What a wonder worker Katherine Addison is. When I’ve tried to describe these books to others I get stuck at; well, it’s a slice of life following a detective who can commune with the dead. Which is plain and simply the concept, but does not do credit to the totally immersive world and series of emotional and intricate plots woven through these novels. I have such admiration for the work she has clearly put into these. Celehar is so empathetic, reasonable, and driven by a responsibility much bigger than himself. Yet remains humble through all hardships and tragedies. He is a true example of heroism. I could read his ventures through the world forever!

Thara Celehar lost his ability to speak to the dead in the previous book of Katherine Addison’s award winning series. This time miners kidnap him to do something about the dragon ghosts in their mine. Unfortunately the mine owners created The Tomb of Dragons (hard from Tor) two centuries before and the final dragon ghost wants justice from the Emperor. Thara, with the ability to speak to the dead, heads to the Goblin Emperor’s palace. Thara may think himself meek and humble, but he has enough status to accomplish what the dragon ghost wants, but the current owners of the mines are very willing to kill to stop him. This in an excellent series and well worthy of awards the previous tales received.

This is the third and final book in the Cemetaries of Amalo series, and while we've reached the end of an arc, I'm really hoping that we will see more of Thera Celehar in future books.
From the first book, I've fallen for Celehar and his kind of slice-of-life plot of following him as he performs his duties as the Witness for the Dead. Somehow, while performing these duties, he somehow finds himself embroiled in some weird and mysterious plots that put him in endless amounts of danger, and I love every moment.
I find this series fun, comforting, and something I know I'll come back to again and again. And if your looking for an audiobook to get sucked into the narrator for this series does an amazing job!!=

Ahoy there me mateys! While I try to post no spoilers, this is the third book of a sub-trilogy so proceed at yer own peril . . .

I received an e-book from the publisher, read it immediately, and pre-ordered the audiobook as soon as I finished. On publishing day, I immediately listened to the audiobook. This book is already on the comfort reads list along with the others in the series. Why did it take me two weeks to write a review? Because honestly I fail to do this book justice beyond flailing.

This book is the final book in the Amalo sub-trilogy which is part of the larger Chronicles of Osreth series. Celehar is no longer Amalo’s Witness for the Dead as he has lost his power. He is assigned a special project to fix a municipal cemetery that has not been functioning for 50 years. Of course the poor guy doesn’t have the best luck to he also gets kidnapped by miners and is dealing with PTSD from his ordeal under the hill.

Basically I fall more in love with the world the more books I read set in it. I particularly love Celehar and think he is a wonderful character and is my favorite. That said, I love all of Celehar’s friends and how much they care for him despite Celehar’s obtuseness of why he is worthy of friendship. Iäna Pel-Thenhio and his opera antics are always a delight. I also enjoyed the addition of guard Hanu Olgarezh. The Emperor is always fun to read about too. Seriously I love them all! I will continue to reread these books. Also while this is the ending of the trilogy, I would read a lot more books about the characters’ adventures outside of Amalo. Write more please!

This book should not be read as a standalone. I believe all prior books are necessary to read before this one. That said, if ye loved those then this one is likely to float yer boat too. Arrr!

Throughout the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy, Katherine Addison has made clear time and again that this is a complex world with complex, intertwined problems, and none can be solved without having some effect on several others. Each book shows Thara Celehar, a priest of the god of the moon and death, called upon as a Witness to unravel knots that seem impossible to be disentangled, and in so doing uncovering more and more problems that need to be solved. In many ways, this is a thesis that runs through Addison's other work in the same world - The Goblin Emperor - in which Maia, the titular ruler, must learn the boundaries of his new role in charge, and that every action has reaction, in order to begin to rule either competently or successfully.

It is no surprise, then, that this third installment in the series features what seems to be a culmination of this thesis – a problem so intertwined that it binds up with the potential financial collapse of the whole empire. If that were the case, if we did have a problem whose just resolution was a mire of compromise, it would be a fitting end to a well constructed trilogy.

Except… that culmination happens around ¾ through the book. And while, in both its foreshadowing and the way the characters discuss it, it seems to be fulfilling that entire purpose, in the execution and the aftermath, it manages to undercut itself so completely as to hollow out the entire arc. A deeply frustrating resolution to something so well crafted.

And yet, all is not lost, because there have always been several things going on at once in these books. Alongside the steady emphasis of complex problems, there has been an equally steady emotional progression happening for Thara Celehar. When first we met him in The Goblin Emperor, he was visibly depressed, burnt out and full of inexpressible grief, a situation only mildly improved by the time he comes to us as a protagonist. Through the course of The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones, Celehar manages almost unwittingly to gather around himself people who come to care for him, often very deeply. Over time and with a pacing that reinforces the difficulty and realism of the progression, these friends begin to make him realise that he is not alone in the world, that he can ask for help and be answered, that he need not suffer in silence, that he is wanted and loved. This thread also reaches its crescendo in The Tomb of the Dragons, and where the other failed, this one, in a perhaps unexpected way, succeeds admirably.

Part of that success comes in its definition – Celehar does not finish the story full of renewed vigour, ready to tackle the entire world. It ends, instead, in hope, and in the beginning of possibilities for new things. His perspective has constantly been one with no presumptions on others, no expectations, nothing that suggests he might hope for more than the bare minimum possible. Through The Tomb of the Dragons, however, we start to see something kindling in him that sees people – new people – in a different light. Little flashes of different patterns of thought, starting to catch himself admiring a guard captain with vivid eyes, for instance. At the same time, some of his existing relationships reach their own crescendo – there is a particularly evocative scene in which he demands to know what one of those close friends wants from him, a question thoroughly indicative of his way of thinking. The answer is, of course, friendship. It has been clear to me throughout why his friends seek him out. It is meant to be clear to the reader. The crisis point is reached when Celehar’s determination to deny himself the truth cannot be sustained anymore. Only once this crisis passes can something new begin to grow in its place.

What Addison has, I think, done well here is to have this crisis of friendship happen alongside that burgeoning attraction, but separate. This has been a series very much about a man struggling with the experiences he’s suffered and the world he lives in, with the grief of his lost beloved. Having his friends be a fixed point, a certainty that grows and grows throughout the series, feels like an anchor point to his healing, or a safe haven. Having, after so long, a new attraction grow that is not entangled with this emotional safety net feels like both a safe choice, and a healthy one. It also gives an interesting contrast in how we see, through Celehar’s eyes, his approach to someone he finds attractive versus the baffled acceptance of a new friend. There’s a difference there, and being able to see it beginning from a fresh spark makes it all the more hopeful.

And then, there is a third strand, a little subtler under the other two, of the winds of change beginning to blow through the empire. This again has been seeded throughout Addison's books in this world, and again is starting to bubble a little closer to the surface in this final part of the trilogy, though still quite subtly. In some ways, it makes sense - the world of the books is patriarchal, hierarchical, tradition-bound and rigid. Of course change would come slowly. It is one of the many interconnected problems of the books. So to an extent, the very limited scope of the end point of this arc - seeing Celehar change the way he thinks about the world, catching himself when he observes a group and instead of seeing "ah, a bunch of elves", realising it's a bunch of elven men - is in keeping with what we've seen so far. This is a world where change is limited and incremental. Why would it be different here? And yet, at the same time, it is somewhat disappointing to see. Celehar's colleague, Tomasaran, has become a core part of the circle of friends he has gained, and has been instrumental in his beginning to recognise the gender-based flaws of the society in which he lives. It feels cold comfort that the best she can hope for is "a man starts to see she maybe was kind of right that everything sucks for her".

But this is the core tension of this world. Much though I love The Goblin Emperor specifically and the series generally, it exists within the problem of its themes, and those themes - all things in a complex society are connected to other things, power has a price and limitations, even an emperor cannot act unilaterally and without consequence, people can only do their best and try to make things a little better if they can - come with downsides. A "burn it all down" approach simply would not work within what Addison has set up. From the starting point we are given, fixing a racist, hierarchical and sexist society incrementally would take an extremely long time (if it is indeed possible). And so there cannot be, without upending everything the series leads us to expect, the kind of true, whole resolution that would be emotionally satisfying - much as Celehar's personal emotional arc ends on the hope of better things, so too does this sense that things are moving towards the better in the empire. And while, when those limits are imposed only on the scope of one person, I find them not only reasonable but more satisfying than the alternative, I cannot necessarily say the same when the scope widens out to a societal level.

This is a theme that simply cannot get closure, unless Addison plans to keep on writing through hundreds of years of in-world history, or write a revolution. I recognise the narrative necessity of it, and my own frustration, and both are legitimate, but in tension with one another. I wonder if that's the point - am I intended to feel this frustration, and that to be part of the emotional payoff? This is a series that works within something flawed and terrible to tell stories digging into specific ideas. To expect full catharsis would go against my understanding of the terribleness of the world. If it was intended to make me keep thinking about it, it's certainly worked.

Possibly, on an emotional level, I want something impossible. I want this story about a man walking places, drinking tea, and solving connected problems that require compromise and imperfection, and I want something that comes to a grand, satisfying conclusion that fits within my own views of the world and what a "good" ending looks like. And I want those both to happen in a way that feels well-written, plausible and grounded within the thematic framing of the world. But I can't have all of them. So perhaps the solution is to reframe my thinking a little.

Stories, to be worthwhile, do not need to come to conclusions that fully satisfy my moral expectations of the world. It is possibly to explore something in a bad or messy situation, and have that story achieve something thematically interesting through the mechanism of that exploration, without necessarily "fixing" all the problems. Through this lens, though there are still problems, I think The Tomb of the Dragons succeeds much more admirably. If anything, the problem becomes and insufficient commitment to the thesis of eternal compromise, rather than an inability to reject it.


And so… two incompletely successful strands to the story, and one successful. And yet… I found I liked it anyway. There is something deeply comforting in the repetition throughout this series of Celehar’s walking between places and asking for things, and going to tea with people. There is always purpose in both, enough to sustain a plot drive, but at a pace that just feels… comfortable. It’s so mundane, amid occasional intrusions of strangeness and excitement. Whatever else Addison does or does not do, I always find myself happy to spend the time as Celehar wanders about, trying to solve problems in small, connected ways, and it is just as present here as in either of the other two books in the series. While there is that disappointment that some of the thematic promises were not fully upheld, Addison did hold up what turns out to have been the most important part of the bargain for me – this quiet, meandering experience of Amalo, tea shop and bureaucratic problem by tea shop and bureaucratic problem. It is the feel of the thing, more than anything else, that I craved. And I got that feeling. Whether the lingering thoughts about the bounds imposed on the scope of the story resolve ultimately into something I like or dislike, the fact is that I am continuing to think about it. And that, too, I craved.

A glorious, complicated third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo series. all set within the world of the outstanding Goblin Emperor. The Tomb of Dragons is dense and detailed, definitely not a starting point for those who haven't read the earlier books. For those who have, however, it's a satisfying, absorbing reentry into this fascinating fantasy world!

The Tomb of Dragons feels like a goodbye in so many ways. A farewell to Thara Celehar, our stalwart Witness for the Dead, to Amalo, the bustling elven cityscape, and to the comforting aura these books radiate. I believe this is the last book in this series, but I desperately hope Katherine Addison isn't finished with the world of The Goblin Emperor (because I am not ready to let go!).

Thara's latest adventure is surely his most perilous, with danger at every turn and nothing as it seems. However, Addison still delivers the comfort and hope that weaves throughout the preceding books. While I lament The Cemeteries of Amalo ending, I wish only the best for Thara and his compatriots, and hope he finds only happiness in his happily ever after. This series is one of my comfort reads, and I highly recommend it to all. The complex worldbuilding, deep friendship, and unflinching pursuit of justice will resonate with readers who loved The Goblin Emperor and anyone who needs a ray of hope in these dark times.

Like its predecessors in the Cemeteries of Amalo series, THE TOMB OF DRAGONS is very much a day-in-the-life fantasy, where those days involve murders, fraught investigations into same, necromancy, bureaucratic frustrations, and frequent trips to the opera.

It’s TOTALLY my thing, friends. I never wanted to put it down, so caught up was I in the minutiae of Celehar’s ordinary, extraordinary life. I worried for him following his major life change at the end of THE GRIEF OF STONES, drank in the telling details that marked his various friendships, nodded along with his investigations, and delighted in all the glorious worldbuilding Addison packs into every book she writes.

And I thought about how many of my favourite fantasies—my favourite books—grapple with the moments when someone can choose to do the easy thing or the right thing. Celehar is an interesting character in that he’ll always, always do the right thing when it comes to his calling, even when it’s the hardest thing in the world—but in his personal life, he picks the easy route every time. The series as a whole, and this book in particular, helps him become someone who can take difficult personal steps, too; who can speak openly to his friends, and maintain connections even when they get complicated, and relearn to trust his own judgment outside of the professional sphere.

Basically, it’s just plain excellent. It left me that perfect mix of exultant and devastated that I spend my reading life chasing. If you held off on reading THE WITNESS FOR THE DEAD because it was a series opener, too, rest assured you can now go ahead and binge read the whole trilogy. It’s completely worth your time.

Too many people do not know that Katherine Addison’s amazing Goblin Emperor has been continued on for many many books and has become one of my favorite cozy fantasy murder mystery series. (It’s definitely the coziest fantasy series that stars a mortician.) If you know me, you know I love a murder mystery, and nothing makes me happier than seeing the recent rise of fantasy murder mystery and space murder mystery as subgenres.

If you’re a longtime reader of the Cemeteries of Amalo series, you’ll love this newest entry in the series! If the first one wasn’t literally a fantasy murder mystery set in an opera house, this would be my new favorite. It’s still got Celehar being too self-sacrificing for his own good, scrumptious descriptions of food, a cozy feel that hides the deep interpersonal relationships that Addison continues to manage with ease. And your favorite characters stick around! The characters are so wonderfully drawn, and I love watching their relationships grow and deepen as the series progresses.

This series is an interesting one, because even though it’s set in the same world as Goblin Emperor, Goblin Emperor is very different tonally from the rest of the series. So here’s my guide to reading the Cemeteries of Amalo series for newcomers. If you are a fan of fantasy novels with political intrigue, you will love Goblin Emperor! It’s not got as much of the cozy vibe of the Cemeteries of Amalo, but if you don’t read Goblin Emperor then Witness for the Dead will be full of spoilers for Goblin Emperor. If you don’t care about that and want to jump into cozy mortician solves crimes, then you can start with Witness for the Dead as long as you’re willing to be confused for a bit.

Recommended for fans of the Tainted Cup, and Legends and Lattes.

I received an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

After the events of the previous book in Katherine Addison's Cemeteries of Amalo series, The Grief of Stones, Thara Celehar finds himself starting over yet again. But while Celehar's life has changed, the city of Amalo carries on as ever, with greed, corrupt officials, and the possibility of political instability plaguing the populace. And so Celehar starts moving forward, because what else can he do? He is still a servant to the Archprelate, the Archprelate has a job for him to do, and Celehar is nothing if not bound to duty. He can’t escape his reputation, however, and thanks to a group of unscrupulous miners, Celehar finds himself in a dangerous situation– the origins of which could shake the foundations of the empire.


Addison’s Chronicles of Osreth series has proven to be a very particular subgenre of fantasy– cozy on one hand with its slice-of-life narratives (Celehar feeds the neighborhood stray cats, goes out for tea, and is often preoccupied with finding just the right coat) that are bound up profound shifts at a nearly global level (Celehar’s investigations in The Goblin Emperor affected the leadership at the very top levels of the empire). Combine all that with certain steampunk elements, magic that is almost exclusively in the background, and a pantheon of gods that are taken for granted by everyday people, and it’s difficult to define these books as any one thing. They are all led by one particular thing, though: the main character is a good person who strives to do the right thing, no matter what. Does that make The Tomb of Dragons Hopepunk? I don’t know. I don’t know what to call these books aside from “some of my favorite books ever”.

I freely admit that Thara Celehar was not among my favorite characters in The Goblin Emperor, but he has grown on me as his books have progressed so that by the time I reached the end of The Tomb of Dragons, he had become one of my favorite characters. Celehar is a well-developed character who is confident in his calling while being afraid of making personal connections. He has an unyielding set of personal ethics but is perfectly capable of accepting the foibles and flaws of the world around him. And, perhaps most endearingly, he is confused by the friendship and care offered by the people in his life. Celehar is a man who will go to the ends of the earth for others but can’t imagine why anyone would cross the street for him. It’s a little heartbreaking, but it also makes a reader want to bundle the poor thing up in a soft blanket and feed him tea and soup so he’ll be ready to face evil in the morning.

Part of what makes The Goblin Emperor so compelling as a fantasy novel is the intricate but natural-seeming world-building Addison wove into the narrative. Readers are treated to an extensive history, multiple cultures, complex social customs, and an intricately constructed language that feels very strange until you see how the prefixes and suffixes fit together to form the words. By about the halfway point of The Goblin Emperor, the conlang starts to feel like a natural part of things. The Tomb of Dragons expands upon all of this- partly by necessity since it takes place in a different part of the empire and partly because it’s about ordinary people just living their lives and talking about the world as they see it.

If there is a flaw in The Tomb of Dragons, it is in the pacing, as some events are a bit rushed and the scenes with a fan-favorite character from and earlier book in the series are altogether too short (I say that, knowing I would read an entire series of books about that fan-favorite). On the whole, however, The Tomb of Dragons is an excellent entry in The Chronicles of Osreth. Addison’s straightforward-yet-elegant prose, excellent character development, and expert world-building have come together to give us another fantastic book in a series that will, hopefully, have many more stories to come.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book.

This was an incredible end to the trilogy and an immersive reading and listening experience. It has been wonderful to watch Thara Celehar grow into himself throughout the trilogy and come to appreciate his own worth and that others might value his friendship.

This book flowed seamlessly from the previous two, with Celehar facing ever-more complicated duties and proving again and again what a fundamentally kind and good person he is. I was lost in the story and found that I couldn't even work on other tasks while listening - the book demanded my full attention.

I hope that we get further adventures of Celehar. This book did a great job tying up all the loose ends in Amalo while still leaving the door open for more adventures in a new place, with new people. I would read a never-ending series of his adventures. They flow so seamlessly into one another, building and combining into experiences that, when recounted, sound absurd.

I adore this world and these characters and I dearly hope Katherine Addison continues telling us tales from it.

The audiobook was excellent. The narrator did a phenomenal job with the complicated character names and places, the varying levels of formality of speech, and managed to both be pleasant to listen to and create distinct and easily-recognizable voices for all of the characters. I felt like I was living the book, not listening to it.

*Thanks to Tor Books and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

According to the publisher’s website, Katherine Addison’s The Tomb of Dragons is either the third and final book in her CEMETERIES OF AMALO trilogy or “Volume 3” in her CHRONICLES OF OSRETH series (no mention if it is the end) or the fourth book “within” her CHRONICLES OF OSRETH series with The Goblin Emperor added as the first. Honestly, it’s all a bit muddy. But what is not muddy is the world Addison has so masterfully created in this series, crafting a detailed, immersive world filled with engaging characters, most especially the character at its center, Thera Celehar. Though I had more of an issue with pace in this novel than the prior ones, Celehar remains a fantastic creation, a gentle, humble, lonely soul one cannot help but root for, and despite the publisher calling it the “wrap up” to the trilogy, I for one hope we haven’t seen the last of this character. A few inevitable spoilers for previous books follow

Celehar is a Witness for the Dead, someone with the ability to speak with the recently deceased and bring them a measure of justice and closure. In the past, Celehar has used this ability to solve several murders as well as “quiet” dangerous undead such as ghouls and revenants. In the last book, The Grief of Stones, Celehar lost his ability to communicate with the dead, something that causes them great pain at the start of Tomb of Dragons and also has them questioning his purpose in life if he cannot continue in his calling. Currently Celehar is keeping busy by assisting his apprentice Witness Tomasaran and fulfilling more mundane duties for the Archprelate, specifically, returning an abysmally run city cemetery to working order, as it hasn’t functioned at all for fifty years, with paperwork and bones literally piling up.

Celehar though has never been destined for mundanity, and eventually becomes entangled in helping solve a murder at the opera house run by their good friend Ilan, political intrigue centering around an escaped traitor hoping to overthrow the current regime, trying to right a century-old atrocity involving the murder of nearly 200 dragons, avoiding violent retribution from the powerful corporation responsible for said atrocity, uncovering a possible decades-old murder at that urban cemetery he’s trying to fix, and trying to heal his loss of Witness ability. And perhaps more frightening than all of that —learning how to allow those who care for them, and they are many, more fully into their life.

The strength of the novel, as with the others, is Celehar’s character. Beyond being gentle and humble, they are bound by principle, a deep sense of ethics, a sincere belief in their god and their own calling/purpose, and an implacable persistence to see justice done without little regard for their own safety or convenience, but without the less-laudable self-righteousness that often goes hand in hand with such traits. There is also a deep vulnerability to Celehar, an abiding loneliness, and a persistent inability to see their own worth. Taken together, as I’ve noted in prior reviews, it’s impossible not to root for this character or for the efforts of their friends to assist him any way they can, whether it’s offering a place to stay, a better coat (but not a new one and certainly not a bright one!), or simply making sure they remember to eat. Celehar’s friend Ilan, who is in many ways an exact opposite, is a wonderful figure and the most developed, and the two have a touching moment together late in the novel when Celehar expresses confusion over Ilan’s solicitousness:

“What does thou want from me?”
“I beg thy pardon?”
“This! . ... Thou com’st and worriest about whether I eat, thou givest me a place to hide, thou brokest into Osmin Temin’s school with me! And I do not know what thou wantst.”
“I thought it was obvious,” Ilana said warily.
“Art thou Marnis?” I had not meant to ask so directly — Indeed, I had not meant to ask at all.
“No,” he said. “Can I not simply be thy friend?”
“Thou art very … intense about it?”
“I promise I have no desire to have sexual relations … I love thee, and it grieves me greatly to see thee hurt. And, to tell the truth, it worries me more than a little that thou findst this so unfathomable. Do thy other friends not love thee?”
“I have very few close friends,” I said. “I suppose I don’t know how the thing is done … Thy friendship warms something in me that had been cold for a very long time.”


Other characters are less developed more due to lack of page time than poor characterization. I do wish we had seen more of several of them, particularly Celehar’s apprentice.

The plot is variable in its impact. As with the earlier books, the murder mystery isn’t all that compelling and isn’t really a driving force in the story. The same can be said about the political intrigue. Honestly, I’m not sure the book would have suffered at all by their absence. The urban cemetery issue does show Celehar’s diligence and sense of duty, something heightened by the contrast between Celehar and the person in charge of the cemetery (the same for their different attitudes toward the idea of a religious calling), and also some ongoing humor to the story, though I’d say we probably spend a little too much time on it. The issue with his loss of Witness ability, meanwhile, I thought begged for further exploration. By far, the most compelling plot element for me was the dragon storyline. The dragon revenant herself is a wonderful character, the storyline both infuriating and deeply moving, and there is, sadly enough, a topicality to the issue that resonates in our modern day and age. And on a strict narrative level, it creates a number of opportunities for suspense and action.

That said, this series has always been what I’d label a low-plot-stakes kind of writing, with a focus much more on character and particularly an inner focus. The stories take a meandering, mediative, introspective path toward their end point and though the balance felt a little bit more off than in earlier books, I still couldn’t help but be pulled along in the wake of Celehar’s endearing personality. While the publisher does say this “wraps up” the trilogy, and the book does come to a solid resolution, Addison certainly leaves the door wide open for a return, and if this does end one series, there’s nothing preventing a return to this world and this character. A trip I’d be happy to take.

I think the best way I can describe this book is like this: though this book does have a plot about investigating dead dragons, it's not an adventuring book. It's the kind of book that has a handful of scenes about coats. The protagonist needs his coat repaired. He loses his coat. He gets a new coat. He doesn't like the new coat, and trades it for a different one. He needs to buy another coat, because it's cold outside. With every step, the book is exploring how he needs to learn to rely on his friends to help him with his coats. The stakes are low, and the tone is bittersweet.

A video review including this book will be on my Youtube channel in the coming weeks, @ChloeFrizzle.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Books for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

If you know nothing of this series, then let me give you a little recap. The world of Osreth there are two races of people: elves and goblins. Get your D&D ideas of these two races out of your mind. They’re basically people with pointy ears. The only differences between the two are that elves are white and goblins are black. There are a few other cultural differences, but those are rather understated in the series.

The world was introduced to us in The Goblin Emperor when Maia, the unloved son of the current emperor, is forced to take the throne after a dreadful accident killed everyone above him in the line of succession. Amongst the cast of a dozen side characters is Thara Celahar, a Witness for the Dead. Basically, a detective that can talk to dead people.

The Cemeteries of Amalo series is the continuing adventures of Celahar as he tries to solve murders and fix cemeteries (funerary rites are incredibly important in this world). Along the way he gathers his own cast of side characters that dip in and out of the narrative.

While the setup may make it sound like a mystery novel, they’re really not. The crimes and mysteries he solves are not the center of the narrative. Instead, it’s his relationships and the social navigation he must do that book focuses on.

In that way, these novels are best described as cozy. Yes, there’s murders to be solved, but also it just feels so… warm and fuzzy? It’s the book equivalent of a nice cup of tea on a rainy day.

The plot of this novel involves Thara Cellahar having to figure out how to serve as a witness to a dragon. It turns out decades ago a mining company committed a genocide against the dragons (who are sapient beings) in order to have access to the mines the dragons lived in. Through a series of misadventures and a kidnapping, Cellahar meets an angry ghost dragon who makes him promise to bring those who profit from the genocide to justice.

That kicks off a series of meetings and discussions over the rights of dragons and how does one give justice to a victim if the guilty party is long dead? Cellahar must face the fact that some very powerful elves and goblins don’t like him questioning capitalism. Plus in the background there is a possible coup in the works, but that barely matters, because Cellahar has to figure out what it means to have friends.

This series is lovely and the prose is beautiful. It is also one of the most meandering, confusing series out there. Addison has created a vibrant world. Yet she rarely stops the narrative to info dump on what the heck anything is.

I’ve read all of her books, and jumping back in again after a year or so break I found myself lost. What’s the difference between an othasmeire and an ulimeire? Is Untheileian a place or a concept? Should I know what’s going on or is this all new?

I have a policy when reading books: I’m not going to Google questions. I shouldn’t have to go to an outside source to understand what’s happening. So… I didn’t. I didn’t search for what was what or who was who.

Instead, I just vibed it. It was a little bit like learning a new language. After a while, you pick up enough clues from context to figure it out. Why stress about being one hundred percent sure what a word means, when it doesn’t really matter? Just go with the flow and enjoy the coziness of it all.

That’s probably the best advice I can give if you decide to dip your toes into the world of Osreth. Just vibe it. Don’t worry if you don’t understand all the lore or culture. Instead, latch onto what you do understand: the characters. Because Addison nails the characters.

Thara Cellahar, Witness for the Dead, is a man that believes he doesn’t deserve to have friends. His backstory is tragic and he’s obviously in need of a therapist. Too bad this is a fantasy world filled with magic and dragons, so therapy is just too unrealistic.

His entire story arc is his recognition that not only does he have people that love him, but that he is worthy of love. The book leaves the world open for future adventures of Thala Cellahar, but they will be with a Celahar in a better place mentally and emotionally. He’ll not be alone when he faces the future.

If you’re in the mood for a series that focuses on politics, manners, and the power of friendship, then give the world of Oserth a shot. This book is a great addition to the series. The vibes are immaculate. Pick up a copy of The Tomb of Dragons when it releases March 11, 2025!

These books following Thara Celehar are quite meandering and I love them for it. It’s slice of life mystery & Celehar leads a very interesting life (even if he would try to disagree with that.)

Whenever the next installment comes I’ll definitely be rereading the first 3, I think that will help me keep track of characters and I tend to enjoy these books more when the language still feels familiar.

Overall I liked this book and I will continue to pick up anything Addison publishes within this world!

A profoundly satisfying and surprising conclusion to a series that never rested in place, Tomb of Dragons feels like both a beginning and an end of Thara Celahar. For the first time in the series, the worldbuilding expands beyond the city of Amalo, and while the book feels less intimate, less personal than the previous entries, it also gives the book a sense of potential thats refreshing and exciting.

The relationships at the heart of the series, between Thara and the people who love him despite his incessant self loathing, all continue to grow in fascinating ways. There will unquestionably be disappointment and probably frustration with some of those resolutions, but the addition of several new ones, and the evolution of his role in the city, provides such exciting possibilities its hard to remain unhappy with Thara's fate.

I can't possibly recommend this series enough, and i can only hope that this is not the last book we see in this world, and not the last we see of Thara Celehar.

The most compelling installment in the series to date! Thara Celehar is traumatized by the events at the end of The Grief of Stones, and as he becomes embroiled in his most dangerous outing to date, he quickly finds himself over his head and relying on the acquaintances and bonds he's forged to date, addressing his isolationist tendencies and defining what each connection means to him. It's a great bit of storytelling deftly handled, and with the level of danger integrated into all this the book makes for surprisingly gripping reading from start to finish. I'm super curious to see what comes next!

NB: Youtube video review goes live on Feb 5th 2025 @ 3 PM EST

Slow paced and dense in the best of ways. This is a lovely story that left me wanting more. I was a little miffed that it took SO long for the two plot points of the book to twine together, but that wasn't enough to hinder my enjoyment. It does 100% set us up for more books and I'm VERY excited for that prospect.

I love the Cemeteries of Amalo series and this third and final book is no exception. I'm not much for cozy fiction normally but Addison's characters ring true as people just trying to do their best despite their own insecurities or circumstances. It is true that the resolution of the main legal conflict is very neat, and that there is little in the way of interpersonal strife among our main cast of characters, but I don't mind; the threads of the story are interesting and I like to see a justified happy resolution sometimes. It's been a while since I've returned to this series so I will admit that many names and concepts had escaped me, and I had some trouble orienting myself, but I enjoyed this very much.

Title: The Tomb of Dragons
By: Katherine Addison
Format: eARC

Summary
Tomb of Dragons is the next installment in Addison’s “Goblin Emperor” series. We pick up where Thara Celehar has lost his ability to speak with the dead. Having been stripped of his title, this book follows Celehar as he has to rediscover who he is and what his purpose is.

Review
If you were a fan of The Grief of Stones, you are going to love this one! This books was fantastic and I loved it just as much as the first few. Addison is so great at character development and I really feel like if I jumped into the world they would all be my friends. The setting is so special and its just a fantasy wonderland. I thought Addison did a great job tying things up, and there were so many twists in the plot that I did not see coming. I hope this isn’t the end of the series.

Recommend
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Addison’s first books in this universe. Definitely go and read them first before jumping into this one. Anyone who is a fantasy of science fiction and fantasy should enjoy them immensely.