I'm a sucker for a fictional bureaucracy. I love when fantasy worlds incorporate the everyday necessities of things like birth certificates and permits. Sure, it's not sexy, but the inclusion of a bureaucracy is a hard indicator that the author has put some serious thought into their world building. Also, I'm a civil servant myself, and I honestly find the minutia of the bureaucratic process interesting. Like did you know if you put white-out on any official document, it's null and void? You can turn the title to a car into a piece of paper with one blob of white paint. That's magic. Bad magic, but magic.Unfortunately, I think one usually finds fictional bureaucracies in police procedurals, and I have a commensurate aversion to copaganda Which is why The Witness for the Dead is so delightful: at its heart, it's a procedural, but the main character is no cop.

The Witness for the Dead is set in the same world as Addison's The Goblin Emperor, but I read that so long ago and so quickly that I really have no memory of Thara Celehar, the titular Witness for the Dead who is the main character of this novel. Doesn't really matter, as this is more sidequel than sequel, and the world is complicated enough to be legible, if that makes any sense. I get the impression that a Witness for the Dead is like a coroner, with various dead-body related obligations, from performing funerary rituals to quieting ghouls to investigations into cause of death.

Celehar, in addition to being Witness, is also a Prelate of Ulis, so he can read impressions from a dead body in the weeks after death. (We meet one other Witness in the book, and she does not have this ability, so it is not necessarily a requirement of the job, just like coroners need not be MDs, though they often are.) Despite there being some big events like an industrial explosion and a riot at the opera, the tone of the novel is quiet and almost grieving. I enjoyed this as it fit my mood during my commute (I'm looking for quiet after and before talking to people all day.) Really lovely way to start and end my day.

Thara Celehar is a witness for the dead. He can touch a recently dead person and know their last thoughts. After losing favor at court, he now lives in a small town and works for the common people. His newest case is that of the murder of an opera singer. Thara learns that she was not a woman that people liked; she was vindictive, a thief and a bully. But he doesn't judge the dead; he just serves them.

Along the way to the solution to the singer's case, Thara has other cases. He discerns the last wishes of a man whose family found two wills with differing inheritances. He discovers a man who is marrying and killing women who are plain but who have money. He quiets a ghoul, one of the more dangerous duties of his office. Ghouls start by feeding on the dead but always eventually move on to live victims. Each case gets Thara's best efforts as he serves his calling.

Katherine Addison is a best selling fantasy author. This book is the first in the Cemeteries Of Amalo series. Readers will enjoy Thara's quiet manner, his determination to do the best with his talents that he can and the variety of cases he encounters. This book is recommended for fantasy readers.

Set in the same world as the lovely Goblin Emperor (really, you should read it — it's very hopeful and good), this short novel follows the devout Thara Celehar in his calling as a Witness for the Dead. What does that mean? Well, it means that Celehar has the ability to get mental impressions from the recently deceased, helping solve problems regarding everything from contested wills to murders (both of which are covered in this book), as well as tracking down the occasional ghoul. This book skirts the line between high fantasy and mystery, and like the Goblin Emperor, is wonderfully realized. While Celehar is a minor character the Goblin Emperor, it would certainly help to read that book before you pick this one up.

The Witness for the Dead is a beautifully written fantasy mystery in the gorgeous, complex world of the Goblin Emperor! It has: lush worldbuilding; detective stories with fantasy elements; a queer MC. A book which will be adored by fans of the author's earlier works!

Where The Goblin Emperor was challenging but satisfying, I found the follow-up, Witness for the Dead, approachable but less compelling. I respect Katherine Addison's decision to move away from the court intrigue of the first book and tell a different sort of story, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn’t hit the same as The Goblin Emperor. With that book, I was invested in the characters (though they weren’t without flaws) and I was eager to see where the story went. I’ve seen some other reviewers describe Witness for the Dead as a “cozy” novel, and perhaps that’s why I struggled to enjoy it: I’ve never been much of a cozy fan.

I enjoyed this book. It is a companion to The Goblin Emperor rather than a sequel. It features Thara Celehar who had an important but small role in the Goblin Emperor and who I didn't really remember. This book expounded on the world building which is rich and detailed. It was a mystery set in a fantasy steampunk world and it was really good.

I have not read The Goblin Emperor but now that I've read this book I will definitely fix that fact as soon as I am able. The world here is so rich I felt lost for a minute but once I was settled it was a delight to read. We have goblins, elves, magic, and our main character Thara Celehar, the witness for the dead. What that essentially means is that is that if a person died not too long ago he might be able to see what they saw before they died, hear their last wishes. For example, a man died and did not leave a will so his children are fighting for inheritance. Thara Celehar is asked to be the witness for the dead person to find out who should be the heir. Or, a body of a woman is found in the river and needs a witness for the dead to find out who she was and how she died. He does all this and more. It is an ungrateful job, my heart was constantly aching for the main character. The plot is not linear, it is more episodic in nature. We follow Thars Celehar as he witnesses for different people with different circumstances and often times it only brings him trouble because the living want to hear some specific things that suit their needs and do not really want to know what the dead have to say. And there is a murder mystery, which I quite enjoyed. The writing is beautiful with an atmosphere of sadness to it. The main character is wonderful, he has such a big heart and tries to serve the common people as well as nobility. I only wish this book was longer but I just found out that it is a series and not a standalone, with the second book already out, so that is definitely on my radar now.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I got a free arc through Netgalley all opinions are my own.

So I've only read one book from this author before, and it was a dnf.
I haven't read the prequel/companion to this book either btw.
It started of as confusing with all those weird and long names. I really didn't have any idea what was going on the first few pages.
And I was utterly bored. The story was meh, I guess I'm just not into mysteries?
And the characters were so bland, especially the MC.
Sadly this book was a dnf because I was so bored that I almost fell asleep whenever I picked this book up.

Full review to be posted soonish.

I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I liked this more than I thought I would. I love Celehar so much. He's so quiet and unassuming, but very determined to help people. I found his friendship with the opera manager to be adorable. This is a slow paced novel, but I loved all the different mysteries he solved along the way. I will say that I wish I had read The Goblin King first as I would better understand this world. It is vast, intricate, and has so many characters I had a hard time understanding certain things, especially the politics. The names are kind of a mouthful as well but that's just a me thing. Overall though, for as lost as I was at times, I did really enjoy this. The author always creates such interesting worlds.

If you've read The Goblin Emperor and want to spend more time in the world, I think you are very likely to enjoy this book. It's essentially a thoughtful mystery following Thara Celehar as he follows his duties as a Witness for the Dead. I only wish the names and titles were less complex because I was rarely able to remember who was who. Luckily the story made it clear within a few sentences.
Full review on my YouTube channel.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Such a fantastic book and world! Truly magical and it goes deeper than you would think! I really enjoyed this and I highly recommend

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison is standalone sequel to The Goblin Emperor, set in the same world (obviously) with a few recurring characters. I love The Goblin Emperor and while this wasn't as good as that book, I really enjoyed reading through this as well. This would fall in the category of books I'd suggest you to savour - slow-paced, less action, with some really great writing.
Recommended!

Interesting premise, some good twists, but ultimately felt a bit lacking. The ending felt too quick and I would have liked deeper and more complex characters.

I love Katherine Addison. This author has quickly become a favorite of mine and was so excited to read THE WITNESS FOR THE DEAD. The writing is superb. The tale is both fanciful and real at the same time. The characters are well-developed and completely engaging. Though the book can completely standalone, I would always recommend reading THE GOBLIN EMPEROR first just to get that extra layer of fabulous storytelling.

From beginning to end, this was another amazing novel by the author.

The Witness for the Dead is Addison’s follow-up to her enormously popular Goblin Emperor. Here, she takes a bit character from her epic fantasy novel and whisks him to a faraway town where Prelate Thara Celahar talks to the Dead, getting to the bottom of what happened to them, particularly when it’s an angry opera singer found floating in a canal. Although most other readers have found much to rejoice in with this new novel, perhaps reading Goblin Emperor first helps to lay a foundation and background for this book. Without the prior novel, one is left with a rather obscure religion, unpronounceable names and titles, and a general lack of action and excitement. Once again, Addison has interesting ideas, but they do not seem to result in much. A minority opinion, but an honest one.

I wanted to like this more than I did since I was totally thrilled to find out that Katherine Addison was going to continue in the world of "The Goblin Emperor", possibly one of my favorite fantasy novels of all time. Alas what I wanted was more about Maia, the melancholy half goblin emperor, not a side quest novel about a character I really didn't remember very well. Despite Addison's amazing writing and a reasonably interesting mystery I just wasn't feeling this. More Maia please!?

I really enjoyed this story, not as much as Goblin Emperor, but still recommend. It started out a bit slow, but once I got past getting to know all the characters, it got much better. Would love to read more stories taking place in this world.