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D. Wallace Peach

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The Necromancer's Daughter Kindle Edition

by D. Wallace Peach (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.9 66 ratings

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2023 Next Generation Indie Book Award Gold Medalist
2023 RONE Award Gold Medalist
2023 Reader's Favorite Silver Medalist

A healer with the talent to unravel death. A stillborn child brought to life. A father lusting for vengeance. And a son torn between justice, faith, and love. Caught in a chase spanning kingdoms, each must decide the nature of good and evil, the lengths they will go to survive, and what they are willing to lose.

A healer and dabbler in the dark arts of life and death, Barus is as gnarled as an ancient tree. Forgotten in the chaos of the dying queen’s chamber, he spirits away her stillborn infant and in a hovel at the meadow’s edge, breathes life into the wisp of a child. He names her Aster for the lea’s white flowers. Raised as his daughter, she, too, learns to heal death.

Denied a living heir, the widowed king spies from a distance. But he heeds the claims of the fiery Vicar of the Red Order—in the eyes of the Blessed One, Aster is an abomination, and to embrace the evil of resurrection will doom his rule.

As the king’s life nears its end, he defies the vicar’s warning and summons the necromancer’s daughter. For his boldness, he falls to an assassin’s blade. Armed with righteousness and iron-clad conviction, the Order’s brothers ride into the leas to cleanse the land of evil.

To save her father’s life, Aster leads them beyond Verdane’s wall into the Forest of Silvern Cats, a wilderness of dragons and barbarian tribes. Unprepared for a world rife with danger and unchecked power, a world divided by those who practice magic and those who hunt them, she must choose whether to trust the one man offering her aid, the one man most likely to betray her—her enemy’s son.

~*~

From best-selling fantasy author D. Wallace Peach comes a retelling of the legend of Kwan-yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy. Set in a winter world of dragons, intrigue, and magic, The Necromancer's Daughter is a story about duty, defiance, cruelty, and sacrifice— an epic tale of compassion and deep abiding love where good and evil aren’t what they seem.

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Caught in a chase spanning kingdoms, each must decide the lengths they will go to survive and what they are willing to lose


Barus Barus limped to the bench, and while the servants busied themselves with the queen’s body and her spoiled room, he slipped the bundle with the dead infant into his sack atop Olma’s book.	Aster She dribbled water into the bowl, added the poison, and stirred. With a last glance at her sleeping father, she held the bowl in her cupped hands and drank.	Tamus Graeger He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, my son, watch me. The Blessed One requires no trial for this one. Her very existence is a testament to evil.” He grabbed the collar of Aster's cloak and yanked her toward the fire.	Joreh Graeger He muttered a curse at whatever possessed him to help this woman. He should have pretended indifference. His father had planned to hang her, and Joreh would have gone silent as he always did when they disagreed.

Settings and characters: Barus and Aster, silver panthers, a dragon, Aster, Joreh, and Aster's home

Editorial Reviews

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"The Necromancer's Daughter by D. Wallace Peach was simply amazing...The story has everything to offer in terms of a great plot, charming characters, and a wonderfully imagined world." - Reader's Favorite

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B92G7QZX
Publisher ‏ : ‎ D. Wallace Peach; 1st edition (August 25, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 25, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1038 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 348 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B0B9FY6YZJ

Best Sellers Rank: #849,263 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #616 in Fairy Tales (Books)
- #1,052 in Asian Myth & Legend eBooks
- #1,120 in Fairy Tales (Kindle Store)

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4.9 66 ratings

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D. Wallace Peach

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A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life when years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books. She was instantly hooked.

In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography.

Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes.

For book descriptions, excerpts, maps, and behind the scenes info, please visit http://dwallacepeachbooks.com.

For her blog on all things writing, please visit http://mythsofthemirror.com.

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Robbie Cheadle

Entertaining and relevant

Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2022

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This book is a well written and entertaining story about a a family of necromancers, all unrelated by blood, who pass their skills and healing remedies from one generation to the next. One of their skills is an ability to raise the dead, in certain circumstances and within specific timeframes. This ability to reverse death comes at a high personal cost to the necromancer who performs the healing, as it requires the ingestion of a mixture of poisons. The poisonous mixture makes the necromancer very ill after the treatment, and if ingested too frequently, can kill the healer.

Astor is the daughter of the king of Verdane, but she was born dead and he does not want to claim her as his daughter because necromancies is viewed with intolerance and disfavour by the majority of the people of his kingdom. Astor is raised by Barus, the deformed necromancer who raised her from the dead, and she recognises him as her father.

Barus was also born dead and was raised by his adopted mother who taught him the art of necromancy. Barus is summonsed by the king to aid his wife who is struggling to birth their first child and who might die. When the time comes and the queen dies in childbirth, followed by the death of her infant, the king decides not to resurrect either of them. Barus is captivated by the beautiful girl child and decides to take her, and fulfil her dead mother’s wish by restoring her to life.

Barus’ own adoptive mother was murdered by a vengeful soldier when she refused to raise his badly damaged dead son. He is very lonely and Astor is a chance for him to have someone to love and care for.

The king is aware that his child has been resurrected and lives with Barus and visits her every year on her birthday. She does not know who he is and is disturbed by his annual visits. Astor grows up a necromancer, under the tutorage of Barus, and also develops a strong natural talent to control the dragons that belong to her mother's people in Blackrock. The people of Verdane are terrified of the dragons which have historically been used against them in battle by the King of Blackrock.

When the king becomes ill and looks set to die without an heir, he decides to claim Astor. That decision puts in motion a series of outcomes that cause enormous changes to Barus and Astor’s lives. Astor ends up fleeing Verdane with the aid of the son of her greatest enemy, Joreh, and attempting to travel to Blackrock to find her mother's family.

This book is more than just a heart wrenching story as it holds some of mankind’s worst attributes up for detailed inspection and consideration. The theme of blind religious faith and puritanical attitudes towards people with different beliefs and viewpoints is examined throughout the book. Astor’s behaviours and abilities cause conflict and rejection by Joreh in some situations, and confusion, self examination and finally acceptance, in others. This aspect of the book reminded me of The Scarlet Letter.

These same skills and attributes are greatly revered and respected by the tribes of the forest, called the Catticut. There is great conflict between the peoples of Verdane, Catticut, and Blackrock due to their different behaviours, religious beliefs, and cultures.

The theme of hunger for power and greed are also central to this book and Astor is betrayed by people in high places who manipulate her and abuse her trust.

Other themes like devotion, love, loyalty, and opportunism all have their moments to shine.

Aside from being an excellent story, this book gives insight into the author’s thoughts and views about human behaviour, psychology, and philosophy. This fascinating detail is particularly relevant in the current turbulent political, social and economic environment and it makes this book a topical read. I highly recommend this book.

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S. B.

A story that starts strong and sticks the landing

Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2023

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"The Necromancer's Daughter" is the story of a girl named Aster, raised from the dead and with the power to restore life to others, on the run from a fanatical order of priests, trying to rescue her father and protect her homeland from a vengeful zealot. Complicating matters is the fact that the very same zealot’s son is her possibly untrustworthy traveling companion.

From the very beginning, Peach skillfully draws the reader into this story’s fantastical world of dueling kingdoms. The opening chapters of the book offer rich, intriguing character introductions and world-building, setting the stage for the fast-paced story that follows. The meticulous attention to detail, especially when it comes to the descriptions of the setting, make it easy to immerse oneself the chilly winter landscapes; the book also does a particularly good job of depicting the central process of necromancy itself, making the process of restoring life from death feel at turns unnerving and poignant.

The best part of the novel lies in its final chapters, where the story takes a swerve towards greater moral complexity and suspense. Peach crafts a climax that challenges the characters' beliefs and forces them to face difficult choices, and it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the resolution to Aster’s journey was not quite what I had been expecting.

In conclusion, "The Necromancer's Daughter" is a rich stand-alone story about characters fighting for survival while forced to reckon with their beliefs about the world and their place in it. It breezes along at a brisk pace, making it a fast-paced and thoroughly enjoyable read.

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Elizabeth Gauffreau

A Highly Engaging and Beautifully Written Fantasy Novel!

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2022

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As a few other reviewers of The Necromancer’s Daughter have noted, I don’t usually read fantasy. However, I was so intrigued by the premise, I couldn’t resist: a humble, crippled necromancer named Barus brings Aster, a stillborn princess, back to life and raises her as her own–until she is called to fulfill her royal destiny.

I’m happy to say, I was well-rewarded for my time investment in Barus and Aster’s story. To begin with, the writing is superb: vivid, polished, and fluid, with enough detail to immerse the reader in the fantasy world without belabored world-building. In addition to the writing, the masterful characterization kept me reading. From the point-of-view characters to the bit players to the “sword carriers,” these are living, breathing people who inhabit the fantasy world the author has created.

The novel is told from three points of view: that of Barus, Aster, and Joreh, a young man who turns out to be the son of Aster’s sworn enemy. The use of multiple points of view provides different perspectives on the events of the story–a variation on the hero’s journey–thereby ensuring reader identification with each character, as well as building narrative tension. The use of multiple point-of-view characters also adds depth and complexity to the novel’s major themes of good versus evil, the lust for power, personal autonomy versus destiny, and the nature of life and death.

The novel’s main timeline is in the winter, and a particularly brutal winter it is. Wind-blown snow isn’t mere window-dressing, however. The author skillfully uses the frozen landscape to reinforce Aster’s “otherness” and fragility as someone who has been raised from the dead. Moreover, blizzard conditions and frigid temperatures pose additional challenges to overcome, over which neither she nor her antagonists have any control.

Dragons figure prominently in The Necromancer’s Daughter, which came as no surprise. However, the way they were portrayed did surprise me. The descriptions of what the dragons looked like, what they sounded like, and how they behaved were so realistic, not only did I believe they existed, they became one of my favorite elements of the novel.

I was also surprised by the details of necromancy practiced by Barus and then by Aster. The effect of necromancy on the necromancer and the light in which it was portrayed played against the trope of the obsessive mad scientist defying God to raise the dead. Their practice of necromancy was presented in an altruistic light–and the necromancer paid a physical price. I greatly appreciated the way necromancy was presented in all its complexity. As to be expected, Aster’s enemies believe it is the work of the devil, while Barus and Aster view it as a form of healing, in the way that medical treatment is a form of healing: interference with a natural process of a body that has been injured or become seriously ill. The question of where the line is between life and death and how far medical science should go to keep someone from crossing that line permanently is very much with us today.

I can confidently recommend The Necromancer's Daughter to readers who love fantasy and to readers who appreciate character-driven, thought-provoking fiction. Kudos to D. Wallace Peach for this achievement!

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DGKaye

Good vs. Evil

Reviewed in Canada on October 2, 2022

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I’m going to start this review by saying that fantasy is not my go-to genre, but being a big fan of Diana Peach’s writing, and the storyline of this book, I couldn’t wait to get my copy. I was engaged from the first page and felt it difficult every time I had to put down the book.

This is a story about good vs. evil. We are first introduced to Barus, as he works with his adoptive mother Olma in their rustic shack-like home making up magical concoctions to heal the sick in the wilderness in the village of White Leas, Verdane. Olma also has the gift of being a necromancer – bringing the dead back to life. Barus has yet to master this gift but is put to the test when the vicar of the Red Order bangs on their door demanding they save his dead son. But it’s too late to bring him back and the vicar beats up the already semi-crippled Barus and his mother and destroys their meager contents, vowing to come back to avenge them.

Later, Barus is summoned by the King of Verdane to save his almost still-born child and his wife, the queen. Their marriage was a blend of two kingdoms – Verdane, and the Princess of Blackrock. But the Red Order intervenes and vows the people won’t accept anyone brought back to life. The child is born dead, and left as forgotten, but Barus hides the stillborn under his cloak on his departure, and performs his first necromancer ritual to bring his now adopted daughter, Aster, back to life. In the meantime, the king becomes aware of Aster’s existence and keeps an eye on her from afar, until one day when he is aging and realizes he has no heirs, he goes to summon her to come back to his castle, but the ‘Red Order’ weren’t going to have any of that. This sets Aster fleeing her home with her father Barus whom she first finds a safe place for him to stay while she continues to flee through the icy cold forest of the Silvern Cats, east, to find the king of Blackrock Kingdom where her birth mother had come from.

Along her journey she meets some interesting people who help her on her journey – mainly, Joreh, ironically, the vicar’s son, who saved Aster from his own father’s evil edict, and Teko, a barbarian cutter from the forest, and they run into many perils along the journey of escorting Aster to Blackrock through the forest in dead of winter. The action and suspense is nonstop.

Aster has the gift of a gentler, as her birth mother did. She is able to tame dragons that typically attack others, and there is one in particular that shows up at the right times in her hours of need. She also learned the craft of necromancy from her adopted father, which quite often puts her in peril as she is called a witch who preforms evil, instead of being praised for giving back life.

The plot kept me glued as Aster travels through forests and cutters and dragons and evil-doers with her new-found friends and allies in her efforts to reach her uncle, the King of Blackrock, for safe harbor, and to acknowledge she is the lost daughter of the Princess of Blackrock. She must prove herself many times over to spare her life, which is threatened repeatedly in this riveting telling.

Her quest continues and has her journeying back to Verdane to gain her rightful place as queen and to find her beloved father Barus, and in so doing, she hopes to make peace between Verdane and Blackrock, and with the Catticuts in the forest in between the two lands, instead of the constant warring between them all. With her new friends Joreh, son of the evil Vicar of Verdane and the Red Order, and Teko from the Catticut forest tribe, it was an addictive read, hoping they make the journey back to the west, safely, and hoping Aster will be accepted as the rightful new queen.

This story will grab you from the beginning and will tug at your heart strings as you root for Aster and continue to hope that goodness will overtake the evil of greedy men and their ignorant beliefs. The emotion that Peach masters in this book jumps off the pages and had me tearing up through the last chapter, but I cannot tell you why. You will have to read for yourself.

Peach is a master fantasy story teller and world builder. In this book she brings in the two opposing elements of good and evil – Aster, the daughter of royalty with a healing gift, but considered witchery and not accepted, as necromancy is a black mark deemed evil by the actual evil people in her world. Peach can write about flawed characters and deplorables, yet bring out the human side in them. This book is a fast-paced plot that will keep you turning the pages and rooting for all the good people as the story unfolds and leaves us remembering the characters long after reading.

Deborah Jay

A beautiful tale with rich world building

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2023

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The queen of Verdane died in childbirth, delivering a stillborn daughter. It should all have ended there, but the crippled necromancer Barus breathed life into the infant and raised her as his own. Aster’s loving, innocent childhood is shattered when the Vicar of the Red Order, a man who holds Barus responsible for the death of his eldest son, comes hunting them.
Separated from her beloved father and forced to flee, Aster leads the hunters away to enable Barus to escape. And then she meets Joreh, the Vicar’s younger son, a man with a conscience and a true sense of justice. He abhors Aster for her ability to raise the dead, and the fact she was born dead herself, and yet he cannot condone the Order’s edict to execute her without trial.
And so begins a massive adventure that takes in magic, dragons, a quest through a dangerous forest, kingdoms at war and kingdoms trying to prevent war, a struggle for the crown of Verdane, and a highly complex relationship between Aster and Joreh. The pace leaves no room for a breath and Peach’s compelling cast, including the well-developed secondary characters, kept me reading well into the night.
Peach does not shy from the horrors of persecution and the violence of war, not to mention the schemes of rulers using innocents regardless of consequences, in this richly imagined world evoked by the author’s exquisite prose. I won’t expound on the ending, as that would be too easy to spoil for the reader, I just suggest that if you adore excellent world building, unusual quirky characters, magic, and a plot that while not overly complicated, is highly satisfying, you go ahead and read it.

OlgaNM

A dark fairy-tale with complex characters. And dragons

Reviewed in Spain on January 6, 2023

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I have read many great reviews of Wallace Peach’s novels, and although the genre wasn’t one of my favourites, I was intrigued by this one, partly because of the description, and partly because I read an interview with the author where she shared how she came to write this story. She was challenged to write a story where one of the protagonists wasn’t attractive and handsome but was beautiful inside, truly good with a heart of gold. A sample of the book nailed the deal, and I am very happy I decided to read it because this novel is as good as everybody said.
Although I don’t consider myself a fan of fantasy, I have always loved fairy tales, and the story of Aster and Barus has something of the fairy tale, a fairly dark one at times. (We all know some fairy tales are incredibly cruel and dark). Death, necromancy, people coming back from death, poisons, religious fanaticism, wars, destruction, intolerance, lies, threats, betrayals, persecutions... At the end of the book, the author explains how the story relates to the legend of Kwan-yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, and though there are similarities, this is an original revisiting of the legend, with many distinct characteristics.
Both Barus and Aster are fascinating characters. They both have to fight against terrible odds to pursue their calling of being healers, of the living and sometimes even of the dead: Barus, because he is severely handicapped by this poor health and his contorted body; Aster, because she was born a princess but also dead, and she is seen as an abomination by the members of a religious order with plenty of power in her kingdom, the Red Order. She does not want to be queen or to exercise her birthright, but that seems to be the only way she can help her father. If you imagine things won’t go according to plan, you will be right.
Aster isn’t the only one who finds herself in a bind that gets more and more entangled the more she tries to free herself from it. One of the male characters she meets, Joreh, is trapped between his loyalty to his father (the Vicar of the order), his faith in the Goddess, and his strong feelings for Aster. His attitude and beliefs change over time, and he is, perhaps, the character who evolves the most in the story. I liked those characters, and many more, in particular, Teko, who brings a light and fun touch to the novel. That does not mean everybody is good in the novel. The Red Order, and the Vicar in particular, have few redeeming qualities (if any), and there are others who are somewhat ambiguous and that helps to make them more realistic.
Those who, like me, aren’t too fond of lengthy backstories and complex and detailed world-building which slows down the story, don’t need to worry. There are beautiful descriptions of places and beings (yes, dragons among others), but those are always narrated (in the third person) from the point of view of one of the main characters and are relevant to the story. The author is excellent at providing us with information about the world order and the people in it in small doses as the story advances, without overwhelming us or causing confusion.
There are plenty of adventures, and action scenes, alternating with more contemplative moments, and some truly emotional events, and although I was sorry to get to the final page of the story, I found the ending satisfying. In an ideal world, I would love to learn more about Aster’s mother and also about some of the other female characters who only make brief appearances in this novel (much of the story is about Aster’s quest to find her “father”, Barus, and she is mostly surrounded by men), and I would also like to know more about the connection between Aster (and other blood members of her family) and the dragons. I am sure the author has plenty of ideas to work on already, but just in case she is ever stuck, I leave my suggestions there. Perhaps a prequel?
There is violence, death (including the death of children), and some of the content can be disturbing, but if the topic and the description don’t cause concern, I don’t hesitate in recommending the story not only to those who love fantasy, but also to readers of adventure stories who don’t mind a touch of fancy, the supernatural, and who appreciate dark fairy-tales, with psychologically complex characters and superb writing. Another author I will keep a close eye on in the future.

Ian Richard Gill

SPELLBINDING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN

Reviewed in Canada on February 23, 2023

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D. Wallace Peach has created a wonderful tale of magic driven by the passion of her heroine, Aster, to make her world a better place. From the first words to the very ending, this fantastical tale of a remarkable young woman’s journey through her dark and dangerous Medieval world, was captivating. In constant danger of death, Aster is forced to flee the clutches of a powerful and vengeful man, Vicar of The Red Order, who wishes to hang her for Necromancy, in his eyes an abomination against his Goddess. Along the way, allies must be won, against steep odds, among them fierce dragons, giants and the heart of a soldier raised to believe that her gifts are evil. The writer’s style, her wonderful gift for description and the almost lyrical lilt of her prose, was a pleasure to read, and I will definitely follow her many other titles going forward.

Freya Pickard

A truly beautiful tale

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2024

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A truly beautiful tale. I bought this book because I admire Peach's writing style and flowing narratives. I wasn't disappointed! This is a stand alone novel that explores life and death, faith and tyranny, war and peace. It is heroic and epic in style with characters who are real and descriptions that leave the reader with vivid images and impressions without slowing the action. I loved the story of a simple healing life that's interrupted by the outside world. It's written from three viewpoints; a necromancer, his adopted daughter and a religious soldier. This is a story that lingers in one's mind and soul. Peach never preaches, simply shows by thought and deed, the many sides of war, peace and the liberty to choose what we want to believe. If you've never read Peach's work, this is a great one to start with. If you're already a fan of Peach, you need to read this!

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Caught in a chase spanning kingdoms, each must decide the lengths they will go to survive and what they are willing to lose

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