Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride

The Synopsis:

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?

My Thoughts:
After immensely enjoying Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, I was extremely eager to jump back into the world in the second book, Necromancing the Stone (Does this remind you of a certain 1984 movie starring Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito?).  Also, Sam's character had left such an imprint on my mind with his wittiness, and underdog glory.  There wasn't a cliffhanger at the end of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, but there were questions that were left unanswered and characters I still felt obligated to return to.

Sam starts off in the book with having to find a way to be accepted amongst the council members.  After the truth about Douglas got loose, all of them were wary of any necromancer, so Sam was not put in the most optimal of places, being that he is the head of the council and all.  However, he still did not let me down.  He was still his dorky, sarcastic self that had to deal with loads of stress and supernatural problems.  I'm not sure if I could love Sam any more than I did in this book.

While Douglas did not pose as the big threat and antagonist like he did in the last book, I still found the story to be just as enjoyable.  Other problems popped up, like having to juggle a relationship with the alpha were, Brid, having to accept the fact that his best friend was now a werebear, struggling with his guilt, keeping his family safe, being the strong head of the council, and on and on.  The list never ended!  And yet, Sam--being that he is Sam--dealt with his issues as would be expected from him.  Essentially, this means that there was a certain comical quality about it to brighten up a lot of the darkness that comes with being a necromancer and dealing with the dead and all.

I'll talk a little bit about the romantic qualities here and say that is was handled expertly.  The romance, while such a cute relationship, was created as to be more of an afterthought than the central idea of the plot.   Sam proved that he didn't need Brid as his girlfriend to move forward and vice versa.  They were both independent characters that were given lots of responsibly and it was all handled maturely, where there wasn't a whole lot of "I love you"s and all.

And I loved the alternating POVs that would happen every now and then in the book because it gave me a lot more insight on the other characters in the story.  Also, I remember in my review of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, I had said that there was a lack of imagery that would leave me confused at times when something would happen.  I have to say, that, when reminiscing over the story, I didn't have that issue with Necromancing the Stone.

Necromancing the Stone is an extremely witty and comical book balanced in with a dark and morbid idea.  I honestly did not think that I would enjoy this book as much as I did, due to the lack of reviews.  Sam's character made for such a rich and different narrative that had me enjoying every moment of the book.  Who knew that I would end up loving a necromancer?  Fans of the supernatural, dark stories, and male narratives will enjoy this book.