Andrew Ranulf Blankenship is a handsome, stylish nonconformist with wry wit, a classic Mustang, and a massive library. He is also a recovering alcoholic and a practicing warlock, able to speak with the dead through film. His house is a maze of sorcerous booby traps and escape tunnels, as yours might be if you were sitting on a treasury of Russian magic stolen from the Soviet Union thirty years ago. Andrew has long known that magic was a brutal game requiring blood sacrifice and a willingness to confront death, but his many years of peace and comfort have left him soft, more concerned with maintaining false youth than with seeing to his own defense. Now a monster straight from the pages of Russian folklore is coming for him, and frost and death are coming with her.
My review:
Andrew Blankenship is a recovering alcoholic and a practicing warlock.
Reading that hook alone prompted me to pick up this book without having heard anything about it. Christopher Buehlman didn't disappoint me.
This urban fantasy horror isn't an easy read. It's not fast-paced or what you might expect. It's thick, and I don't mean in the actual length. Incredibly written with beautiful and, at times, gruesome detail. It's unique in style and content.
The plot has many dark twists and turns, and the world building is phenomenal. The monsters, the spells, the enchanted items, the house itself! Magic isn't free in this world. It has a price. I don't want to give anything away. You must read it for those things alone. Yet it is the characterization that is phenomenal. Characters so far from the mainstream, so gritty and real. I was wrapped up in Andrew, Anneke, and Nadia. Even Sal enchanted me, and my chest tightened when I learned his story.
Highly recommended. I'll definitely be picking up Buehlman's other books.
Buy THE NECROMANCER'S HOUSE here:
