I Read Books: Harrow The Ninth
Harrow The Ninth “The Necromancers are back and they’re gayer than ever,” declares the back cover, and you know. Yes, sure. Though that aspect is probably third, maybe fourth in turn of the various threads this book picks up. At the end of Gideon The Ninth there were two big reveals. First, how liches, the Emperor’s immortal necro-saints, are created. A necromancer’s cavalier sacrifices themselves so their soul lives within the necromancer, creating a self-sustaining source of thanergy (death magic energy); also this soul takes control of the body when the necromancer goes spirit travelling, which will be important later. Second, a missing lich had infiltrated Canaan house impersonating one of the necromancer-candidates, seeking to disrupt the investigation and initiation of them and destroy the emperor. At the climax Gideon, a cavalier, sacrificed herself so that her necromancer Harrowhawk could survive the attack and become a lich. Harrow, now a lich-saint, remembers none
