Christopher Nuttall's Necropolis was published by Elsewhen Press in August 2014 as an e-book. The printed edition will be published in November 2014.
Information about Christopher Nuttall:
Christopher Nuttall has been planning sci-fi books since he learned to read. Born and raised in Edinburgh, Chris created an alternate history website and eventually graduated to writing full-sized novels. Studying history independently allowed him to develop worlds that hung together and provided a base for storytelling. After graduating from university, Chris started writing full-time. As an indie author, he has self-published a number of novels. The Royal Sorceress was the first of his novels to be published by Elsewhen Press. Chris is currently living in Borneo with his wife, muse, and critic Aisha.
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Information about Necropolis:
From Christopher Nuttall, best-selling science-fiction and fantasy author, comes the next instalment in his hugely popular fantasy / alternative history adventure Royal Sorceress series.
The British Empire is teetering on the brink of war with France. A war that may, for the first time, see magicians in the ranks on both sides. The Royal Sorceress, Lady Gwendolyn Crichton, will be responsible for the Empire's magical resources when the time comes. Still struggling to overcome prejudice within the Royal College of Sorcerers, she has at least earnt the gratitude of much of the aristocracy, if not their respect. Just when Gwen needs to be firmly focussed on training new sorcerers, her adopted daughter Olivia, the only known living necromancer, is kidnapped. Her abduction could signal a terrible new direction in the impending war. But Intelligence soon establishes that it was Russian agents who took Olivia, so an incognito Gwen joins a British diplomatic mission to Russia, an uncertain element in the coming conflict. Once she has arrived in St Petersburg, she discovers that the Tsar is deranged and with the help of a mad monk has a plan that threatens the entire world.
Immediately following on from The Great Game, Necropolis sees Gwen thrust into the wider international arena as political unrest spreads throughout Europe and beyond, threatening to hasten an almighty conflict. Once again Christopher Nuttall combines exciting fantasy with believable alternate history that is almost close enough for us to touch.
A REVIEW OF CHRISTOPHER NUTTALL'S NECROPOLIS
Necropolis is Christopher Nuttall's third novel in The Royal Sorceress series. It's an enjoyable fantasy novel for all readers who have enjoyed the previous novels, because the story continues in an interesting way. This novel won't disappoint fans of The Royal Sorceress series, because it's pure entertainment from start to finish.
Necropolis is just as good and entertaining a novel as The Royal Sorceress and The Great Game, but there are certain moments during which this novel is clearly better and more enjoyable than its predecessors. In the two previous novels the author wrote about how Gwen had to grow up and accept her duties as the Royal Sorceress. Now the author continues to write more about Gwen, her duties and her life (Necropolis takes things a bit further than the previous novels).
Here's a bit of information about the story:
At the beginning of this novel Olivia wakes up on a boat and tries to escape, but a Charmer controls her mind and actions. She finds out that she's been kidnapped and somebody wants to use her powers of Necromancy to do evil things... Gwen hears about what has happened to Olivia and she travels to Russia with an ambassadorial party. Gwen has to hide her identity and pretend to be a maid so that her real identity remains hidden from other people and the Russians...
That's all that I'll write about the story, because I don't want to reveal too much information it. (I can mention that the story won't disappoint fans of this series.)
Gwen and Olivia are well created characters. To be honest, in my opinion Gwen is one of the most intriguing female protagonists ever to appear in alternate history novels, because she's a strong-willed woman who knows what she wants. Olivia is also an interesting character, because she's a necromancer.
The author writes about Gwen's search for her adopted daughter in a fascinating way. He writes well about Gwen's feelings and fears concerning Olivia. He also pays attention to Gwen's feelings about what's going on in the world, because she still has to prove herself to many people and show that she's capable of handling things.
Reading about Gwen's experiences while she masqueraded as a maid were very entertaining, because she had a chance to see how maids were treated. She saw how much the maids were forced to endure and how bad their lives could be when the person they served treated them with little or no respect at all. Gwen had to be careful not to reveal herself, because she found it difficult to be a maid who didn't use magic. She's wasn't used to following orders, so her time as a maid was full of difficult situations.
Gwen's conversations and experiences with Raechel are interesting (and also entertaining), because she's Raechel's maid. For example, it was fun to read about how Raechel visited a dancing place and how Gwen reacted to it. Their relationship was handled well.
The author writes fluently about Olivia's captivity and experiences in Russia, because a Charmer called Ivan controls her and makes her do things against her will. Olivia's adventures and experiences in Russia were intriguing for me, because the author had created a believable and compelling vision of Russia that was being ruled by a mad tsar who wanted to create an army of the undead.
I've always been fascinated by necromancy in speculative fiction novels, so it was interesting to read how the Russians wanted Olivia to raise the dead. What the Russians did to examine magic was both intriguing and horrifying, because their approach to unlocking the secrets of magic was quite brutal and brilliantly disturbing. I'm sure that these experiments will be of interest to everybody who enjoyes reading dark fantasy. These experiments are described in a vivid, shocking and delightfully explicit way.
In my opinion Christopher Nuttall's vision of alternate Victorian world is very interesting. I don't normally enjoy reading alternate history very much, because many authors tend to focus too much on politics and forget that there's much more to alternate history than just politics and political conflicts. I do understand why authors write about politics, because alternate history is an excellent tool to explore politics (and some authors explore politics extremely well), but they often end up alienating readers with their political stories. Fortunately fantasy series like The Royal Sorceress demonstrate that alternate history can be entertaining escapism when the author focuses on magic, power play, relationships and social elements, and blends these elements with intriguing political elements.
I have to admit that I'm impressed by Christopher Nuttall's ability to write about an alternate Victorian world. He has managed to create a believable vision of a world that's close to our world, but differs greatly from it, because certain people are capable of using magic.
I think that Christopher Nuttall is one of the few alternate history authors who are capable of adding humour to their stories, which is nice, because humour lightens the mood and makes the story flow better. Careful readers will easily notice that there's plenty of sharp and sarcastic humour to be found on the pages of this novel.
It's also good to mention that Christopher Nuttall manages to keep things entertaining and interesting. He never lets the story get boring, but keeps things moving. Although the author has already revealed a lot about the world and the characters, he still keeps on revealing new information to his readers. In this novel he reveals interesting things about the Russians and how they deal with magic, but he also reveals other things.
One of the most interesting things about this novel is that the author writes about the conditions of the poor people in Russia. When Gwen travels to Russia, she sees how bad the conditions are, because the aristocrats treat poor people with little respect.
It's great that the author continues to explore woman's place in a male-dominated society, because it is one of the strenghts of this series. As many readers know, woman's place during the Victorian times wasn't very good. In this novel the author continues to write about how badly women had to suffer and what they had to do. Women had to obey men and they had to please their husbands. Women were sometimes treated almost as badly as slaves or servants, because they didn't have the same rights as men.
I found it interesting that the author explores what childhood beatings and wrong kind of discipline can do to children. He explores violence and its effects in a realistic way and avoids preaching. This is something that is - unfortunately - seldom seen in fantasy novels (especially in entertaining fantasy novels), because there aren't many fantasy authors who are willing to explore difficult themes.
Christopher Nuttall writes fluently about magic and how it affects people. He shows his readers how seductive magic can be when it's being handled in a wrong way. He also shows how deadly and dangerous magic can be if somebody wants to harm others with it. His approach to magic feels natural and believable, because there are limitations to what a magic user can do with his/her powers.
Necropolis is fluently written fantasy entertainment for adult readers. It will please all fans of Christopher Nuttall and may even attract new fans, because the story is shamelessly entertaining. I'm sure that everybody who reads this novel and likes it will be looking forward to reading the next novel in this series.
My final words are: Necropolis is good fantasy entertainment and excellent escapism for adult readers!