I hadn’t realised at all this was based on the same world as another series of books by the author , but I thoroughly enjoyed this anyway, it can definitely be read as a stand-alone but I want to go read the other books too now, it’s a great fantasy, well written and an interesting plot.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I like Katherine Addison's world building. It feels like a real world, like reading an old book, but everything in this world is something different. She manages to insert explanations and descriptions in the story in a natural way, I never need to ask about something, but I'm not getting infodumped either. I love it.
There were some loose threads and themes and ideas that were presented but not [insert the word I have forgotten] further, and that bugs me a bit. But I will forgive, because I love her world, writing, characters, stories...
I am really glad this is a start of a series, even though I was slightly disappointed it wasn't about the Goblin Emperor.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I did not realise the this was a stand alone sequel and have bot read the Goblin Emperor so was not sure how I was going to like this book. However it was surprisingly easy to read even without the background knowledge from the first book.
The main character Thara whose title was a Witness for the Dead listens to what the dead have to say. He has to speak to a woman who was found dead in a canal to find out what happened to her. Thara who is shy, quiet and gay comes across as someone who seems to let people walk over him but this is far from the truth. He takes his job very seriously and could have been boring to the reader but there were bits and pieces throughout the story that endeared him to me.
The world building was imaginative and detailed so that I could picture the characters where they were. Although the long unpronounceable words were at times frustrating I did still enjoy it through to the end.

Trigger warning
<spoiler> death by fire, trauma, gore, mention of rape, mention of infanticide, mention of domestic violence, gambling</spoiler>

A woman is found in the river, and apparently, nobody seems to miss a person fitting to the description, which means only one person can help: A Witness for the Dead.

This standalone is set in the world in which The Goblin Emperor plays, and after the events recounted there, but you don’t need to read said book before you can dive into this one.
While with the Goblin Emperor I had the feeling I was reading a never ending to do list, I liked this one here a lot more though the protagonist is very detached from the world while living in it, and thus a certain distance to the reader is created.
I am not sure I would like another novel where Celehar is the protagonist, but I enjoyed looking over his shoulder while he solved a case – while working on multiple other things at once. This felt very real, how you start do to one thing but then people approach you constantly with different problems that are at least as important, and everything needs to be done, whether you like it or not.

I’d be interested to see what the author does with other books, set in different worlds, where other manners apply.
Recommendation if you like a very, very quiet whodoneit with a dash of fantasy.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

💛🌸BOOK REVIEW TIME🌸💛

Thank you to the publisher and the author for the #GIFTED PR product copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a marvellous read, not at all something I’d usually go for but I wanted to try something new and this really did the trick. The writing was lovely—flowing and beautiful. I found the characters likeable and sufficiently fleshed out and believable. It was a wonderful surprise to read.
I did read the first book a few years ago and wasn’t sure how I’d felt about it but I may have to revisit it after this!

I honestly do recommend it.

I was so late to the Goblin Emperor party by now I’m absolutely addicted to Addison’s writing. This is more of a standalone set in the same world than a sequel, with a few characters from tGE making an appearance. The world building is stellar and the narrative is the kind you can just get lost in where words disappear and become images. This is part murder mystery, part fantasy, full of unforgettable characters, brilliant dialogue and beautiful description. Loved every second of it.

I loved Witness for the Dead. I read the first book and liked it, I didn’t read the blurb before opening this one so was slightly disappointed not to be reading about Maia but I quickly got over that. My only complaint about these books is that the names are too complicated and hard to spell, I read them and recognised them but if I tried to say them I’d have a job.
So having said that, Celehar (I can spell that one) is a Witness for the Dead which means he can communicate with dead people to a limited extent and is petitioned to ask questions of them or find things out. This book follows a classic detective novel framework; a murdered girl is dragged for the river. Celehar investigates.
Addisons writing is superb her style is so subtle and delicate that the plot rolls out without you even really noticing. Her hero’s are gentle and unassuming. They go about their business being reasonable and fair. Imagine?! They put up with an amazing amount of shit and they just deal. Celehar like Maia is the sweetest. I loved him so much. A lot of bad stuff happens to him and has happened to him, he is lonely and poor and any kindness he encounters takes him by surprise. He is humble and earnest and brave. And I could eat him.
I did like being back in this world, it’s complicated and dense, it took me a while to remember how it all worked but I hope she writes more books set here. I wouldn’t say no to more Celehar at all.

The Witness for the Dead returns to the world we were first introduced to in the Goblin Emperor and a character we met in that first book, Thara Celehar, returns as the protagonist. I loved this book. I loved the mystery/crime elements and it was so good to be back in this world. The characters are so well written, the plot is compelling and the writing is fantastic. I highly recommend checking this book out.

So I didn’t know that this was a stand-alone based on the same world of another world, but I believe you can read it without having to know the other one.
“The witness for the dead” is a good fantasy book, well written and with and intriguing plot.
I would recommend it.

3.5 stars

The strapline mentions that this sequel is a standalone read – and I would endorse that. While I’m delighted to have read The Goblin Emperor for the sheer joy of having experienced such a layered, complex world – you definitely don’t need to have tucked into it in order to appreciate this one. Although there are a couple of apparently throwaway references that will especially resonate if you have read The Goblin Emperor.

The engine that drives this narrative is essentially a murder mystery. And as someone who can communicate with the dead, Celehar finds himself embroiled in a couple of investigations that start attracting unwelcome attention. In a world where an instinct for political niceties is a very useful survival trait, Celehar’s inconvenient tendency not to bend his moral compass to go with the flow gets him into a lot of trouble. As with The Goblin Emperor, The Witness for the Dead provides us with an engaging protagonist, who is on the outside and needs to tread carefully in order to get any kind of result.

Addison’s rich, detailed world of goblins and elves, where there are unspoken and unacknowledged frictions, is wonderfully portrayed. This isn’t a book you can speed through – the tricky names, the nuances and careful accretion of small, yet significant details meant that I had to slow right down and pay attention throughout. And even as I did so, I dreaded finishing this one, as reading it was an immersive, slow-burning delight that I didn’t want to end.

Of course, it’s all well and good building up a wonderful mystery that is freighted with plenty of tension and high stakes – but then, the denouement has to be sufficiently strong so that there isn’t that horrible sinking feeling of a fumbled ending that doesn’t live up to the thrill of the investigation. And fortunately, Addison delivers that, too, with a thoroughly satisfying finale that had me sighing with pleasure as I came to the end. All in all, this is a worthy addition to the series – and I’d pre-order another one of these in a heartbeat, which is something I very rarely do. Very highly recommended to fans of excellent fantasy. While I obtained an arc of The Witness for the Dead from Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

Thara Celehar, the Witness for the Dead, is a middle-aged cleric in a kind of self-imposed exile from the Elven capital as a result of the enemies he made solving the previous emperor's assassination. Welcome to the world of The Goblin Emperor!

Celehar now lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference. He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honesty will not permit him to live quietly. As a Witness for the Dead, he can, sometimes, speak to the recently dead: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. It is his duty to use that ability to resolve disputes, to ascertain the intent of the dead, to find the killers of the murdered.

Celehar investigates the drowning of an opera diva and the poisoning of a mother-to-be. This is the second exposure to the world of The Goblin Emperor. The world-building offered is considerably rich with a depth of characterisation you come to expect from Katherine Addison.

Witness for the Dead is an immersive world full of complexities. Above all, it is brimming with atmosphere. In terms of the plot, it is a straightforward mystery in the vein of Sherlock Holmes. Full of the webs of murder, blackmail, and political intrigue as you are guided through this world by Celehar. And much like Holmes, using only his keen wits, his persistent Columbo like questioning skills, but most of all Celehar’s unfailing kindness and compassion, insecurity, and low self-esteem wins you over and shines throughout the story.

This is a superb and delightful reading experience. A beautifully crafted world. It’s comfortable and completely lush and gentle in a good way. It is a highly enjoyable read, one of my best books of 2021.

My thanks to both NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for the opportunity to review an e-arc.

Synopsis: Witness for the Dead is set in the same world as the award winning The Goblin Emperor (review) but focuses on a mostly different cast of characters and far outside of the imperial court. 

Thara Celehar, a prelate of Ulis, helped emperor Maia with her investigation of her father's murder. Since then, he moved form the imperial court to Amalo where airships are produced. He's caught between two stools, as he doesn't fit into the religious hierarchy as a Witness for the Dead. 

Celehar's special ability is to communicate with the recently deceased within certain restrictions. He acts as their representative especially regarding selecting the correct funeral ceremony or clarifying details of the last will.

This haunting by spirits takes a lot from him psychologically, but he wants to be useful and bares his duty with stiff upper lip. 

The novel's plot develops, as the body of a young woman is secured from the river. Celehar acts in his central role as an investigator: Who was the woman and who was her murderer? 

Review: This novel has been a disappointment for me. It retained many of the good qualities of Witness for the Dead but also turned to a very different course. 

First of all, I'd have loved to read more about Maia's struggles and court intrigues. My expectations weren't fulfilled at all. Switching to a repetitive murder mystery didn't keep my interest at all. That is simply not my favorite genre. Even though readers might like exactly that, the mystery itself as the novel's core wasn't a good one.

This isn't a bad book at all, as the two star assessment might imply. It rather expresses my enjoyment with it, and that was only an ok read. Even the first novel had its downsides and I couldn't fully enjoy it, but this one took it one step further. 

On the positive side side, one can get easily immersed in the city of Amalo, and Celehar as a character is rather compelling. 

If you liked the first book better than I did, and if you prefer murder mysteries, then this book might work very well for you.

Engaging, entertaining and quite often very moving, Addison concentrates on the important and relevant questions about life, that are not quests or wars or destinies. I adore books that are set in fantasy worlds but tell us about the everyday lives of the characters and how that leads to their growth. A fantastic follow up to the Goblin Emperor, definitely a recommended read!

A welcome return to the world of the Goblin Emperor. The naïve, good-hearted Maia who was the hero of the Goblin Emperor was a gust of balmy Spring air in a genre where ruthless practicality can be commended above all else. And this new book follows a protagonist who is equally decent.

Thara Celehar was a character in the first book, who uncovered the plot that had killed the previous emperor and his heirs, leaving Maia the next-in-line to the throne. Part of the skills he used for this was his calling as a Witness for the Dead. Someone who can discern the last memories and thoughts of the recently dead. In this book, Thara, has left the Court behind and has become the Witness for the Dead for the city of Amalo. He lives modestly, and gets up each morning to go to his office and hear any petitions that require his assistance – a disputed will, a deceased sister whose resting place cannot be found, a woman found dead in a canal. It′s the drowned woman who is the main impetus of the story, since she did not fall into the water by accident.
In many ways this is a detective story, as Thara pieces together bits of information, through quiet persistence and a compassion for others which gives him insight into how people think. The world he moves through is richly detailed, from the complexities of putting on an opera, to the dangers of airship construction. As a reader I became very involved and familiar with his life; I ended up pleased when he was able to sleep without nightmares or get a good meal.
All his investigations weave in and out of each other, and there is a connecting theme of names and titles. Who you are in this world is so important that if you are buried without a gravestone you can rise as a ghoul to feast on the dead and the living.

I read this in one sitting, and then immediately went back and re-read it. It is perhaps not so stunning as The Goblin Emperor, which had the benefit of being the first in this world, but I would be delighted to read more of Thara′s life.

I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I saw the first book, The Goblin Emperor, discounted on Amazon and bought it straight away. I read it years earlier and loved it at the time. Checking online, I was delighted to see a sequel was coming out. To my surprise and delight, the sequel was available for review the same day.
I recommend you read The Goblin Emperor first. Both to understand the world they share and gain an understanding of our new protagonist, Thara.

In the first book, we met Maia. Maia is a half-goblin who became emperor after his father, the previous emperor, and brothers died. As luck had it Thara Celehar, his father's cousin, was still alive and rather handy at finding the truth. Thara is a witness for the dead. Witness's can sometimes speak to the recent dead, see what they saw, feel what they felt and know what they knew.

Thara is now in the town of Amalo, working as a witness for the dead. It is hard to describe the stories without giving away plot points, so I'll talk about the book as a whole instead. Upon finishing, my overwhelming impression was of reading a collection of novellas. It is a series of intertwining adventures as Thara works as a witness.

This is a quiet novel, not an epic fantasy with the world's fate in the balance. It is beautiful writing, feeling almost like a tragedy at times. Thara is traumatised by his job. We don't see the depth of character I had expected. Tharas trauma, how he appears to have PTSD, could easily explore and grow his character. Multiple other opportunities, such as sexuality, are not used to give us the richness and depth of characterisation I expected from the previous book. Instead, this novel focuses more on plot than character. This isn't the sequel to the goblin emperor we all hoped for. It feels weak in comparison to its predecessor.

The novel does work. The many mysteries and plot kept my imagination captured as I quickly devoured the book. I enjoyed the story and feel it's worth buying and reading.

Overall Rating – 4/5

‘The Witness for the Dead’ is Katherine Addison’s next instalment in the Goblin Emperor universe we know and love, this time as a standalone novel following the already known character of Thara Celehar as he carries out his duties as an appointed Witness for the Dead. As a Witness for the Dead, Thara can communicate with the recently deceased and in turn, he helps to solve family disputes, murders and give the families of those grieving the closure they so desperately need.

Thara Celehar is a wonderful character and the world in which he finds himself in that Addison has created is delightful! There is a lot less political intrigue with this one, the true heart of the novel is a murder mystery as Thara finds himself as a witness for a young elven woman would was murdered and tossed into the river – It is his task to see that justice is given for her.

I will admit, I did not remember much of the Goblin Emporer, having been years since I read it! However, I did note that the same standard of world building seen in the previous instalment was not there, personally I think this worked for the story as the Goblin Emperor although beautifully written, was very heavy in this at times. As other reviewers have also mentioned, viewing this book as a sequel or direct continuation on the Goblin Emperor would be inaccurate as it really is its own thing and a wonderful thing at that.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable read, I tanked through it in two sittings as I just wanted to know so badly what was going to happen with Thara and his role in ‘solving’ the murder – which is always a testament to the great writing of the author. Would love to read more books set in this universe, fingers crossed we will not have to wait long for some more!

Thank you so much to NetGallery and the publishers @rebellionpub for the advanced copy of the book.

Publication Date: 22nd Jul 2021

When I found out there was going to be another novel set in the same world as The Goblin Emperor, I jumped on it immediately. The first book was such a winner, how could I not?

The story is pretty much a detective story but instead of being a detective, the main character, Thara Celehar, is a witness for the dead. He can see the last thing dead people saw and he speaks for them and the novel is pretty much him trying to find out what happened to a murder victim. The story itself isn’t bad and if you like detective stories, you’ll probably enjoy this one but it is a very short novel. It’s less than 300 pages long, which doesn’t give Addison much space to actually develop anything outside of the story.

My main issue is that, although Celehar appeared in The Goblin Emperor, I learned nothing about him in this story. Since the story is told in first person, if I hadn’t read the first book and if a few characters hadn’t mentioned it, I would even know the gender of the character. The focus is so completely on the story that I couldn’t tell you anything about who Celehar is or even what they looked like, other than he has braided hair. There is so little to this character that I just couldn’t connect to the book.

The Witness for the Dead was a rather disappointing book. I had enjoyed The Goblin Emperor so much and I was excited to read this one as well, but there just wasn’t enough in the story to make it an enjoyable read. The plot was fine, if a little short, but there was nothing to the characters. They are all rather forgettable and, with the exception of the main character, I have already forgotten the names of the rest of the characters. There is a good story, and if you enjoy detective stories, you’ll probably like this, but I like stories with interesting characters so, unfortunately, The Witness for the Dead just didn’t really cut it for me.

A murdered opera singer, the suspicious death of a newly-wed bride, and a family dispute over the desires of the deceased...

Thara Celehar is a Witness for the Dead, a rare type of magic-wielder who can read the spirits of the recently departed. The Witness for the Dead interweaves several different stories, all connected by Thara's involvement, in a dark and intricately imagined fantasy turned murder mystery.

Addison's concept is compelling and her world unique, with such in-depth world building that the city of Amalo feels truly authentic and tangible. Thara's world is really brought to life by descriptions packed with detail, none of which comes across as over-the-top: in fact, Addison's enchanting descriptions of the city are partly what drew me in so quickly to this novel. The only downside of the extensively-built world was that the information, at times, was overly confusing and overwhelming, and difficult to understand. Although I read and understood The Witness for the Dead mostly well enough without reading The Goblin Emperor first - and I do indeed think that you don't need to have read the first to enjoy the second, in this case, as it is a 'standalone sequel' - reading the first book in the instalment beforehand may be helpful when it comes to getting to grips with this world's lore.

Thara Celehar was an entertaining and 'human' (although, of course, he is not really human) protagonist whose thoughts often made me laugh, and he also adds some queer representation to the book. I enjoyed the unique characters with their little fantastical flares: the way they show emotions using their ears, for example, and small details such as their earrings were aspects that I really loved. I became especially fond of the vibrant character of the opera writer Iäna Pel-Thenhior, and only wish that we received more insight into his character and relationship with Thara. One of the downfalls of this book was that there seemed to be too many characters to keep track of, so apart from Thara himself there is little development and/or depth to many.

Many different things happened throughout Thara's story, so it is important to realise that the book is less about the plot itself and more to do with learning about Thara: understanding his character, his eagerness to help others, his fears and his resilience. At times it feels as if there are too many things happening and the original story seems to disappear, but the book is nevertheless enjoyable the whole way through and it's worth waiting for the stories to come together and make sense.

Despite sometimes having to struggle to keep up with lore and characters, Addison's book thoroughly drew me in and captured my imagination. It is beautifully written and very well thought out, and definitely worth a read; The Goblin Emperor is definitely high up on my reading list now, as I'm desperate to experience the world a little longer!

There are two types of fantasy (imo obviously). There's the here be dragons type with quests and elf maidens and magical artefacts, and then there's the type which wears their (often incredible) worldbuilding lightly, where despite the fact the protagonists are rarely actually human, the story could be transposed to a historical or contemporary or science fiction setting as an exploration of humanity, cleverly hidden by the fantasy element. The Witness of the Dead definitely falls into the second camp, its plot of a grieving outsider living far away from family and friends finding themselves making enemies as they investigate a mysterious death given new life and resonance by the beautifully realised world in which it's set.

In The Witness for the Dead we return to the world of the Goblin Emperor, but we are far away from the machinations of court. Thara Celehar has moved far away, to a small city where he attempts to live quietly and serve the people through his abilities as a Witness for the Dead and his position as prelate. But politics isn't always easy to evade and Celehar finds himself caught up in intrenal power struggles whilst trying to solve the mysterious deaths of two women for whom he has been called to witness whilst the politics he tries to evade impede his investigations while putting him in very real danger.

Like the Goblin Emperor this is a book that starts off seeeming slower than expected and then somehow absolutely absorbs you thanks to the beautifully written compelling character study of Celehar, through whose POV we witness this world and those who inhabit it. Highly highly recommended.

First, the really-not-that-bad news: Witness for the Dead isn’t quite as magisterial or just plain unexpected as its predecessor, The Goblin Emperor. And the still-rather-good-news is that it’s another lovely and deeply humane exploration of “being good” in the same rich setting, and who can complain about that?

Indeed, Addison takes pains to separate this not-actually-a-sequel from her first novel, moving the action far from the palace to the Big City environs of Amalo, a provincial centre which is grittier, busier and sadly a bit less tantalisingly fantastic than the Untheilense Court. It’s still thoroughly and lovingly imagined, with Abandoned Bridges, picturesque antique shrines, and a bustling airship works, but outside these crisply defined landmarks Amalo seems to default to a Continental city somewhere in the nineteenth century which is incidentally filled with goblins and elves. In this, Witness for the Dead seems to be drawing heavily on the supernaturally-inflected London of Addison’s Angel of the Crows, right down to our vaguely detective-like protagonist Othalo Celehar. Thankfully he’s not a hardboiled Philip Marlowe clone or an angelic Sherlock stand-in, more an older, less affluent, and simply tired version of our goblin emperor, Maia. Celehar is no less decent than Maia, but his anxiety and penury are welcome reminders of the real-world costs that unstinting decency can have for those not born to the throne. Lest we get too gritty, though, his drinking problem mostly revolves around very strong tea and ginger biscuits.

As the name suggests, Witness for the Dead emphasises character study more than plot. There is still plenty of incident, some of which is very compelling, but their pacing and direction are disparate at best. We pivot rapidly between artistic intrigues, supernatural thrills, church infighting, a little light cemetary-hunting and so on, with every new thread introducing a whole host of beautiful and near-impossible-to-remember Elven names and faces to keep track of. This was true of Goblin Emperor to some extent, but there the reader’s bewilderment mirrored Maia’s own struggle to stay above water at Court — here we’re mostly just trying to keep up with Celehar’s appointment diary. Addison does change up the pace nicely though with two standalone pieces that flirt with (mild) horror, and which are tellingly set outside of Amalo and its relatively quotidian mysteries. It’s a small mercy that she also avoids the Very Hollywood temptation to make sure that every one of Celehar’s (many) cases somehow fold into a single Uber-Case, though there are still crossovers that are…awfully convenient…in places.

Of course, it’s the character that counts in a character study, and I’m willing to forgive some plotting missteps in exchange for a subtle and carefully told story of how one exhausted, grieving and guilt-struck man struggles to keep his head through constant encounters with the monstrous. The risk of those encounters isn’t so much that Celehar will become a monster himself to fight them — that’s basically unthinkable — but that he’ll eventually be broken down too much to help anyone, least of all himself. There’s a particularly touching moment where he acknowledges that he’s destined for burnout, with the implication that burnout could be (gruesomely) fatal under the wrong circumstances. All this pathos sounds heavy, and it is, but it also means there's real pleasure in watching Celehar literally and figuratively let his hair down over the course of the novel, even if it’s unclear that will be enough to save him from his own calling in the end. Celehar’s arc is incremental, without the clear triumph that marked Maia’s progress, but the little he gains seems a kingdom in itself. It’s a pleasure to be back.