What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
The Book of Dead Days
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Title similar to "The Dying Days", set in late December, MC unwilling assistant to (aspiring?) necromancer in an early 19th century city. [s]
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I posted in the wrong place. yes, my post belongs in "Unsolved". thank you!
actually, after a night's sleep I found it: The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick.
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* originally published in England, though I saw it in the US. published int eh 2010s (or late 2000s?)
* set in the early 19th century of late 18th century in London, Prague or maybe an unnamed city but in the real world(?)
* first half of a duopoly.
* US edition mostly white with a splash of dark or red to one side. second volume had a similar look. (mostly white, with blue?)
* central conceit: that in the days between Christmas and New Year's Day the boundaries between worlds grow thin and the living can more easily contact the dead. however, I don't thin that the novel ultimately portrays necromancy as real, making it more fantasy-adjacent... bu the novel doesn't make that clear until later.
* male MC ends up an indentured servant or otherwise stuck with a dickish necromancer. it looks for a while that his personality might hide a caring core... but, no, by the end the novel confirms him as a dick.
* male MC and a secondary female (love interest type) female MC. told from the POV of the male MC.
* sewer scenes
* maybe a pet rat?
* at one point MCs use electricity to make it look as if it has resurrected the dead, thus fooling the necromancer.