The Necromancer's Dance

3.5 stars for a new-to-me author and series that I'm eager to continue. Interesting dynamic between the two MC's. They already know each other and have a cordial but distant relationship. Once the action begins Simeon the vampire is pretty quick to declare his love, and it's a question of whether Angel the necromancer will reciprocate his feelings or not. It's to Himes' credit that Simeon doesn't come across as a creepy stalker; in fact, he is charming, courtly, patient and supportive. Angel's struggle is more internal than anything else - can he accept love after losing almost his entire family? - because Simeon is pretty much irresistible. With the “I love you's” out of the way so early, I wonder how much effort Himes will devote to developing their relationship further in the rest of the series.

I'm here for the romance more than the paranormal elements, but they're intriguing, although there's a little bit too much info-dumping. However these days I prefer that strategy to the other extreme of providing so little background that you have no idea what is going on and have to work really hard to piece it together from contextual clues. I don't want to work that hard when I read romance, I'm trying to relax here!

Himes could use a better editor to fix some of her run-on sentences, dangling modifiers, and mixed tenses, but she gets the point across and her characters carry the day. At the end of the book, our former loner necromancer has himself a mate and the elements of a found family. I'll be back to see where he goes from here.

4.5 Because you have to hold back a bit. ;) I'm shallow. It's no secret. I got this book solely for the cover and I read it now because it's Halloween. I'm not mad. This was mostly an audio and it was fantastically performed by the inimitable [a:Joel Leslie 13846511 Joel Leslie https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. JL does great voices and accents for every character, which is why this is a performance and not just a reading. Paranormal is not a genre that I've read lots of but I thought this was really well done. The explanation of vampire society and witches/sorcerers is done just right without overwhelming the reader with tedious detail but setting you firmly in the world of everyday magic and some bloodsucking. Save for being undead and a killing spell here and there, you would expect to encounter some of these people in any of our cosmopolitan cities. I loved Angel. HIs name is no accident, the writer seems to like this idea of an angelic MC, see [b:Saving Silas 28490253 Saving Silas S.J. Himes https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1452295868s/28490253.jpg 48638619], but nonetheless I loved Angel's strength, his inherent goodness, and most particularly his cantankerousness. It's a facet of his always simmering anger which saves him on more than one occasion. Angel has lost everything so it's a good thing that life chooses to reward him with Simeon. True there is the minor inconvenience of Simeon being a vampire, but that's a minor stumble on the road to HEA, the major obstacle is a killer hunting Angel with spells, poison, and demons. All in a day's work for our favorite necromancer.I enjoyed this book immensely. I loved how Simeon, who is an old and powerful vampire, is all but enslaved by his love for Angel. Angel, who is slight, prickly, and so-alone-in-the-world wields enormous power but does it with love and care for all living things and even for the undead. I'll definitely will be moving on to the next book and am wondering where can I get my own Eroch?

I enjoyed this a lot! I was not really sure it was something I would like and was still not sold until the romance began, but at that point I got lost in the story. The romance is definitely my favorite part of this book, but the action is also very exciting.

The main character is a necromancer with a lot of responsibilities and a prickly personality. His love interest, Simeon, is an ancient vampire. I don't think I have read a vampire/human romance novel before, so that was a novelty for me. The romance is a soul-bonding type of thing, which I usually like. I don't know if Angel would've accepted anyone's love without that element, so it works well here. I really felt the connection between the main characters.

I like the side characters, especially Millie, an older woman with a foul mouth who is Angel's colleague. The other vampires are pretty great too, definitely unique characters.

On the negative side, there is not a lot of exploration of who Simeon is; he's powerful, handsome, and he's devoted to Angel, but apart from that I could not tell you much about him. I like him a lot, though, and maybe he will get more development in future books.

Also, the world-building is not very subtle and does not often feel woven into the story. This is our world, except everyone knows about magic and supernatural creatures, but there's not much about the ramifications of all of that on everyday life. Instead, the book has a few info-dumps. Still, the magic system itself is interesting and appealing, and the descriptions of Angel using his powers are all visceral; you feel the physical impact his spells have on him.

This book is a little bit gory; there are several bloody deaths, and in general there is a lot of talk about death, due to Angel's dark past and the nature of his magical ability. I really like the reveal of how Angel killed all the vampires ten years before, because it makes perfect sense with everything we learn about him and how magic works in this world.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series!