| Italic Title: | (see above) --> |
| The Death of the Necromancer | |
| Author: | Martha Wells |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Ile-Rien |
| Genre: | Fantasy |
| Publisher: | Eos Press/HarperCollins |
| Pub Date: | 1998 |
| Media Type: | |
| Pages: | 359 |
| Isbn: | 978-0380973347 |
| Preceded By: | The Element of Fire |
| Followed By: | The Wizard Hunters |
The Death of the Necromancer is a 1998 fantasy novel by Martha Wells. It was first published by Eos/HarperCollins.
In the city of Vienne in the land of Ile-Rien, master criminal Nicolas Valiarde discovers that his elaborate plans for revenge are being disrupted by the return of a supernatural menace from centuries past.
The Death of the Necromancer was a finalist for the 1999 Nebula Award for Best Novel.[1]
Kirkus Reviews considered it to be "thoroughly engaging", with "splendid plotting and characters and agreeably varied magics".[2]
At SF Site, Steven H. Silver judged the plot to be "relatively simple", and in particular questioned the likelihood of Valiarde taking years to construct both a criminal empire and an entire separate persona as part of his planned revenge, only to be distracted at the last minute by the seemingly uninvolved Doctor Octave; Silver did, however, laud Wells for having created characters and a setting that "retain the readers' attention", and for avoiding a "comedy of errors" situation, ultimately stating that the novel was "worth reading".[3]
Wells has stated that her portrayal of Valiarde was based on her desire to "write a protagonist who in most books like this would be the antagonist, if not the outright villain."[4]
The novel has a Sherlock Holmes theme, with Valiarde being based on Professor Moriarty, his assistant Reynard Morane being based on Sebastian Moran, his law-enforcement nemeses Inspector Ronsarde and Doctor Halle being based on Holmes and Doctor Watson, and his companion Madeline being based on Irene Adler ("but also Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt").[5]