The Blood King (Chronicles of the Necromancer, Book 2) Mass Market Paperback – January 29, 2008

If you liked the first book then you probably need to read this book to complete at least part of the story arc.This book wraps up all of the plot threads from the first book.If you liked the writer's style then it is the same and more in this book. There are many descriptions of food items, pretty clothes, emotional/internal dialogue, and exposition.For those that have not read the previous book, you cannot jump into this one. You have to read the first book to understand the characters and the context.The book is kind of a combination middle grade romance combined with a fantasy novel. There are vampires, but they are friendly and seductive. There is a lot of romantic interplay between some of the characters including love at first sight, but it is completely family safe.There is a bit of gore and violence described. So, if you are a parent or guardian, I highly recommend that you read through a few chapters in the middle of the book to see if you are OK with the level of violence and gore. (By way of reference, it is less than many Teen+ video games today.)All in all, a good conclusion to the story arc, and more of the same style if you enjoyed the first book.** Beware Gentle Reader, Spoilers Follow **While I did enjoy the book, I'm really not the demographic intended. This is firmly a middle grade, fantasy novel with cultural elements from popular books like the Breaking Dawn series.There are some plot twists about parentage revealed in the book. I will not spoil that part.There are many wildly unlikely, random good luck moments in the book. The characters are absolutely, positively doomed, and then, they notice the waxen tablets. The two antagonists are extremely unprepared when our hero and his band return to the castle. The author works very hard to pump up the tension by describing how the characters were feeling, but as the reader, you never had any doubt how the fight would turn out. The final fight scene between the brothers seemed a little rushed, and the result was a bit improbable - it felt like a scene from a B-movie.Likewise, the final fight scene with the Blood Mage did not really feel all that dire because the author pointed out that Triss had a potion (that could bring people back from the dead) several times. So, when he stabs his love in the highly telegraphed moment, and all of his traveling companions are shocked, you as the reader yawn and go, "OK, guess it is time to use that potion that the book has mentioned seven times."At the end of this book, Triss is crowned king. The two bad guys have had their souls sucked away by the Cthulhu aspect of the Lady. Triss is married, and everyone else that you care about has some kind of royal position.Roll the credits.Except ... there are now at least two more books in a series that really closed out here.I am not going to read any more books in this series. Again, it is not a bad book, but the series is clearly over here, and I am less interested in sparkly, friendly vampires, and the women's fashion styles in Margoland.

Good read for all ages. Brings the imagination to another time and place, on a journey you will enjoy following!

First off, I very much enjoyed the first book and was hoping to see the characters grow more, the fledgling romances flourish, the supporting characters coming into their own, and -- of course -- an epic battle to overthrow the evil king and his mage. Well. All of that happens... It just seems to happen with new characters.~ Tris is more solemn and brooding. That's pretty much the extent of his personality now. Oh, and he loves Kiara. Deeply and passionately (well, as passionately as Matris Drayke, Lord of Dreariness, can). He may be no simple youth when it comes to magic or statecraft, but it's a regular Romeo & Juliet romance. And, just think, they've known each other for less than six months and they've never spent any time alone! For all that (supposed) depth and passion, however, it's a very sanitary, settled kind of love. And apparently no sexual tension whatsoever -- we all known teens and early 20s have no sex drive, so this is completely believable... right?~ Kiara has lost most of her spunk. When you see her (which is rare), she's basically worrying about or taking care of Tris, making a (as in one) quippy line, training with Jonmarc, gushing over how much she loves Tris, or being made into a victim that Tris needs to save. She becomes the most boring support character in the book. Tragic.~ Jonmarc/Vahanian*, again, has become distressingly tame. His wry/sharp humor is still there (occasionally), but he rarely does anything. It's like that whole war between "self-service" and "noble cause" has evaporated entirely -- he has no inner turmoil or resolve now. He's just there. The sharp-tongued jack of all trades has become a bland right-hand man who moons over Carina.~ Carina... honestly, what the hell. Why even bother establishing strong females if you're just going to turn them into mush when they start having feelings? Carina gets more screen time than Kiara, but her character has been washed out even more. She now becomes flustered at the least little challenge, uncertain in her personal life, and overall vague in personality. Going by presence, you would say she's a main character, but there's not enough personality to really merit that appellation.~ Ban Soterius* at least is enough in the background that you can excuse his lack of development. The thing that aggravated me the most about Ban's treatment in this book is that you couldn't even believe he and Tris were basically best friends. There was no indication of that other than 1) Tris calling him that once, and 2) Carroway's story about them all frolicking together back in the good old days when Jared was still Jared, but at least not King Jared.~ Carroway isn't bad. Probably the only character who gets to show up for any length of time who hasn't turned into a completely different person. Granted, he hasn't really developed from that at all either, but at least he was consistently flirtatious, talented, and handsome. Kind of hard to screw that up, now that I think about it.~ Harrtuck who? Seriously, he's mentioned like 5 times and has basically become "that fighting guy...I think he took up with the mercenaries at some point."~ Gabriel/Mikhail are basically the same person. They may have different backstories and (angelic-inspired) names, but there is nothing whatsoever that differentiates them here. There are 2 scenes in the book where I could definitively tell you which vayash moru it was, and that's because it's tied directly to their backstories. When it concerned only the present, they were interchangeable.* Okay, there is a reason why people get called by one name, and there are usually few exceptions. It bugs the hell out of me that the narrator (and some of the characters) call these two men by one name, while the rest of the characters call them by another (oh, and sometimes the characters usually referring to them by the other name will call them by this one too). This is so logically/realistically inconsistent that it distracts me. First name, last name, I don't care. Just have everyone pick a name and stick with it, with exceptions actually being exceptions and not rules. And have the narration use the most frequently used name. If he feels like Soterius/Vahanian to the narrator, he'd probably feel like that to the other characters too.Examples:[quote] Tris shrugged. [...] He looked at Vahanian. "How is Jonmarc?"[quote] She slipped the cloak over Vahanian, who was already asleep. [...] On one hand, she felt relief. [...] Jonmarc was alive.[quote] A little more than a week later [...] time to see Soterius and Mikhail off [...] "Now that Ban's an outlaw hero [...]" [...] The group was still chuckling at the off-color ballad he'd dedicated to the high points of Soterius's upcoming ride [...]As for the book as a whole, the pace just felt off. It starts well and ends okay, but the rest of the book seems like you're drifting over the events. You get a high-flying overview, with periodic stops to check in on the characters for a little bit of action. I never really felt how much time passed, since all of the events bled together. There were some really interesting concepts being used, but in the end it felt like there were too many ideas -- the sheer number made it impossible to spend meaningful time on any of them. The character swap was probably the most frustrating thing I've ever encountered. I hope that the original cast made it back in the third book, but I won't know for awhile. This one hasn't really inspired me to rush out and pick it up.I had high hopes for this series, but now I'm feeling really lukewarm. There were some clear writing issues. The repetition between scenes was getting on my nerves -- I don't need to be reminded 10 pages later that this one thing happened. Actually, repetition in general seemed to be a problem here -- I really hope there are no more Eastmark kicks in the rest of the series, because I think Tris has done enough of them in The Blood King to last a lifetime... It's the only fighting move he knows, apparently. That, and channeling his will through that sword.In the end, don't hope for any surprises because there aren't any. Everything goes exactly as it should for the good guys, albeit they get a few beatings here and there. It does basically have the feel of a children's book (The prince and his party started off...they did this and this and this, while the bad guys did that. Then there was a skirmish, and everyone lived (mostly) happily ever after. The end!), which is disappointing when you consider the first. Hopefully they get better again, but I'm not getting my hopes up again.

Thirty two years ago I was an insomniac. I picked up The Lord of the Rings trilogy and have been hooked in the genre to this day. This book put my heart in my throat on several occasions. To be honest, I felt the author rushed through the key passages in the novel..or it could have been that I was so spell bound it just seemed so because I wanted those moments to last. I still give it a 5-star because it moved me so many times.

Really enjoyed the story, read the first book and immediately baught the second. Found the characters interesting and excited to see where they go next with the story

I have enjoyed these books. While at times they have seemed a bit cliche', they have also offered a different take on wizardry and enjoyable storytelling. I would lump them in the same box as "The Runelords" series by David Farland. Enjoyable and fresh.One last note, not unlike Robert Adams, the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad.

I haven't read the book yet but I know the story will be awesome! My only issue is that the quality of the book was actually a little banged up, and not a new copy. But other than that, the delivery was great!

I liked this book better than the first in the series. The author pulled the various threads of her story together very well. By the climax of the book, she had my heart racing! I will certainly be reading the rest of this series!

This second instalment reveals more details about Tris' family history and the magical orb known as the Soulcatcher. Martin explains political background which is meaningful to the assassination of the princes' family and it adds depth and credibility to the story.It is also interesting to see how two main female characters, princess Kiara and healer Carina are developing. Martin manages to find a clever way to draw similarities and yet to show good contrast between them. An added bonus for me is the introduction of a small hunting dragon called Jae.I am a big fan of Trudi Canavan's writing and have read The Black Magician Trilogy as well as The Age of Five series. Gail Martin's debut with The Chronicles of the Necromancer is better than I expected.

I read this series of books some time ago in paperback. I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them again.. The story is fast paced and involved and Gail Z. Martin has produced an excellent story that allow all of the characters to develop within their world. A great story teller you are Gail & thank you for writing with your usual flair!! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a really good story!

Anyone who loves the fantasy writing of David Gemmell will love this

This book certainly wetted my appetite for more of the same, very pleased that the series was available on Kindle - full of exciting happenings and not too much romance - just enough.

Could be better.