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.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

The Synopsis:
Sam leads a pretty normal life. He may not have the most exciting job in the world, but he’s doing all right—until a fast food prank brings him to the attention of Douglas, a creepy guy with an intense violent streak.

Turns out Douglas is a necromancer who raises the dead for cash and sees potential in Sam. Then Sam discovers he’s a necromancer too, but with strangely latent powers. And his worst nightmare wants to join forces . . . or else.

With only a week to figure things out, Sam needs all the help he can get. Luckily he lives in Seattle, which has nearly as many paranormal types as it does coffee places. But even with newfound friends, will Sam be able to save his skin?


My Thoughts:
What is a necromancer?  When discussing this book to friends or family (because sometimes I can't help but talk about the books I read, even if they're not interested), this question came up quite frequently, and it baffled me.  I thought, 'Who doesn't know what a necromancer is?'  And then I'd have to explain each time what a necromancer was.  So, if you don't know what a necromancer is, never fear, because I am here to explain it to you.

A necromancer is a person that has the power to raise the dead.

That's it, really. 

Now, to the review.  When it came time for the Fall Fierce Reads Book Tour, I saw that the sequel to this one was on the list.  Curious, I set out to find the first book and read it and all that jazz.  The concept sounded very creative and interesting and the cover, the original cover, is something of a beauty. (If you were wondering, the cover featured above is not the original cover).  Plus, it had that little metal award thing.  That had to count for something good to come out of this book, right?

Right.

Sam.  I can't tell you guys how much I loved him.  He's this nineteen-year-old average kid that works at a fast food joint.  There's nothing special about him.  He's not drop-dead gorgeous and he's not muscular and he certainly is not a brave person.  One thing leads to another and he learns that he's a necromancer and his life basically changes in the blink of an eye.  The book mostly is in his point of view and I loved every moment of it.  He was hilarious!  The narrative was superb.  Sam was sarcastic and underestimated himself frequently and, if not for his supportive friends, he most likely would have never overcome the things that he did. (which I liked because in a lot of books, the MC usually drops their friends for the supernatural life)

The story itself was dark and morbid, but extremely fun and entertaining to read.  Sam meets Douglas in an unfortunate event and things all spin off from that.  Being that this book is about necromancy, I was super glad to see how dark and twisted the plot turned out to be.  And I'll tell you this now: McBride was not afraid to bring the ax down on characters.

My only complaint would be the lack of imagery.  Things would get confusing every now and then and I'd have to reread sentences to decipher what was going on.  It wasn't that big of a deal, but it bothered me at times.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is about a loser, dropout turns super powerful being of necromancy boy that ends up not only surprising himself, but myself included.  I fell in love with him easily with his attitude and sarcasm.  Also, McBride taught me that it is not the people that can raise the dead I should fear, but those who wield their power the wrong way.  Who knew that I could love a necromancer?  Fans of all things supernatural, dark, and dead will enjoy this book.

P.S Mrs. W rocks.