Name: The Tomb of Dragons (The Cemeteries of Amalo #3, The Chronicles of Osreth #4)
Author: Katherine Addison
Publisher: Solaris
Date published: March 2025
Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, steampunk, mystery
Pages: 380
Rating: 4/5
This review contains major spoilers.
Thara Celehar has lost his ability to speak with the dead. When that title of Witness for the Dead is gone, what defines him?
While his title may be gone, his duties are not. Celehar contends with a municipal cemetery with fifty years of secrets, the damage of a revethavar he’s terrified to remember, and a group of miners who are more than willing to trade Celehar’s life for a chance at what they feel they’re owed.
Celehar does not have to face these impossible tasks alone. Joining him are his mentee Velhiro Tomasaran, still finding her footing with the investigative nature of their job; Iäna Pel-Thenhior, his beloved opera director friend and avid supporter; and the valiant guard captain Hanu Olgarezh.
Amidst the backdrop of a murder and a brewing political uprising, Celehar must seek justice for those who cannot find it themselves under a tense political system. The repercussions of his quest are never as simple they seem, and Celehar’s own life and happiness hang in the balance.
- From Goodreads.
I really enjoyed this story in the Cemeteries of Amalo series, it continued the excellent character development of the previous books, had wonderful subtle humour woven throughout the narration, and included another intriguing mystery. There were only a couple of things that kept it from being five stars and they didn't really stop me from enjoying the reading experience.
First I was quite surprised that Iäna didn't turn out to be a love interest for Thara, as it had seemed to be building towards that in the first two books, but I did like that their friendship was still shown to be very important and it was nice to see two male characters who were allowed to show their feelings for each other and care for each other intensely, even when it wasn't romantic. I also did like the love interest that was introduced for Thara, Captain Olgarezh. He was very captivating and I would have been fascinated to learn more about him, and I thought the relationship that built between him and Thara was very sweet. My only problem was that it felt like we didn't really get enough time to see their relationship, and the end of the book did feel quite abrupt, so it felt like the story cut off before we really got the chance to see how they would be together.
That was my only other problem with the book, that the ending happened quite suddenly. It felt like not everything had been properly resolved with each character and like we hadn't seen the end of all their journeys. It does make me wonder if this is not the last we'll see of these characters and if we'll see them again in future books.
It was delightful to briefly return to the royal court for part of the book, and especially delightful to see Maia again. It was interesting to see him outside of his own persepective and wonderful to see him continue to be such an excellent emperor. It made me want to see more from him again, even if he's not the main character, in another book, although it would be amazing if he was! I certainly hope everythig goes well with his wedding!
Overall, although there were a couple of things that stopped me from rating this as highly as the other books in the series, I still really enjoyed it and think it's worth reading and I'm still excited to read any further books set in this world!
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