So, The Death of the Necromancer –
Is kinda like if Javert joined forces with Jean Valjean to go after Thenardier — if Thenardier were a servant of the Devil.
And also, admittedly, if Valjean were a master criminal, and Javert not quite so rigid.
Plus: necromancy! Desperate flights into the sewers! Ladies with all the acting chops! In summary: this book was all kinds of fun, even though I continue to love The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy better.
Also! I actually read this in paper, because I had a used hardcover on hand. And you know what? I actually prefer the reading experience on the Kindle, because it is lighter, and also easier to prop up so I can read during meals. Plus, since I have all of Wells’ books on Kindle except the Raksura trilogy and this one . . . well, anyway, I’m giving the hardcover away and picking up this one on Kindle.
The thing I like least about the Kindle? That I cannot give away books. I already knew I gave away a lot of books, some to the local (tiny) library and some to people who like SFF who I know can’t afford to buy a lot of books.
What I didn’t realize is that it actually kind of bothers me — not fingernails-on-the-chalkboard bothers, but it does bother me — if I can’t get rid of books I don’t really like. I mean, of course I can take them off “the device” and put them just in the archives. But . . . usually I give those books away. And now I can’t. I am forced to look at them listed in alphabetical order every time I scan through the books in the archives. And the people I might have given them to, who might have enjoyed them, don’t get a chance to find out.
And I don’t like it. Even if as a writer, I’m all for encouraging different individual readers to buy their own copies, thankyouverymuch. This isn’t necessarily a conflict, anyway, since whomever I give my hardcover of DEATH OF THE NECROMANCER to may fall in love with Martha Wells and buy her other books. So, listen, Amazon, get on that, okay?
How about you? Would you (do you?) get rid of a lot of the books you buy by giving them away? Would it (does it?) bother you to be stuck with those books forever?
