Grief of Stones

[psocoptera]

The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison, 2022. Sequel to Witness for the Dead, which Addison clearly thinks you remember, because there are a lot of characters named and referred to without explanation of who they are. I was able to either figure out most of it or not worry about it, but would definitely have used a dramatis personae and a glossary if such things had been included. I enjoyed it well enough - very readable, kept moving along, zero feeling of having to make myself keep reading - but I also just didn't feel like I cared that much? I mean, I don't know, it was a fine read, an interesting new character and an interesting character development for the protagonist, and a bit at the end seems to indicate that there's going to be a third one, which I will probably also read, but if I never did, that would also be okay. Maybe the best way to describe it is that it felt like the kind of mystery or procedural that is formulaic in a pleasant way, like, "here are several iterations of different specific details that fit into this general format", about a system that more or less works? This book could hang out with Becky Chambers' new tea monk novella, is maybe what I am saying.

Comments

[randysmith]

Heh. I mostly agree, though I find the writing and characterization at a high enough level to make it worth actively seeking out the sequels.

There is going to be a third, called _The Tomb of Dragons_, which I find an interesting title given the events of book #2. See https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/interview-sarah-monette/.

[psocoptera]

That *is* an interesting title! Hmm. And yeah, I don't disagree, the writing and characterization *are* good and worth reading more of, it's more that... you know how sometimes you really want to know what happens next, like, that unresolved tension about some aspect of the plot or the mysteries or whatever? I don't have that here.