Necromancing The Stone

Published: September 18th, 2012

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Pages: 344

Copy: Library

Summary: Goodreads

With the defeat of the evil Douglas behind him, Sam LaCroix is getting used to his new life. Okay, so he hadn’t exactly planned on being a powerful necromancer with a seat on the local magical council and a capricious werewolf sort-of-girlfriend, but things are going fine, right?

Well . . . not really. He’s pretty tired of getting beat up by everyone and their mother, for one thing, and he can’t help but feel that his new house hates him. His best friend is a werebear, someone is threatening his sister, and while Sam realizes that he himself has a lot of power at his fingertips, he’s not exactly sure how to use it. Which, he has to admit, is a bit disconcerting.

But when everything starts falling apart, he decides it’s time to step up and take control. His attempts to do so just bring up more questions, though, the most important of which is more than a little alarming: Is Douglas really dead?

Necromancing the Stone is the follow-up to Hold Me Closer Necromancer, which I reviewed back in 2011.  I thoroughly enjoyed the first one, particularly the humour in it, and I'm thrilled to say that this one didn't let me down at all.

This time around the humour is provided by the extra inhabitants of the garden in Sam's new house - well the one he inherited from Douglas after killing him anyway.  These inhabitants include garden gnomes - Twinkle the Destroyer anyone, or Chuck Norriser to name just two - statues of gladiators and minotaurs and various other denizens.  The antics of this group and Frank are just hilarious - holding Thunder Gnome in the backyard to see whether Frank can become an honorary gnome?

The story is written so that the reader is aware of what is going on, but the characters are not, and this led to several 'Oh no, don't do that!' moments for me.  It was really rather fun.  Sam is such a wonderful character.  I absolutely adore him.  If I'm honest, I think he is nearly at the top of my favourites list.  Not because he's handsome and brave etc., but because he feels real.  He's unsure of himself and his powers, but instead of just charging ahead blindly he asks for help - and he listens to the answers.  He is kind and caring, funny, sweet.  A great friend and really just an all round nice human being.  I wish I could meet him.

I would recommend reading Hold Me Closer first if you haven't already, because this one will make more sense that way, but it could stand alone.  Ms. McBride, I love your writing and I really hope you write more about Sam and his friends, but you finished this one off so nicely I'm thinking maybe this is it.  I hope not anyway.  I for one would love to see more.