Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was another fun story from C. S. E. Cooney. My only gripes with this was that there was less of a focus on the found family aspect and the relationships between characters than there was in the first book, and compared to the first book, the plot in the second was much more straightforward which made some of the plot points feel like they were there just to extend the length of the story. Otherwise, I completely loved this sequel and C. S. E. Cooney may be one of my immediate buy authors now.

Saint Death’s Herald follows a much more confident, stronger Lanie on her quest to sing her Grandpa Rad back to Saint Death. I truly enjoyed Lanie’s development as a person and as a necromancer. I also adore Cooney’s subversion of the cold, brutal necromancer, to make Lanie filled with kindness and love, and have her work her magic through that love. I’m also so glad that Cooney didn’t create a romance between Makkovian and Lanie, because I hate oppressed x oppressor even if in this case, it was Amanita that kidnapped Makkovian in the first place. I also loved seeing his burgeoning relationship with Tanaliín and Duantri. I do wish we had seen more of Mak, Tan and Datu but their short moments brought warmth to the story. 

Again, the world building was expanded wonderfully and brought new lore in beautifully. It didn’t feel forced or like there was a knowledge dump at any point. I wish we had gotten more footnotes because I found them hilarious in the first book. I loved the expansion of Haaken’s and Cracchen’s characters, although I wish we saw more of Cracchen’s character post Grandpa Rad without the ghosts. I also thought that Lanie’s crush on Haaken was well written and I hope to see more of them in the next book. This was a great sequel.