Necromancing the Stone (review)

Having discovered that he's a necromancer and defeated Douglas, the evil necromancer who was trying to kill him in Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (BCCB 12/10), Sam is now trying to settle into his new life, no easy feat when your power hinges on blood sacrifice and you can't even bring yourself to eat meat. He's kept busy managing Douglas' estate (which he inherited), trying (and failing) to learn to fight, and enjoying his relationship with girlfriend Brid, the fantastically tough werewolf girl he met in Douglas' dungeon. Then Brid's father, Brannoc, is murdered and she becomes pack leader, which threatens both Sam and Brid's relationship and Sam's standing in the community. McBride expands on the world introduced in the first volume as Sam adjusts to the leadership role that's been thrust upon him, first as a member of the Council that governs the local supernatural subculture, then as a key operator in the investigation of Brannoc's death. Sam may be one of the most likably hapless heroes in speculative fiction: he's amiable, good-hearted, and in completely over his head, making him impossible not to root for as he forges ahead with a dogged persistence and an unconventionally (for a necromancer) empathetic approach that (mostly) cancels out his ineptitude. The recycling of Douglas as a villain leeches some of the urgency that drove the first book, but between the sparkling dialogue, the warm but fraught relationships, and the assured balance of hilarity and horror, readers will be thrilled to re-enter McBride's world.