The Witness for the Dead is a stand-alone sequel in the same world as Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor. This novel follows Thara Celehar, Prelate of Ulis and Witness for the Dead in the city of Amalo. Celehar can communicate with the recently deceased (though not in a conversational way) and pick up clues about how they died. It is his responsibility to use these clues for tasks such as resolving family disputes, or finding the deceased’s killer.

This is a fun detective story set in world of elves and goblins! Thara Celehar is such an enjoyable protagonist; he’s shy, but oh-so-lovely and endearing. Some may find his personality boring, but I found comfort in his bashfulness. The setting of this book is also beautiful, I loved the descriptions of the theatres and the teahouses especially!

Listening to this on audio was perhaps not the best choice, but that is no fault of Addison’s. There are simply a lot of complex names and locations that I think being able to read (rather than hearing them) would’ve helped me to understand certain plot lines more. There is also a dual sort of investigation happening in this book and it was sometimes difficult to discern which case Celehar was following.

I found the world SO interesting but part of me wishes I had read The Goblin Emperor first because although this is a stand-alone, it did feel like I’d missed some key world-building.

Overall, I did really like this but I’m not sure if I will feel compelled to read any more of this series.

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