Give the Dark My Love

It was slow and it took a while for the plot to actually start. The last quarter made me bump up the rating, since the story finally gets darker.

No offense, Mr narrator, but your voice was almost enough to make me quit as soon as you started mumbling sounds.

I'm glad I didn't though. The majority of the story is read by the other narrator (wonderful) and gets more compelling as it goes.

Yet another lady necromancer book! I do really love this topic. It's also really interesting to see the different flavors various authors can give it. Sometimes it's binding wandering spirits into physical objects, or bringing spirits back from the Shadowlands to live in our world as normal people, or being a warden against great undead beasts, or, in this case, trying to stop a cursed plague that might have necromantic origins.

There are a lot of commonalities, though, even with how different these ladies' reasons are. There's always some line, usually the line into “true” necromancy, that she shouldn't cross, and which she normally does. There's always a loved one who ultimately supports her even if they're not sure she's doing the right thing. There's always a sense of desperation driving her to what she sees as the only solution.

What's amazing is that given that framework, these books continue to surprise and delight me. Each one is still such a unique take on the “dark art” of necromancy. These ladies aren't evil. Nedra, here, is trying to save her family and her people from a plague that evades any kind of scientific explanation. They have no idea how it spreads. It usually starts in the extremities, and if you cut off the infected limb, sometimes that stops it. But sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes it starts over the heart, or right in the brain. Some people simply seem to be immune. Nedra works with the sick for months and never gets it, but some people come down with it without having any contact with a sick person. Her teacher at school finally confesses that he thinks it might be necromantic in origin, and things begin to cascade from that point.

There is a romance in the book, though it's definitely a side plot. Nedra's studies and work on the plague is the main focus. We have a bisexual character in Nedra's twin sister, but again, she's really just a side note. The book ended on a bit of a cliff hanger, and the second book doesn't have a title or a release date yet, unfortunately. “Sometime in 2019” is all we've got, which is quite disappointing because I need it NOW!

While Give The Dark My Love wasn't the best of the lady necromancer books I've read recently, it was still pretty great. I am eager for news of the sequel!

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.