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The Grief of Stones: The Chronicles of Osreth: The Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy, Book 2 Kindle Edition

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 996 ratings

In The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison returns to the world of The Goblin Emperor with a direct sequel to The Witness for the Dead...

Locus Award Finalist!

Book of the Month picks for BUZZFEED | LITHUB | GIZMODO | TRANSFER ORBIT | Amazon | Locus Magazine | and more

As a Witness for the Dead, Thara Celehar can speak to the recently departed: see the last thing they saw, know the last thought they had, experience the last thing they felt. It is his duty to use that ability to ascertain the intent of the dead and to find the killers of the murdered. Celehar’s time in the city of Amalo has brought him both friends and enemies—and no little notoriety. Now, when solving the murder of a marquise raises more questions than it answers, he finds himself exploring Amalo’s dark underside.

His investigations lead him to the Cemchelarna School for Foundling Girls, where all is not as it seems. Discovering the truth about its headmistress will lead Celehar deep into the city’s history—and into the shattering depths of the loss he fears the most.

Within THE CHRONICLES OF OSRETH

The Goblin Emperor

The Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy
The Witness for the Dead
The Grief of Stones
The Tomb of Dragons

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Despite the high-stakes plotting, these short yet immersive fantasy detective novels are pleasantly quiet and optimistic." ―Buzzfeed News

"
Kazuo Ishiguro-an style."―New York Times

“A delightful story that will satisfy readers of both fantasy and mystery.”Library Journal, starred review

"Intriguing and well-plotted fantasy mystery. The author’s fans will welcome the chance to continue exploring Amalo alongside this mild-mannered but tenacious detective." ― Booklist, starred review

"Addison has striking command of language, a precision of phrase that’s a delight to read and a pleasure to read again. If you enjoy
atmospheric, thoughtful, well-characterised mys­teries with compelling characters and a compe­tent, kind, and modest protagonist, I recommend The Grief of Stones highly. Hell, even if you don’t think you like such things, try this one (or its predecessor). It’s a great book."Locus

"
The Grief of Stones shows us how a single person builds a family of choice, and what that family means to him in a crisis. . . . Celehar's pursuit of truth and justice, with the obstacles and monsters he faces, is a more than sufficient reason to read The Grief of Stones. Addison's world-building is also terrific, with each page etching the image of a incredibly old society (and one difficult to traverse, both physically and socially). " ― Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Our titular Witness begins forging more relationships among the living, yet is still compelled to exhume one of the city’s most gruesome secrets....
The Goblin Emperor hit the very niche spot of cozy fantasy while still having very dark underpinnings... Addison... has kept that note of death and how it affects the living."― Lithub

“An excellent third entry in
an absolutely wonderful series. Katherine Addison has built a world that could easily fuel more and more of these – let’s hope it does.”―Mystery & Suspense Magazine

Excellent series. I hope there will be more.”―Philadelphia Science Fiction Society

"Immersive sequel. . . . Thoroughly entertaining. . . . The plot
masterfully blurs the line between fantasy and mystery, and Addison turns her brilliant character building to the common folk of Amalo, fleshing out the citizens with heart-wrenching backstories and addressing and ameliorating the world’s societal ills."―Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Chronicles of Osreth

"The only thing wrong with
The Goblin Emperor was that it was, for a long time, a stand-alone. But now there's a sequel, The Witness for the Dead ― so if you love the world Katherine Addison has created, you've got a way back to it."―NPR, Best SFF of the Past Decade feature

"I've been wanting to return to the world of 'The Goblin Emperor' from the moment I finished that book, and 'The Witness For the Dead' does not disappoint. At once intimate and literally operatic, it's everything I love about Katherine Addison's writing, in ways I didn't know to expect. I loved it." ― John Scalzi

“I enjoyed the book so very much. It was really exactly the sort of thing I needed to read.” ― Ann Leckie

“Is there anything greater than discovering a genius in our midst?... I adored
The Goblin Emperor, and Witness for the Dead―also set amongst the elves, airmen, goblins, and ghouls of that world―packs another lightning-fisted literary wallop...It rocks all my hot spots. Addison lavishes her ardent readers with adventure, new friendships, invisible enemies, and rewards us with her uncommon depths, subtleties, and kindnesses.” ― C.S.E. Cooney

“Left me with feelings of warmth and hope for humanity.” ― Margaret Rogerson,
New York Times bestselling author of Sorcery of Thorns

"The follow-up to the acclaimed
The Goblin Emperor brings back a favorite character and expands the elaborate world Addison has created. Fans of the first book―and new readers―will find this novel delightful and immersive." ― Library Journal

“A remarkably hopeful story of a single decent person doing his best in a difficult situation.” –
io9

“Ambitious and meticulously executed worldbuilding brings an animated dazzle to this exceptional assemblage of character studies and complex encounter.”
– Publishers Weekly

“A spellbinding and genuinely affecting drama. Unreservedly recommended.” –
Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

KATHERINE ADDISON’s short fiction has been selected by The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and The Year’s Best Science Fiction. The Goblin Emperor won the 2015 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and was a finalist for the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award. The Angel of the Crows was nominated for the 2021 Locus Award. As Sarah Monette, she is the author of the Doctrine of Labyrinths series and co-author, with Elizabeth Bear, of the Iskryne series. She lives near Madison, Wisconsin.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09C4FJ851
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Books (June 14, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 14, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4730 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 253 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 996 ratings

About the author

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Katherine Addison
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Sarah Monette is an American novelist and short story author, writing mostly in the genres of fantasy and horror. She has also published as Katherine Addison.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by GabboT [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
996 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024
The world building is wonderful and detailed. The author went all out on creating culture, religions, architecture, technology, and people for their fantasy world. The characters feel very real. Seldom do I read books where they feel like they could be real flesh and blood people. The villains, such that they are, seem very believable.
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2022
I like this series. It is written in the first-person, but more in the style of modern detective novels than introspective literature. The world-building is lavish, and the MC tragically sympathetic— both of which makes this series worth reading. It’s almost like the author has tied her hands behind her back in refusing to allow us any insight into the MC’s thoughts — which is why lovers of detective novels will enjoy this.

The world-building is lavish and the author does not shy away from miscellaneous encounters that don’t further the plot or provide any insight into the characters, but simply ground us more deeply in this interesting culture and world. But while it is not as focused as most tight detective dramas are, it is a wonderful story of multiple mysteries.

I recommend this for someone looking for a plot-centric, but meandering tale. Most detective stories are too “tight” for me — this series gives you more of a chance to engage with the world the characters inhabit, without losing any of the driving focus on things happening and mysteries entwining.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2023
First, and possibly least important, there was nothing whatsoever that I disliked. I was, and am still, taken by the first of the novels about the world,of the Elves and the Goblins. And I still am. That first book dealt with the ascent of an isolated (in every sense) youngster to the throne of an empire, its effects on him, and his effects on the empire. This book has a lesser sweep, but much more detail. It is a pointillist masterpiece in which we see the life of a priest who loses his ability to see the memories of the dead. It is quite remarkable, very absorbing, and makes me wish for much more in this vein from the author. She deserves congratulations, and I freely grant them to her. Longa scribabas!
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2022
This is a profoundly moving installment within the larger universe first explored in The Goblin Emperor, which might be my favorite book of all time. The Grief of Stones features a very different main character in a very different environment, with a different story to tell, but the through line between Maia and Thara Celehar is their almost poignant humaneness in a world so richly detailed it should be real.

It feels strange to say not much happens in The Grief of Stones, because a great deal does, but the way it's written is almost meditative, with a lot of the ripples more felt than seen. At its base, it's a (short) novel about connections and choices and doing one's best, while on the surface it's about a person meeting other people while doing his job, if that makes sense.

This such a beautiful piece of writing about vivid characters, secondary as well as primary, in wonderfully imagined world and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
15 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2022
I am not given to using 5 stars in reviews, but this book definitely merits them. This is the third book in the series beginning with the Goblin Emperor, and the direct sequel to Witness for the Dead. The characters are well written: they have depth of feeling and thought, and despite the fantasy milieu, they are people with whom we can sympathize, or at least comprehend their motives. Thara Celahar’s anguish about the difficult decisions his sense of justice lead him to are vividly described, and make him an incredibly sympathetic character. And as a detective novel, it really moves right along, keeping you breathlessly wanting to know more. I really hope there will be more books in this series.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2022
At times this book was slow, and as with the previous book in the series I sometimes lost track of the names, but it is well worth reading and I care about the main character deeply. I will probably reread this book and the others set in his world.
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2022
This installment of Thara Celehar's work as a Witness For The Dead in Amalo is even better than the last. Providing him with an intern allows for even more discovery about the society in which they live. The work of the two Witnesses crosses all demographics in the city, and so the books have now become even more immersive than before, if possible. Superb character and world building. With a brilliant use of language and written with the compassion and kindness I've come to look forward to in Addison's books as the characters deal with terrible crimes and tragedy, both personal and related to the work of a Witness. I'll be preordering Addison's next without fail.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2023
This is a direct sequel to the last book in the series, and continues the story of the Witness for the Dead. He follows a couple of deaths and does his best.

I hope that there will be another book featuring the same characters.

Top reviews from other countries

S. Hardy
5.0 out of 5 stars It's4:20 am.
Reviewed in Japan on September 4, 2022
I re-read a book in my Kindle library yesterday. I wished, as always that it had a sequel. Then I found it had two sequels. I bought one and read it, then bought this and read it. I read really fast. But it has been awhile since I've missed sleep because I couldn't stop flipping (swiping?) pages. Read the Winter Emperor if you like Court intrigue things and a " but I am not qualified to rule, this must be a nightmare" emperor in training story, then read the Cemeteries of Amalo series if you like her writing style.
It is insane and my wife is gonna get shouty tomorrow, but if I could find a published sequel, I probably would have started it too regardless. This is an amazingly textured, immersive world. I would buy the game if they made it. Um, don't start it the night before an important event if you have ever had trouble putting a book down. This is a lock-the-door, phone-off-the-hook, start-over-breakfast-Saturday-morning, kind of book. Don't say I didn't warn you.
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