Review copy provided by the publisher. Also the author is a friend of long standing.
Thera Celehar, the hero of The Witness for the Dead, returns for a sequel with enough plot in it for four books by another author. Seriously, there is so much plot here. Celehar has a trainee! There’s a murder! That leads to corruption and evil and a foundling school that is doing what now? Oh no. Oh no. And then the dead just keep giving a little more of their secrets, and a little more, and soon Celehar and a brand new Witness have problems they thought were mythical. Or didn’t imagine at all.
Celehar remains his conscientious, worried, and slightly badly-dressed self. If you found the first volume charming–as I did–this is definitely more of the same. A lot more. I am extremely impressed at how much there is packed into this without making it feel crowded, it just keeps–turning. And turning again. And leaves Celehar in a new place that allows him to find out who he is, who he will be, going forward, while staying true to the core of himself.
Also there is more opera, so that’s a relief.