#necrobane

[nfinitefreetime]

#REVIEW: Advocate, by Daniel M. Ford

The standard disclaimers apply: Dan and I are Internet Mutuals, the origin of which is lost to time but almost certainly involves Twitter somehow. I spend a fair amount of time hanging out in his Discord server, which is, in fact, the only Discord server I spend any time in. And while I reviewed The Warden, the first book in this series, I somehow did not review Necrobane, the second book. My…

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[wearethekat]

women will literally necrotize their own achilles tendon and then animate it rather than rest so their sprained ankle will heal.

and then slap a really strong smelling liniment on it so no one smells the UNDEAD FLESH.

[nzbookwyrm]

April 2024

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

📚 Review 📚 Necrobane

Necrobane is the second novel in Daniel M. Ford’s Warden series, and I have SO been looking forward to seeing what happens next. The last book left us on a bit of a cliffhanger, leaving me all sorts of anxious and worried.

The events that follow are exactly what I was hoping for. It resolved everything from the last book while finding new and different ways to up the ante. In other words, it’s a perfect fantasy sequel.

I am sad that Necrobane is shorter than its predecessor. I feel like a few areas could have been explored further (like the whole conclusion). Maybe that’s just me because I want to learn everything about this world.

There are two major twists in this book. The first comes about halfway through, and it’s heavy. Good, but heavy. The second comes at the end and will certainly set the tone for the next novel, which I’m already looking forward to.

Highlights: Necromancers & Trials Adventure Fantasy Part of a Series LGBTQ+

[bumblerhizal-art]

my lovely little earth genasi cleric of kelemvor from a one-shot i got to play in last month

[breathless-is-the-hunt]

I have continued enjoyed the world building of this book immensely but Im sorry, Daniel. Please don't write a romance story if its gonna be half assed. Put your whole ass into it.

! SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK !

Nene's Gut Reaction Review As A Picky Reader

Keep in mind that when I complain about things, I'm complaining about them as writing choices, not as a characters decisions.

Pros:

More Tun! Tun has excellent chemistry with Aelis and I want him as my best friend.

More interesting world lore!

Maurenia actually gets some love and becomes less of a flat character!

Cons:

Aelis continues to be the only person who can solve any problem because everyone else is a backwoods bumpkin.

Pacing is very fast. There is no down time. Which can be nice but also does not lend itself to character development.

Also tiny beef but dwarves being obsessed with gold/money is boring. Him wanting to see the fancy vault was super nerdy and one of my favorite things. It's a pity him coming with ended up being pointless.

If half the time spent writing the alchemy process was instead dedicated to building relationships between the characters this book would be one of my favorites.

My major complaint about the first book was that Aelis's love interest, Maurenia, was flat and that Aelis had more chemistry with Tun. I would have rather that was the romance or if there were none at all in book one than what we got which was: girl pretty, kiss? Kiss.

Thankfully, in this second book, we start learning more about Maurenia's past as a sailor and then a military woman struggling to find her path in the world. However none of this matters because partway through the book Maurenia becomes trapped, magically bound to take the place of a sort of fae spirit. Finally we get an ounce of conflict between Aelis and Maurenia because Maurenia knows Aelis and the group will just have to leave her there for the time being and she is pissed about it.

Then that's it. That's the last we see of Maurenia in book two. She's left trapped with Aelis's vow to free her (eventually). I could almost be okay with this except despite feeling horribly guilty over it and her entrapment being added to the list of Things That Are Aelis's Fault, Aelis does nothing about it for the rest of the book. She just feels guilty. For a woman, Aelis might love, she doesn't so much as ask Tun to take a letter to her until the very end when she traps the spirit who originally set the binding magic on the valley Maurenia is in. Then she goes 'maybe that broke the enchantment', and TUN decides to go check if Maurenia is free and Aelis goes 'oh will you take a letter too?'

Then the book ends with Aelis being resummoned to the college. I highly suspect that in the third book, which I believe is the last book, Tun and Maurenia won't be in it much, if at all.

Overall the romance subplot feels like a foot note. Why is the romance even here? To give the book an LGBTQ+ tag?

This is probably the biggest example of my main issue with these books. I like Aelis as a stubborn, know it all character but for the most part it doesn't feel like she has much growth throughout the book. Aelis almost becomes possessed by a magical relic and dominates the world via necromancy? Two page side note. The village prepares to be overrun by the undead Aelis unwittingly released? Nothing happens. Aelis uses necromancy to kill the flesh of her wounded ankle so she can run on it even though she shouldn't? Its okay she is Brilliant so she just does surgery on herself later and its fixed.

Overall I do like the magic system and the lore. The world continues to be fairly standard euro fantasy. Aelis is a fun, stubborn woman to read about and she does get called out on her habits frequently (even if those call outs don't seem to matter at all).

Verdict: I'll see if the library has the third book because I like the world and the characters enough to want to find out what happens, but I'm going into it expecting to be disappointed (again) when it is just more Aelis is smart and can solve anything and the consequences aren't real.

[lemonsncobwebs]

WHY? AT THE WORST TIMES? Not like they are bleeding out or in battle at all!

Source; Necrobane, book 2 of “The Warden” series

[kandoros]

Necrobane, by Daniel Ford

So first off, look at this cover art. You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but this one is certainly trying to add on a few extra points.

My biggest complaint about the first book in this series was that it was too obviously a first book in a series. This one more than made up for it. There's a loose thread still to be wrapped up (the half-elven love interest there on the cover gets into a pickle that the Warden can't solve yet), and there's a cliffhanger to set up the third book, but it's a much more complete story progression.

The Warden gets some character development in learning that she shouldn't try to shoulder everything by herself and that she should trust other people to help her, she comes to think of the far-edge-of-nowhere town she's posted to at home, and she polishes off the big bad left over from the first book.

The magic system and worldbuilding isn't expanded on that much (and maybe even contradicted a bit; I didn't have the first book handy anymore but I want to say the map in the second one didn't quite line up to the one in the first), but there are some interesting bits.

One is where the Warden sprains her ankle, but she needs to go on another hike into the wilderness. She doesn't have time to let it heal, so she zombifies it and mushes on. A lot of her group can tell it smells off, but they respect her privacy by not saying anything. It's supposed to be a temporary thing that's only good for a few days, but she has to let it stretch out for a month.

In order to make it right again, she has to consult the Necromancer Holocron she finds in a ruin. The copy of the first necromancer in there will share its knowledge, but only by trading secrets. And they have to be your secrets, not a secret about someone else. So "I'm in love with my half-elf friend and I haven't told her yet" works but "My best friend is a werebear" won't. Just such a neat idea that if my DM ever hears about it she's inspired to steal it.

My only fault with this series now is that the third book won't be out for another month and I don't know that my library is planning on getting a copy yet. Pretty good indicator of quality when the biggest problem is moar!