearly what being such a witness entails: though there is some unique/semi-magical talent involved, witnessing also includes a fair amount of general detective work. We see Celehar asked to serve as witness for a woman whose body was recovered from a canal (was it an accident? a murder?); and along the way, we see him dealing with other inquiries as part of his role, as well as struggling with some of the bureaucratic and chain-of-power issues that come up when one has a special talent that confuses/bewilders other people.

There is a lot of plot packed into a fairly small novel, and it is a testament to Katherine Addison's skill that she can make it all fit together so smoothly, and at the same time, give readers a taste of the life and atmosphere of an Elvish opera company, as well as more rural lifestyles than we saw in THE GOBLIN EMPEROR -- and of course, we get to know Celehar himself much better. While one might argue that Celehar is almost too good to be true, I find his quiet shyness and outspokenness (an odd, but real combination) too likeable to resist -- and so despite some of the dark subjects that are touched on in this book, I found it a relaxing and calming read.

Ben Nathan &
The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

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Ben Nathan &The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison

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