A rift travelling mystery with romance wrapped up in magic. Reeling after brutal years of war, the country is slow to rebuilding. Forced apart by their choices, and their magics Silver and Kass live a love of avoidance. But demons, murder, and attacks force both of them together to face truths that have been haunting them.

Silver is an example of how strong representation is. An ambulatory wheelchair user, in a magical world, who is actually happy to enjoy life. A character who doesn’t have a disability as some sort of yoke or a curse. She just has it.

I can’t describe how healing it is to read a quote like this

“Silver loves life. She may have a messed-up pair of legs and a fucked-up arm, and a voice that doesn’t work properly. But she can still do the important stuff, like watch the sunset and eat a good meal. She will never give up on her powers, not when they are the only thing between her and the abyss. The world is still broken, and it probably always will be.”

Rifts ripped through the fabric of the universe show glimpes and gateways into hells and havens. Demons poured through them, a war of decimation that humanity only just survived. Three years after the war ended in victory - or rather three years after the attacks stopped - demons appear in Old Noll.

Ragtag crews are always my favourite, and I think this is a favourite of favourites. Setting out to undercover the source of these demons, who sent them, and why. Kass, a paladin with ptsd whose god has beef with his disabled wife; Silver disabled Necromancer who is one the most powerful mages in the realm, and whose power is hated by her husbands god; Amaya -
Autistic codes investigator who knows her stuff
And two baby faced squires who are way in over their head.

Kass is a ptsd ridden divine Paladin, and Silver is a necromancer left wheelchair bound after the war. This book was unlike anything I’ve read before, in a good way! The war and conflict has already come and gone, and the world is fractured. Kass and Silver married after falling in love on the front lines, and now, years later, they are struggling to keep afloat. The FMC is disabled and disillusioned after she gave everything to end the war. The MMC is a soldier who is struggling between faithfulness to his god, and his love of his wife. When someone sends demon assassins through the multiverse to target war heroes, Kass and Silver have to work together to save the realm again.
This book has a bit of everything I love to see, and so many new elements that really sucked me in. The LGBTQ rep, disability rep, second chance romance, marriage in trouble, multiverse, mental health rep, and the theological debates were all well done and handled gently.
I took off one star from my rating because I felt like the end of the book (which has a fantastic plot twist) was left a little rushed and open. I think if this book ever gets a sequel I would give it 5 stars! I just need a bit more closure at the end.
Overall I was thrilled with this book. I’m definitely going to be reading more from this author!

yes yes YES, move aside hot 20 year-old magical boys and girls, make room for middle aged fantasy couples who!! have!!! baggage!!!! war is hell, marriage is worse, and EVERYONE needs therapy. the conclusion of Paladin and Necromancer falls a bit flat after a great beginning; a lot ends up hinging on the reader's investment in secondary and tertiary characters who aren't nearly as well developed as the two mains. there's quite a lot of "backstage" character work, with major plot points revolving around characters who we've only heard about in the past tense, and by the end i found myself dragging across the finish line and feeling ultimately pretty nonplussed by the conclusion. holding out hope for a strong sequel that spends more time showing the moral gray areas these characters can't seem to escape - rather than simply assuring the reader that this shit is complex y'all - and perhaps takes less of an editorial using stance on its own subject matter.

Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for an early copy of this book in an exchange for my honest review.

DNF at 26%

I thought I would absolutely love this book, devour it in one sitting and give it 5 stars. Sadly, this did not happen. I was just very bored while reading this and felt like some of the scenes were too long. Also there was a lot of talking but not much action happening.

The writing style is quite simple and my main problem is the present tense. I just don't love books that are written in present tense. It takes me out of the story, because I am so used to past tense. The writing is descriptive but I still had a problem picturing the world this story takes place in. The descriptions just went right over my head.

Also, I was very confused on the world building. The paladins wear full plate armor and have swords, but the city guards have guns? And there are trams? I know this is inspired by DND, but the author did not really explained how the modern weapons and transportation worked. Was it powered by electricity or by magic? If it was ever mentioned I just forgot it. I was expecting more of a medieval setting, but this felt more like a Victorian to me.

There is a lot of info dumping about the world and mainly its history. But over a half of it I already forgot, because it wasn't placed well in the story. It didn't feel like a natural way of learning about a new world and it took me out of the story multiple times. I read about a hundred pages of this book and I still know nothing about this world and can't really picture it in my head.

I enjoyed the style of the humor though. It's a bit darker humor than we usually see and it was very refreshing. I especially loved the first few pages where the characters are talking about a mansion with a portal to a demon realm.

I liked the characters of Silver and Kass. Silver is a wheelchair user, I don't know if it is a good representation, but I've never read about someone using a wheelchair (who is also a main character) in a high fantasy. Kass is our titular paladin and is constantly grumpy. I really enjoyed the scenes where he talks with his squires. But it annoyed me how he acted towards Silver. And I know it is supposed to annoy me and that Kass is probably not a typical hero archetype, but I still could not root for him. And in my fantasy, I need to like the characters and root for them, in order to enjoy the book.

I read about hundred pages, and I actually do not have that much to say about the book. I am already forgetting the details and plot, which is not a good sign.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but it was a fun read and a unique take on a fantasy setting. The world feels like a DND campaign in the best way and relies on an interesting take on different planes and magic to make the world feel fun and engaging. I particularly liked how paladins worked, and the necromantic spells, and how these very powerful evocations had logical and reasonable limits. I also liked the disability representation and how the romance aspect played out, showing a relationship on the rocks now that the stress of war is gone. Over all a great read and I'd love to see more from this world

4.5 ⭐️
Thank you netgalley for giving me ARC access!

I loooved this book!! I think seeing the other side of a whirlwind war romance is such a fun and interesting slant to a fantasy romance novel, and following the lives of characters who lived through hell and are now trying to rebuild is my jam.

Loved the imagery, the depth of emotions we could feel in the MC, everything felt vivid and true to real human emotions. I cried, I laughed. Very satisfying ending and finale arc even with setting up a series and I am very excited to see what comes next in this series.

Okay for some loving feedback and the reason it's a 4.5 instead of a 5, there were a good amount of editing mistakes throughout and especially in the back half of the book, that just need to be gone through one more time before final printing (which I'm sure it will). This is so silly but three of the side characters we see a lot of in the book all have names that start with A and it just made life harder than it needed to be for me 😭 I think Amaya to Maya and Andrea to Drea would be simple and help keep characters a bit more distinct when we're first meeting them and in scenes with a lot of action and movement. Also, the title doesn't do it justice it sounds like it's going to be a silly dnd supplement and this book is a beautiful journey of what love truly means to the point of following someone through the multiverse. I have no recommendations for a better title I just think it deserves one.

Okay this book is great and I will be purchasing a physical copy when it releases and I am requiring all my friends who love fantasy and tragic romance to read it as well.

Full review to follow later

First impression review:

"I just finished a really cool book!
It's called Paladin and Necromancer and it's exactly what it says on tin: the struggles of a paladin (whose deity disapproves of undead) being married to a necromancer, as well as both of them struggling with the psychological effects of surviving a war on demons/monsters in their backstory and dealing with a new slew of demonic invasions. It's inspired by D&D, and character-driven but with a good plot, definitely not just vibes.
(be warned: it's a part one, that took me by surprise. It works pretty well as a standalone, though.)
Also, the necromancer is physyically disabled from backstory war injuries. I don't know how good a disabled rep it is, but the text shows her struggles while still making her an integral party member that goes on all of the travelling and quests, so I liked that."

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC. Unfortunately, this was not for me. I expected a fun comedic fantasy, but instead was bored throughout.

Warning, Spoilers Ahead:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me a lot of Dungeons and Dragons vibes and fleshed out its setting without being exhaustive. I enjoyed seeing more mature characters working through their individual issues and trauma, but wish there was more acknowledgement at the end of the story for the pressure Silver puts on Kass. He often acknowledged how he has pressured her and reflected on it quite a bit by the end of the novel, but didn't go both ways as much as I was hoping for.

One thing that stuck out to me a LOT was the similarities between this story and Dragon Age: Inquisition (the video game). This wasn't a negative for me and I liked the parallels, but it made me wonder if it was coincidence or if the author is a fan of the games. Between the rifts, the bald mage ending up as the antagonist, and the names Pride and Anders appearing in the book there was quite a bit of nostalgia for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for reviewing it!

Spoilers ahead! Thank you net galley.

I've played a few D&D games over the years so I know that divine doesn't mix well with the undead. Married to it? Ha! What a recipe for divorce. But this book pulls out all the stops. The intense philosophical debate over faith, divine, and humanity is the center of the story -of course- but you've got to love a good necromancer tale. Part murder mystery, part fantasy campaign, Paladin and necromancer is the best of both worlds. Can't wait for the next installment (though please come up with a better title). Do they ever meet 5th's avatar? Will Silver ever free her friend? Does Andrea keep their faith?

Paladin and Necromancer by Adrienne Miller pulled me in with the premise of a Paladin being married to a Necromancer. I adored them at first, there was some snarky humor and the Necromancer being bound to a wheelchair is some rarely seen representation.

Sadly the story did not hold my interest as much as I would have hoped and loved as the world building could use some working on to make it truly exciting.
As it is, this eARC was a nice read but unfortunately it didn't really work for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

Paladin and Necromancer is fantasy mystery with haphazard worldbuilding and an interesting premise that could have been handled better. Seven years previous to the story planar rifts began opening up and the "enemy" began pouring through with demonic armies and attacking "humanity." (There is no mention of other countries or of an alliance of countries fighting off the attackers. Also, there's only one religion and one culture.)

The titular Paladin and Necromancer is Kass, a paladin of Five (the gods don't have names, just numbers for some reason) and Silver, who ended up going down the Necromantic path during the war. They are married, but their marriage is a less than happy one. Kass' god is not happy about his continued marriage to Silver, and has been passive-aggressively inflicting petty allergic reactions that slowly escalate on Kass. This has led to conflict in their marriage that they are not able to resolve due to massive trauma and PTSD. (And having diametrically opposed moral systems.)

When demons start coming through the rifts, apparently bent on assassinating important figures from the war and the king, Kass and his wife end up investigating who is sending the demons. This investigation leads them to other planes where they discover among other things, Magic Kaminoans. (The genetic engineering slave traders from the Star Wars franchise, who created the clone troopers.)

My beefs with the worldbuilding kept me from finding much interest in the plot. The writer does not know how polytheism works. This is not surprising, since this book has been described as "like a D&D campaign," but it's particularly egregious here because the big existential horror b-plot is "what if the gods were also on the enemy's side?" This is apparently such an unthinkable thought that all the characters are shocked by it.

In a polytheistic system, everyone is very, very aware that a god's favor might shift at any moment, for any reason. They would not be very surprised at the idea that the gods were also with "the enemy." Syncretism is also very much a thing. As an example, the Romans tended to go "Well, this god is obviously actually Mars, and this god is actually Mercury!" They also tended to collect gods like they were Pokemon. (Though I might let the characters off slightly because apparently "the enemy" is visibly non-human.)

The book gets some points for some subtle non-binary representation in that one of Kass' squires is referred to consistently as "them/they" but the weird mix of technological  and social advancement and the kind of "crapsack medieval social system and tech level" setting that you see in in certain fantasy franchises is jarring. (I solemnly swear that the "medieval" period was not as brown and rolled in mud as Hollywood apparently thinks.)

The premise and the characters were not enough to hold my interest in the plot or characters interactions which is a shame, since I feel the concept could have been an interesting one. (I was largely drawn to the book because of The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, because the lead characters are essentially also a necromancer and a paladin solving a really convoluted case fic. But this was not that.)

This review is based on a galley provided by NetGalley.

3.8 rounded up. This started out a bit tongue-in-cheek but the humor quickly got darker and sparser until it was merely spice. The story of several war heroes, most of whom didn't entirely survive the war (in different ways) and the ways life has gone on - or hasn't. As others have said, each character is rounded and presented as their own separate person, even if some of them don't get as fleshed out as one might like. I liked the book. Sometimes the ideas were intriguing. But... I can't always say I enjoyed it. For those days when gray wandering throughout its spectrum (even into deepest charcoal) won't bother you. They say you should never meet your heroes. What if they're people you thought you knew through and through? Are the people who saved your life? Trained you? "Won" a terrible war? Definitely a book with a brave light signing through some stygian darkness. Love was hardly ever so hard won.

I was drawn to Paladin and Necromancer because of the strong Dungeons and Dragons vibes it was giving off.
It centres on Kass who is a Paladin of Five and Silver who is a Necromancer. Five hates anything to do with undead and as such dislikes Silver. Kass feels his God’s disapproval of Silver as his wife.
The way they develop as characters and in their relationship is done so well. Their relationship is heartbreaking at the beginning, but I enjoyed Kass’ journey to understanding and accepting Silver as she is.
I love how you get flashbacks to during the war and would love a prequel to this with Melina, Derek and the rest of Kass and Silver’s friends. I also really want a follow up to find out what happens next.
Amaya, Allen and Andrea were great supporting characters and again would love to find out more about them….😂 basically I just want more of everything!