Novel Review: Necromancing the Stone (Necromancer, #2) by Lish McBride

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA/NA Supernatural Romance

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Publish Date: September, 2012

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads 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?

Something Specific:

Love:

• Hailey and James. Ship it all the way. More below.
• The gnomes and other creatures—they are all fantastic.
• Ramon. Brid. Sam. James. Not in that order.

Quotes:

• "'Someone died today,’ I said. ‘That should be mourned. And respected.’ […] ‘My sorrow it for those he leaves behind and what he could have been.’” (Hardback, pg. 314) I like the thought that, no matter the person, when they die, someone deserves mourning, whether it's them or the people who cared for them.

 

The Cover:

I like these covers. The first one on the first book I think I prefered the style of, but I still really like this one. It fits, it looks good, it works for the book really well: the style and the actual image. Although I don't think that the wolf particularly needs to be on this book, it still works. I like it.

Review:

This book was so good. Even better than the first one, I think. I can’t believe it took me so long to finally read it. (Also, at first, I was worried about my memory being so fuzzy when it came to the first book, but that wasn’t really a problem. Particularly because of the fact that McBride seems to know what she’s doing with the whole recap thing. Most of it was in the first chapter, and it was done very well—giving a good idea of what happened in the first book, along with a lot of humorous comments from Sam.)

I love the characters, all of them. I love Sam, the necromancer; he’s a rather average guy in personality, he’s sarcastic, he’s new to all this supernatural stuff but he’s handling it rather well. He’s fun, and I like being inside his head. I love all of his friends. Ramon, his best friend and newly been made were-bear, is awesome. He works just so well with Sam, and he’s just so sweet and funny and great. I love Brid; she’s strong and smart, and handles things under pressure, and while she does something not smart in this book, she has her reasons for it. Frank I didn’t remember very much, nor do I have a good handle on who he is, but I liked his part in the book, particularly when he got the job of taking care of the creatures that live on the land and making sure they’re happy. The werewolf pack was fun, and I liked the little insights given about them, particularly Brid’s brothers, and even more so Sean. I like Sam’s family and his relationships with them.

I love the romance between Sam and Brid; they are just so sweet and adorable and fun together. I wouldn’t mind more time between them, really. And I’m not very happy with what happened between them in this book; but I don’t want to spoil too much. Part of me wasn’t hit as hard as I probably should have been, just because I didn’t really believe it would last, but it seriously sucks. I liked how everyone around them bothered them about it, though. And I really want there to be another book now so I can read what happens between them soon.

Next, is Hailey and James. As individuals, I rather like both of them. Hailey, Sam’s little sister, is fun, and very much a character I enjoy. And James is just fantastic and I love him, he’s such a show stealer. He used to work for Douglas, but is now stuck with Sam, and he’s very conflicted with his feelings, and I felt so bad and understood it and wanted to hug him. I love what happened to him at the end, it was… so fantastic. Now, the Hailey and James part. There are very big hints to those things happening, and I am a huge fan of that. I ship them. I ship them completely. By the end of the book, they even had more of my fangirling attention than Sam and Brid did (by a small but still noticeable amount).

Now the Douglas/actual serious plot of the book. That was done very well and was very exciting, and I really like how it all concluded. Plus there was a lot of personal growth for Sam, what with getting used to his powers, taking control of his new house (which, ohmygod, the gnomes are amazing and ohmygod I love them and I want more, ahhhh), everything that happened with Brid and even with Ramon, and then his taking position in the Council and standing up for himself about it. 

Every bit of it was just so good. I loved it, and I want more. I believe McBride is writing a related series next, but that she plans to continue this one later, and I cannot wait. I’m very excited for her other series, though, as it sounds good, and I really just think I love her writing and characters and everything. She’s definitely an author that has moved onto my watch list.