Narwhals are the most darling blubber-de-bloop mammals.

Saint Death's Herald was my most anticipated release of 2025, and it didn't disappoint!

Okay, it disappointed a little, but literally nothing could have lived up to my expectations after the gloriousness of book one (and I kinda want to read the 90,000 words that were cut from this draft).

But still. I loved it.

The plot is thin—Lanie and Duantri are chasing Irradiant Radithor Stones, a constant battle of losing and losing and losing as the artist formerly known as Grandpa Rad gets more and more powerful on his undead bid to take over the world. They are joined by friends near and dear and new and old, and and Lanie comes more fully into her power as the greatest necromancer in the world.

I love how Cooney takes fantasy tropes and breathes new life into them, while also spinning them a little onto their heads. There is the hero's journey and hero's quest, subverted each time into something new. The big bad is defeated, but not in a full out battle. Full out battles, we learn, are perhaps not the way to win wars—or let the dead rest.

Why must our great miracles spring from such ugly circumstances? Why must they be born out of our direst need? Shouldn't beauty's sake be need enough? Instead, we make magic to thwart the perpetuation of cruelty, or deliver tardy justice after a crime is committed.

In this world, love wins.

Love always wins.

It's a celebration of friendship. Of changing enemies into friends and allies. Of pinkness and being yourself. Of finding beauty and radiance in the most putrescent of rotting things. Of expressing forgiveness and true apology. Of doing the best you can. Of living. And changing. And being. And I adore it and hope for a next installment.

Duantri's eyebrows stretched for her hairline, each yearning for the other like two lovers parted by an infinite river.

The WRITING. Just incredible. AND humorous! We get lots and lots of fart jokes!

May farts waft out in praise of your fine stew—their perfume is my gift unto the world!

I received an ARC from NetGalley

The second book in Saint Death series (trilogy?) took its time to arrive. The first book, Saint Death’s Daughter (2022), blew my mind and I was eagerly waiting for the follow-up. In many ways, it was worth the wait. In others, a slight let down.

Miscellaneous Stone, the best and only necromancer in the world, is on a hunt for her great-grandfather Irradiant Stone’s ghost. Problem is, he’s a necromancer too, even if not alive anymore, and her teacher, so he’s not easy to catch. She’s followed his trail towards north. She knows he’ll head to Skakhmat where he has unfinished business of genocide kind to take care of.

She’s accompanied by Duantri, the gyrfalcon lady bodyguard, and Stripes, the tiger rug she accidentally brought to life in the previous book, and—once Grandpa Rad abandons his body—Cracchen Skrathmandan, the once enemy who is now filled with spirits of dead Skakhmat wizards bent on revenging on Grandpa Rad.

The hunt is difficult, but they almost catch Grandpa Rad several times, only for him to pull a disappearance act by jumping to a different body. It becomes especially difficult to best him when he finds the city of skinchangers and can become anything he wants after jumping to them. But she’s not above asking for help, from her gods and friends alike, and eventually they manage to best him.

This was a very straightforward book from start to finish: find Grandpa Rad and lay his spirit to rest. No side quests, no distractions from subplots. And while it worked as a story, with good twists and action scenes, it was not quite compelling enough to hold my full interest. It took me over a week to finish this as I kept putting it down.

The first book had two elements that made it one of the best reads of the year it came out. One was Lanie as an underdog, trying to prevail against her murderous family in a very macabre house. The other was the found family of her brother-in-law Makkovian and his daughter Datu, and the falcon ladies Tanaliín and Duantri.

Here Lanie and Duantri were mostly alone, with brief visits from the rest of the family or chapters from their point of view showing what they were doing elsewhere. Mak is on a pilgrimage that he apparently can’t abandon for his sister, and for some reason Tanaliín needs to stay with him and Datu, which strains her bond with Duantri. Mak is the third in their relationship, so they both pine after Duantri, but that’s as emotional as it gets.

The narrative was from several points of view, unlike the first book which was mostly from Lanie’s. Most of the time, they didn’t add anything to the story as such. They only seemed to highlight the fact that Lanie didn’t have enough to do in her own story to carry it like the first book. Even the final battle is mostly from other characters’ points of view.

But the biggest reason why this wasn’t as compelling is that Lanie is now overwhelmingly powerful. She’s not the underdog; she’s the final boss. And I never find characters like that interesting. She had no true enemies throughout the story to keep the reader fearing and rooting for her. Even Grandpa Rad was merely fleeing. She never had to face a true opposition like in the first book, where everything was stacked against her.

For every problem, she had a larger-than-life solution, or a literal deus ex machina in the form of her goddess, Saint Death. Even when her friend, Haaken Skrathmandan, rushes in to a rescue, he shows up with a flying tower he’s only now learned how to create. It’s nice that things go well, but it’s not very interesting if a reader knows everything’s going to be all right from the start.

That being said, this was a well-written, good book; cozy rather than gothic. Lanie was as lovely as before and endearing in her enthusiasm about bones. The ending was good and open enough that there will hopefully be more books. Something was building between Lanie and Haaken, and while he’s not my favourite love interest, (Mak would’ve been better, but he’s happy in his threesome) and he wasn’t as interesting a character as in the first book, it’s something to look forward to.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

I LOVED Saint Death's Daughter, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of the sequel!

Sadly, this was a bit of a letdown for me.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that Herald is bad by any means, it's just that it might be suffering from a case of Sandwiched in a Trilogy Syndrome, where the middle book of a trilogy is spent getting the characters from the end of Book 1 to the start of Book 3.

Where much of Daughter is spent with Lanie learning necromancy and spending time with her found family, Herald is singularly focused on the plot—taking down Grandpa Rad. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but defeating Grandpa Rad turns out to be a task of Sisyphean proportions, resulting in Lanie rarely getting to just spend time with her friends and family. (Which is, like, my favourite parts of these books.)

Again, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but what I loved the most about Daughter was how, even with so many dark and terrible things going on, it still felt joyful. In comparison, Herald was a constant downer, with few moments of levity.

We also get new points of view, which is cool, but unfortunately, aside from Lanie, the most prominent PoV is from Grandpa Rad, who sucks. Grandpa Rad is evil and a relentless schemer, and while those are traits I appreciate in a villain, I found him to be kind of one-note, and his PoV became grating to read after a while.

I did love how Lanie's magic has developed! No spoilers, but there's some new surprises that were very cool.

As a whole, I didn't love Herald as much as Daughter, but I'm still happy to be able to spend time with Lanie.

The weird and wonderful Miscellaneous (Lanie) Stones is back! Herald starts where Daughter ended, with Lanie trying to hunt down her undead great-grandfather, grandpa Rad. I won't say much more because spoilers.

I love the worldbuilding and characters in this series. It's thorough and well thought out and I've never read anything quite like it. The plot in this sequel is a lot more straightforward than in the first book, which I liked slightly better, but it's a worthy successor. The light tone offsets the fairly dark happenings well, and Stripes is the star of the show as far as I'm concerned. I did miss some of my favourite characters from book 1, but then that's what happens with sequels. all in all, i had a great time and i want an undead tiger rug to fly around on. This series deserves to be far more popular than it is.

Saint Death’s Herald is the second book in C. S. E. Cooeny’s Saint Death series. In the first book we meet Lanie, a girl born into a family of assassin’s who has the peculiar ability to bring back the dead. To make things more complicated her close relationship with the goddess of death has made her a target. This first book sets up the incredibly detailed world and a large cast of characters. Whilst that made it quite complicated to read, in the sequel it means that the world-building can pay off.

The stakes are high in this thrilling book as Lanie tries to hunt down her own great-grandfather. He has managed to steal a body and plans to finish his unfinished business (unfortunately, he means to do this by killing A LOT of people). This is a unique path for the plot to follow and I appreciated the thought that Cooney put into making this an original story with plenty of intrigue.

I would recommend this book to fantasy fans that enjoy good writing, strong world-building and a focus on deities and death.

This is every bit as excellent as the first book. It stands alone, but also builds well on the world-building of Saint Death's Daughter. Most of the main characters reappear but also develop, for good or ill.
I love the dark academia aspects of the book. There's a flying library. And footnotes!
I also relate to the story from a neurodivergent perspective- echo wounds are like being over-empathetic and a surge/being drained of energy is very relatable.

A fitting conclusion to the story that began in the excellent Saint Death's Daughter! This is the kind of book that truly benefits from having read the previous entry recently or through the possession of an excellent memory for characters and their respective plot beats, so while returning fans will absolutely love the unique world and characters, don't be surprised if it takes a little while to ease back into this wonderfully creative story.

An easy recommendation and certainly almost a 'must-have' for any collection!

This is the second book in the Saint Death series by C.S.E. Cooney, and I cannot recommend it enough if you love necromancy! Would you look at that, that describes me exactly. And I might also say the names of the characters in this book are so fun (Miscellaneous), as are the characters themselves.

We follow necromancer Lanie Stones, poor thing cannot catch a break, if she had it her way she would be buried in books while enjoying some sweet treats; Laine is all of us. Picking up after the first novel, Lanie is exiled and trying to make things right by looking for her genocidal great-grandfather Irradiant Stones in Cracchen Skathmandan's body, and the journey takes off from there. Thankfully she doesn't go on this journey alone, friends old and new (people and creatures) lend a hand. I looked forward to the moments spent with Lir. The characters are enjoyable and whimsical, the lore of the necromancers and their powers in this book is interesting, and the found family aspect of the book is heart warming. I think Lanie's empathetic and compassionate views on death and the dead makes this book stand out from other novels that I have read with necromancy (often more grim dark in descriptions and world building). I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a descriptive and rich world with an endearing protagonist.

Thank you to Rebellion Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this advanced copy.

I loved this so much! I missed the colorful, grotesque, ridiculous and funny world of Saint Death's Daughter very much, and it was a joy to get to see more of it. It's quite different from the first book in the narrative structure: I imagine it would be hard to repeat some of the feats of the debut without making Lanie retrace her steps. Saint Death's Herald is, in a way, a more straightforward adventure, less twisty, but still very enjoyable for many of the same things that made SDD enjoyable: humour, worldbuilding, the cast of utterly loveable characters. I remain a fan of the author and will continue to clamour for more stories about this world!

I loved Saint Death’s Daughter a lot but somehow I liked this one even more! These books always take me a little while to settle into but once I get going I can hardly stop! The world and magic system is really immersive and I’m so glad that remained true in this one.

The worldbuilding gets a deeper focus in Saint Death’s Herald, with a new setting and several new character relationships to explore. Lanie’s growth was a major highlight for me here—she became confident and capable in this book yet still so kind and grounded and I really loved seeing her grow into herself.

I also really enjoyed the new locations and the lore and culture that came with this. CSE Cooney has created a world that is really rich in its history, religion and traditions and it’s so easy to get lost in it.

My one wish for this sequel is that we’d gotten to explore some of the relationships from the first book more - especially Makkovian, Datu, and Canon Lyr. I missed their interactions with Lanie (particularly in the first half) but maybe that’s just me getting a little too attached 😅 despite living in a fantasy world - flying around on a tiger rug with the ability to raise the dead - Lanie feels like a real human being and this change in her story reflects the ebbs and flows of real life (albeit with an extra portion of vengeful ghosts, divine visits and awkward family dynamics).

Overall I had a fantastic time with this one and I will definitely be rereading at some point!

This was one of my most eagerly anticipated reads of 2025 and I was not disappointed at all. Saint Death’s Herald lived up to everything I loved in SDD, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that I still love C the writing and world building, the characters are like old friends I’m catching up with, cannot recommend this highly enough, absolutely superb

I confess I didn't love [book:Saint Death's Daughter|57757152], though I did like it; amidst a certain degree of faffing about there were some pretty cool things, not least of which a pretty good sequel hook involving our protagonist (the wonderfully named Miscellaneous Immiscible Stones, or Lanie for short)'s great-grandfather's evil ghost flying off into the distance after having been released from a magic padlock (don't ask) and Lanie needing to track him down and exorcise his ass. To the extent that this book was mostly a series of chases and Necromantic Wizard Duels between Lanie and "Grandpa Rad", I thought it was a lot of fun. One sequence in particular really had the same vibe as the Merlin/Madame Mim duel from "The Sword in the Stone" (a movie for which I had a great deal of childhood fondness) so that's always going to be a winner for me.

A triumphant return to one of the fantasy genre's most spellbinding and singular worlds. In Saint Death's Daughter, C.S.E. Cooney gave us a world stitched from whimsy and macabre, rich with invention and heart. In Saint Death’s Herald, she invites us back for more uncanny cultures, more glittering godly encounters, more friends and enemies, more glorious magic and necromantic hijinks. It’s a world I never want to leave, a world I could explore endlessly and still be left in awe.

Masterfully balancing wit and the fantastical with the dark and horrifying, Cooney's prose continues to dazzle. Lush, lyrical and immersive, her voice is unmistakable — rich with metaphor, alive with rhythm, and utterly transportive.

As a quest that follows previously unresolved threads from Saint Death's Daughter, the plot is more linear with a smaller scope and cast of characters. Cooney explores themes of personal identity, intergenerational trauma, the echoes of war and the complicated legacies we inherit and resist.

But at its heart this is still Lanie Stones' story. Her evolving relationships with friends, enemies and her god, her deepening power as a necromancer, and her ongoing inner transformation. An utterly unforgettable protagonist, Cooney reminds us through Lanie that coming of age isn't a single arc; it's a lifelong process - messy, painful, full of heartbreak and grace.

Saint Death’s Herald lingers not just for its wild creativity or beautiful writing, but for the way it speaks to transformation, to love, to what we carry and what we choose to become. It's ferociously smart, achingly beautiful and gloriously strange. I can't wait for more.

Thank you Solaris Books for the ARC.

Highlights
~Stripes the flying tiger-rug!
~limestone is officially the Best Rock
~shapeshifters like you’ve never seen
~a very sparkly hivemind
~ice, ice, baby

:minor spoilers for Saint Death’s Herald!:

Saint Death’s Herald is a very different book to its predecessor, to the point that I think some readers will be initially startled by it. But if you hang on long enough for the story to sweep you away – and it won’t take long! – then you’ll find that Cooney has penned another beautiful, brilliant, beguiling epic to enchant us.

There’s no gradual build-up this time: Herald hits the ground running (or should I say: flying?) and thereafter never slows down. The blurb covers the skeleton (pun absolutely intended) of the plot, but is a bit misleading: Lanie and Duantri are close on the heels of Lanie’s ghostly grandfather as the book opens, but although his plan is to head for Skakhmat, he gets side-tracked and ends up leading them into Leech, a nation of terrifying shapeshifters. Grandpa Rad has big, horrifying plans, and he means to use the very soul-matter of the shapeshifters to bring them to fruition.

The showdown, throwdown, is epic.

If Daughter was extravagantly sprawling, Herald is tighter, far more direct, all the glittering opulence of the first book distilled down to a blinding but laser-focused radiance. Herald is faster, more streamlined, all of Lanie’s natural exuberance – not reined in (never that!) but turned to a single purpose, from which nothing is going to sway or distract her. Where Daughter dances, Herald runs, not with a sprint, but with the unflagging determination of a persistence predator hunting a dream.

I do not mean to imply for even a moment that this means Saint Death’s Herald is a more boring book than its predecessor! It is, perhaps, slightly less wiggly (I cannot say, ‘more straightforward’, because ‘straightforward’ implies a conventionality that I doubt Cooney is capable of, even were she interested in trying)(this is a most adoring compliment) – but that is not to say that Herald has been pared away to the strictly functional, that here all Daughter’s gleeful whimsy has been sanded down to dull and plodding Sense and Seriousness! That is most certainly not the case!

Saint Death’s Herald is effervescent, glittering, as fizzy and breathtaking as a shower of shooting stars. It abounds with muchness, marvellously so; it is a magic carpet to rival Stripes himself, woven out of love and wonder and rainbow-streaked wildness, and it soars.

>Issue of ill-mage, heir of our arch-foe,
meet is our meeting, midst sky-road and soil!
Vengeance and vanquishment at last are upon us
Capitulate, craven–extinction ensues!<

No book where one language is presented in iambic pentameter (Quadoc) and another is in the alliterative verse of the freaking Norse epics (Old Skaki) is not spilling over with citrus-pink zest, okay??? This is, like its predecessor, a book that is not only endless fun to read, it was clearly also immense fun to write, and the joy and glee and delight that went into its writing radiates from the pages like sunlight. Saint Death’s Herald is so perfectly FREE: unselfconscious, uninhibited, entirely unashamed of its larger-than-life* lavishness. It glories in that lavishness, revels in itself and invites us into the revel too.

This is not a go big or go home book: it’s a go big because big is BEAUTIFUL! book.

And that is so much better.

*There’s a necromancy pun in there somewhere, I know it!

>Undeath, in Stripes’ opinion, was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. He was supremely pleased to be operating on the z-axis after a lifetime of apex predatoring on the ground.<

I will never get tired of how these books about necromancy are fundamentally a celebration of life and living. That remains so impressively subversive, and creative, and inspiring – and such freaking FUN.

And since I haven’t yet said so outright: everything I loved about Saint Death’s Daughter is here in abundance. The footnotes; the dazzling prose; the vocabulary, full (but not overwhelming so) of words unfamiliar to me, each one small and precious and perfect as the surprise in a Fabergé egg – a treasure within a treasure. (I love looking up new words from this series, especially because they are always such marvellous new words; but I do think readers who do not enjoy consulting the dictionary can get by perfectly well deducing the meanings from context.) And hey, all the incredible characters we fell in love with in the first book? Prepare to love them even more! Saint Death’s Herald isn’t only from Lanie’s POV; this time, we also see through the eyes of characters like Duantri and Datu (and several others I’ll leave as surprises!) I didn’t expect that – it’s a big change from Daughter, where we only have Lanie’s perspective – but it’s a much-appreciated addition! I loved getting to know these characters even better than we already do, and discovering what Lanie looks like from where they’re standing? Wasn’t just fun; in a few cases, it was a very necessary reminder that she appears very differently to other people than she does to us.

(We know Lanie as the adorable twitling who cuddles mice skeletons and nerds out over all things Quadoni and will forget to eat if she has cool bones to play with. It’s difficult to think of her as scary. It’s only by seeing her as others see her that we realise how – how world-changing she is, or has the potential to be. Which does mean terrifying, to some.)

>She is splendid, murmured the crystalskin. She is a walking terror of Athe.<

Not everything is all love and glitter, though. Because Grandpa Rad is the worst kind of monster, and he is, unfortunately, what Saint Death’s Herald revolves around.

>So there they were, his literal flock of siblings. Near at hand, easy to catch, fully matured. Cattle fatted for the slaughter. A massive resource, just waiting to be tapped.

And they all underestimated him.<

The dream Lanie is chasing, persistence-hunter style, is of a world where a necromancer’s powers are about a love of life, are for joy and helping and healing. Her Grandpa Rad is her opposite in almost every way, something that becomes more and more obvious the longer he’s running free; they are a study in contrasts, opposing forces that cannot coexist, cannot balance, because Rad wants to own the world and Lanie wants to love it. Lanie wants to let the world be beautiful, in all its wondrous strangeness; Rad doesn’t see beauty at all, and wants to subjugate or destroy everything that is different from him, that is Not Him.

>I can’t feel her anymore. Usually, with dead accident, I can feel the echo of the substance inside it. A link to Doédenna’s cloak, where the memory of life is kept stitched. That’s how I can sing the substance back, temporarily–through that link. But with this”–she gestured at the corpse–“there’s nothing to call back. It’s gone. He ate it. It’s all wrong.”<

Rad is so disgustingly awful that I wish it was harder to believe someone could really be Like That. He is obviously a villain, and anyone who didn’t already despise him from the first book will definitely do so after just a few minutes of Herald. In that, he is…not boring, because he’s not predictable, and he’s depressingly clever, but as an individual, he holds no interest for me. (Even if his narcissism has, at times, the can’t-look-away factor of a train crash.) The man has one layer (which makes his disgust with the physical makeup of the shapeshifters deeply ironic), and there was never a moment I even sympathised with him, never mind sided with him. But I’m curious to see how other readers react to some of his actions, because even if he’s unremittingly evil, he…might not always be wrong?

Because the shapeshifters of Leech are extremely Other. They are so alien that they don’t even eat food – they eat souls.

Stop for a second and think about that.

They EAT.

SOULS.

Rad might be one of the novel’s driving forces, but I think the shapeshifters are its fulcrum; are, in a very real way, a kind of test case for the themes of Daughter. We were happy to embrace the messaging of the first book, which can maybe be distilled down to celebrate Life. But can we walk the walk when we’re confronted with beings who, by any human measure, are unspeakably monstrous?

Do you still think Life is always worth defending? Can you treasure strangeness that is this strange? Will you love the monsters, too? CAN you?

Lanie can. Lanie does. This is why we love her.

>Lanie’s thoughts spun out in a ravelment of marvel.<

But it also might be the one moment in the entire series when readers really, genuinely struggle to follow where she leads. It’s not hard for me to imagine other readers recoiling from her reaction, when she learns about the soul-eating. Certainly the other cast-members have very different opinions on it!

And this – the invention of the shapeshifters, their placement in Herald, showing us the wildly different perspectives different characters have on them – my gods, this is why I will follow anywhere Cooney leads. Because she can create beings this alien to me. Because she is so clearly delighted by the creation of them. Because she so perfectly balances horror and wonder, in making them equally and genuinely horrifying and beautiful.

No, wait, that’s not quite it. It’s not that she can create something that appals and appeals. That is impressive, but it’s not an ability completely unique to her. What I think might well be is: she shows us, teaches us, how to look at horror and see beauty. Because she does make us see through Lanie’s eyes, feel with her heart, believe with her faith. Showing me a monster, and then showing me, teaching me how to see, that it is beautiful not despite the parts of it that terrify me, but because of them? So few storytellers can do that, can pull you so deep into the story that you become it, and it becomes you, so that you carry it with you long after you turn the final page, not the person you were before, transformed – shifted – right down to the marrow. Your perceptions are forever changed; you have a sixth sense, a seventh, an eighth you never had before, senses just for strangeness. So few storytellers can teach you to see a new colour, but Cooney can, and does.

What do you call that, except magic?

>Her magic, at once familiar and alien, sang in Lanie’s bones: notes like needles-of-water; chords like calvings-of-icebergs; progressions of thundersnow and sleet, of graupel and permafrost and salt-ice upon the shore. She grew dizzy with the immensity of the symphony<

It shouldn’t be a surprise; wasn’t Saint Death’s Daughter a magnum opus that took the frightening and unsettling, and showed us a wildly different way of looking at it? This is a series about a necromancer, about death-magic, with regular appearances by the goddess of death – and yet this story is optimistic, jubilant, heartfelt. Cooney has been subverting our ideas of ugliness and horror from the first page of the first book!

And I love her for doing it yet again.

>From within her deep senses, the pearly caress of those sleeping bones tidal-tumbled through her, cuddling closer, memory-to-memory, sharing the sweetness of their divine rest.<

I can’t make myself wrap up without talking a bit about the gods here. I fell head-over-heels for them all in Daughter, and I love them still – and just as we learn more about the mortal cast in this book, we get quite a bit more insight into, not just individual gods, but also how divinity works in Athe, what gods can and cannot do, their connections to their chosen wizards, the risk that’s posed each time they create an artefact imbued with their power. All of which is massively plot-relevant, because a big chunk of Herald sees Lanie caught up in situations that are a direct result of the choices made by one god or another – or choices that a god refuses to make.

I want to mention this because I found it distressingly confusing when I first read it. I didn’t understand (and felt betrayed by Saint Death, which is ridiculous, and yet) and I have the sort of brain that can’t let go of something that makes no sense to me. This was going to ruin the entire book for me if I couldn’t figure it out. And hopefully, I can preempt that happening to any other readers. Because what I eventually realised – after going over that part of Herald much more carefully than I did the first time, given that that time I was turning pages as fast as I could because it’s probably the tensest, most action-packed part of the book – is that I’d missed, or forgotten, what should be very obvious about any death deity, and most especially this one.

To you and I, any choice between Lanie and Irradiant, aka Grandpa Rad, is no choice at all. So why is it that Lanie has to prove herself Saint Death’s best-beloved? There’s no reason for the epic, horrifying, cinematic showdown in Leech – no rational reason for Saint Death to not declare Lanie Her champion and have done – unless She still loves Irradiant too.

>You can’t favor us both, she muttered, but the only answer was the sharp twinge in her wizard marks.<

GALAXY-BRAIN MOMENT. We’re talking about the goddess of death. Of course She can’t stop loving someone! She’s DEATH. Death is there for EVERYONE. Possibly other gods can reject mortals, but death? Even if you disappoint Her, hurt Her terribly…by Her very nature, how can She hate anyone? And so, how can She choose?

(I have a feeling this was even stated explicitly in Daughter at one point, and I just forgot.)

Do I need to tell you that this – Lady Death being unable or unwilling to stop loving anyone – makes me incredibly happy? Not just because it makes sense of a confusion that bothered me, and not even just because it’s a wonderful worldbuilding detail. I love the theology of it. It feels deeply correct. I hope that makes sense, because I can’t figure out another way to put it.

(And I could write ANOTHER 10K word essay on how this plays into the theme of rejecting violence that was such an important part of the first book; how the situation Lady Death’s not-choice puts Lanie in showcases this so beautifully; what the results of Lanie trying to fight her grandfather mean for this theme of rejecting violence, especially as contrasted with Herald’s ultimate climax. The subversion of conventions and genre-norms!!! BUT I CAN’T WAX POETIC BECAUSE SPOILERS. Just. Take it as read that Cooney is a genius with this too, and pay attention when you read it!)

This entire deep dive into – the exploration of – divinity on Athe is one of my favourite aspects of Herald. One of the most beautiful moments in the entire book is when a character I did not expect to show up again communes with his goddess – a goddess who is, and is not, the Lady Death Lanie knows and loves. The multifacety of gods is something I always get excited about; the idea that, for example, Lucifer and Loki are different masks-and-costumes worn by the same Power is a thrilling one to explore or play with, and Cooney dances with it here, giving us such a deep, intimate look into the world she’s created, the workings of the world she’s created. It’s ridiculously cool from a worldbuilding perspective, breathtaking from a story one, and – honestly, kind of an honour, in being allowed a glimpse behind the curtain, especially when you remember that Athe is where all Cooney’s stories are set.

Which means this is not the last time we’ll visit it. Saint Death’s Herald feels like the second book in a duology, not the middle book of a trilogy, which makes perfect sense – and makes me feel very loved as a reader – when you learn that Cooney wanted to make sure we would not be left anxious or unsatisfied if for some reason Rebellion is foolish enough not to give her a contract for book three. I mean, I will riot if that happens. But if this is where this series ends, then my friends, it is a truly magnificent ending, and I will console myself with the knowledge that no matter what, we will see Athe again.

(But also, Rebellion, I will riot. RIOT.)

Truly, a more-than-worthy sequel to The Most Perfect Book to Ever Book.

3.5 rounded up

I was so excited to return to this world, but just kept bouncing off the plot and missing the twists and the interpersonal relationships of the first book. Another reviewer said this felt more like a side quest, and I agree- while the writing was still a delight, there was less substance than book one, leaving it feeling like filler. Very fun filler, to be sure, but a bit of a let down!

Saint Death’s Daughter was my favorite novel of 2022, so there was really no question about whether I’d read the sequel. The only question is when it would come out. Three years later, Saint Death’s Herald by C.S.E. Cooney is here.

Saint Death’s Daughter stars Miscellaneous “Lanie” Stones, a necromancer with an allergy to violence that finds herself the heir to an extremely complicated family legacy, with financial and moral debts aplenty. It’s a long book with excellent prose and a tone that adeptly balances the vibes of the cinnamon roll lead and her weightier circumstances. It’s a book I’d heartily recommend as a standalone, but it does leave one nagging detail to be handled in the sequel. Enter Saint Death’s Herald.

[Note: while this is a sequel review, I have endeavored to avoid spoilers for either book in the series]

Saint Death’s Herald switches perspectives much more frequently than the first book, opening with Lanie’s quarry before shifting back to the lead and her traveling companion. It’s an opening that quickly established the stakes of the chase while injecting plenty of levity via Lanie’s banter with her partner. The result is a book that hooked me fast.

Unfortunately, there really is just one major plot arc in Saint Death’s Herald, and once it becomes obvious that it’s going to cover the full book, it robs the story of a lot of tension. There are some heart-pounding moments in the first half—the midway climax particularly stands out—but it’s hard to get too invested in defeating the villain when he’s just going to find a way to wiggle himself out of trouble and set up another confrontation down the line. There are only so many variations of “almost catch your quarry only to see him slip through your fingers,” and Saint Death’s Herald goes back to the well a few too many times. I suspect this would’ve been better as a novella-length side quest, but there just aren’t enough storylines for a full novel.

On the plus side, the writing quality is really high, making an engaging read out of something that could’ve easily turned tedious. And the other major selling point here is the ending. Saint Death’s Daughter was almost perfectly satisfying as a standalone, but Saint Death’s Herald rectifies the almost and gives the story the ending I would’ve liked to see it have in the first place.

I believe there’s another book planned, and I’m not sure exactly how Saint Death’s Herald will serve in the ultimate trilogy structure. It doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s supposed to set up another book, so maybe it’s meant to tie up loose ends to pave the way for an unrelated adventure. If so, I’m certainly very open to giving book three a shot. But while Saint Death’s Herald is well-written and provides a last bit of closure absent in the first book, it runs longer that it should and doesn’t feel like a must-read for Saint Death’s Daughter fans.

Recommended if you like: Lanie going on a side quest.

Overall rating: 15 of Tar Vol’s 20. Four stars on Goodreads.

As soon as I heard that C. S. E. Cooney was delivering a sequel to Saint Death’s Daughter I knew that I had to get my hands on it. I absolutely adored SDD and an opportunity to return to the strange, curious, twisty and intriguing world that Cooney created for Lainie and her friends was an absolute no brainer.

Before I even start to give you an overview of the plot, I absolutely have to expound on the brilliance of Cooney’s writing and world-building. These worlds are complex, detailed, distinct, and truly awe-inspiring, without being overly complex or overwhelming. The world-building is such a brilliant from Lainie’s entry into the Skinchanger city of Taquathura via the Limestone Bridge to the magically complex Sky Houses of the Sky Wizards and how they are powered – all are described to such an immense level of detail that truly brings them to live but, NEVER feels like a lecture, they feel like beautifully painted works of art that you can truly see. Cooney’s artistry here is truly mindblowing and isn’t just limited to painting pictures in the mind of the reader, as there is also a depth of political intrigue woven into the picture that just adds to the depth and dimensions of the imagery. From

Then of course there are the characters old and new, from Lainie who remains the absolute darling that we met in Saint Death’s Daughter, albeit with a little more understanding of her abilities, but retaining her joy in finding beauty in the weirdest places. I absolutely adore Lainie, she is truly an innocent, always trying to think the best of those around her but, when push comes to shove, she is there in all of her power fighting for her Saint and what is right. There are a few other characters who you will recognise from SDD, to name a few, Datu, Undies and Stripes (I adore them both but, have got my unmentionables safely stowed, just in case!) Plus, a few new characters for whom Cooney ensures each has their own perspective, voice and unique personality, which is amazing considering the complexity of some!

Turning to the story, I have noted that some of the readers were disappointed that the plot of Saint Death’s Herald was very linear in comparison to Saint Death’s Daughter but, for me that really wasn’t an issue. I think I would have been disappointed if this book had simply been a carbon copy of the plot of the original but, I truly appreciated the continuity in the sense of the Terry Pratchett vibe, fart references and footnotes that were retained and continued – for me these truly continued that vibe and feel that I originally adored in SDD.

What more can I say without revealing the plot, Saint Death’s Herald progresses and expands the world of Saint Death’s Daughter, continuing Lainie’s journey and development whilst also delivering an epic quest and something totally new and intriguing to the series. If you loved Saint Death’s Daughter, don’t hesitate grab hold of Saint Death’s Herald now.

This was one of my most eagerly anticipated reads of the year so far. I loved Saint Death’s Daughter and necromancer Lanie Stones was one of my favourite fantasy heroines of that year so I couldn’t wait to find what happened next. Sadly, for me, Saint Death’s Herald didn’t quite live up to the promise of that first book.
I still love C S E Cooney’s writing and the world building is superb. From the skinchanger’s city of Taquathura to the sky houses of the wizards, the world is brilliantly brought to life. I really enjoyed the political intrigue too especially the witch queen’s desperate manoeuvring to keep her egg from harm.
Lanie is still a brilliant protagonist. In this second book, she is learning more about her power as necromancer and discovering what she is capable of. I loved seeing her magic and her relationship with her god develop. However, none of the other main characters really came alive for me which meant that the book lost some of the warmth and love that was such a big part of Saint Death’s Daughter.
My biggest issue however was the plot as it just wasn’t that interesting. The entire book revolves around Lanie trying to track down and defeat Grandpa Irradiant Stones and we just seem to keep reliving the same moments over again. As a villain, he lacked depth and although his actions were truly evil, I never really felt that there was any tension between the two main characters.
Most of the other reviews that I have read have been extremely positive so I think I’m in the minority here but for me, Saint Death’s Herald lacked the complexity of plot and characters that made me enjoy the first book so much.
I am hugely grateful as always to Net Galley and the publishers, Rebellion Publishing for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

C. S. E. Cooney is such a brilliant storyteller! This book brings us all the wonderfully elaborate world building, quirky and lovable characters, and unusual narrative style and dialogue that I enjoyed in Saint Death's Daughter. I'm a little baffled how Cooney's managed to create such a detailed and curious world here, and to grow it now in this sequel. Lanie remains absolutely delightful, her enthusiasm for the world and ability to see beauty in strange places make her equal parts charming and compelling. This story has multiple different perspectives throughout without being too overwhelming. Each character has their own distinct voice and personality, and an interesting perspective to share at various points. Though we see a lot less of some characters in this book, which is a shame, they're not entirely absent.

It's hard to describe how impressive Cooney's writing and world building is. No detail is overlooked, and it makes it at times quite a challenge to read but an interesting one, for sure. There's also some wonderful and humorous footnotes scattered around that reflect the quirkiness of the world in which the story's based through small facts and asides. It builds on the humour that's present in the book, which kept me amused throughout. One thing I would say is that it's a really long and wordy story (as was the previous one) and it would have benefited by being edited down a little. There's one action scene that covers a very short period in terms of the book's timeline but was around 10% of the book as a whole and it's scenes like this that wore me down a little. That being said, it's otherwise an incredible series and it was a pleasure to rejoin Lanie and her friends, family, foes and new acquaintances in this book. You'll really have to give it a read to appreciate Cooney's talent!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

“Skinchangers do not eat flesh. ... What they eat is everything that makes a being itself. Their haecceity. Their thisness. Thisness is what they feed on.”[loc. 1052]

In Saint Death's Daughter, Lanie (short for Miscellaneous) Stones spent much of her time in the family mansion, avoiding anything and anyone that might trigger her allergic reaction to violence: when that was taken from her, she found a home above a school in Liriat Proper. In Saint Death's Herald, she leaves Liriat (and most of her found family) behind, determined to fulfill her promise to rescue Sari Scratch's son. Cracchen, possessed by the vengeful spirit of Lanie's great-grandfather Irradiant Radithor Stones (a.k.a. Grandpa Rad), is heading north: Lanie, accompanied only by the gyrgardi (were-falcon) Duantri and by Stripes (an animated tiger-skin rug of great valour), must follow.

Though there are brief interludes recounting the adventures of Lanie's nearest and dearest -- her niece Datu, Datu's father Mak, Duantri's partner Tanaliín -- on their pilgrimage, most of the story focusses on Lanie and her discovery of the wider world. She visits Leech and Witch Queen City, which turn out to be coloniser names for the Free Territories of Taquathura and its capital city Madinatam. She discovers the truth about the flying castles of the sky wizards of Skakmaht, and the chilling way in which they're powered. And though she's lonely and often in peril, her innate compassion and kindness extends even to the most implacable of foes.

Saint Death's Herald picks up where the previous volume of the hopefully-a-trilogy left off: it's definitely worth a quick reread of Daughter to refamiliarise oneself with names and events. There aren't as many footnotes in this volume, and the plot of the novel is at once darker and simpler. I missed Mak (of whom we catch glimpses) and Lir, but found Grandpa Rad's life story tantalising, and the skinchangers fascinating. And I love that, in this cosy-gruesome world, death is a balm, a release, a kindness.

Cooney's prose is an absolute joy. I'm occasionally reminded of Ysabeau Wilce, just for sheer rambunctiousness -- and it's a long time since I've had to look up the meanings of so many words while reading a novel (quop! tholobate! acroteria! anomural! phenocryst! and many many more) which is a pleasure in itself. Looking forward to the next volume...

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my advance review copy! UK publication date is 22nd April 2025.

The poor, mangled bird of his soul. How it had hunched, sullen, glaring at her: wings torn, beak broken, one eye missing, feathers the color of void, smelling of rotten citrus. [loc. 5641]