Hello reader, and welcome to my little corner of the internet (which has been gathering dust for a while). Today I am going to tell you about a rather fantastic book I just finished, Mortal Coils: The Necromancer’s Apprentice, by Chris Durston.
It’s been a while since I read a fantasy story, probably due to the fact that I’ve been on a bit of a cyberpunk binge over the last few months. I did have a small worry that swapping cybernetic implants for swords and magic would be a little jarring, but Mortal Coils invited me right in with its intriguing premise and easy-to-like (and hate, in some places) characters.
The characters are probably the best place to start, in fact. Chris has always been good at crafting likeable characters, whether in his short stories (Achten Tan: Land of Dust and Bone from Skullgate Media contains some fine examples, among others) or in his other lengthier works, such as Each Little Universe. It feels like his bibliography so far has given him plenty of experience, as Mortal Coils is the best yet in terms of the cast.
And what a cast this book has. Our lead is Mara, a young woman who, as the title points out, is apprentice to a powerful and quite despicable necromancer. Or rather, she was, as the story begins with her falling into the Crossing, a version of the afterlife where the fallen live until such a time as they can cross over. Mara is pretty unlikable initially, and this is by design, with her being a cruel, uncaring villain who has helped her former master kill hundreds of people in life, before reanimating their bodies to use as living weapons. The majority of the story follows Mara’s attempt to pass on into the afterlife proper, before her former master reanimates her in much the same way.
No good fantasy story is complete without a cast of warriors, rogues and mages, however. Thankfully, Chris knows this as well as anybody and has filled the roster with one of the strongest, most fun individuals I’ve ever encountered outside of a Pratchett novel. We have Iona, a cleric devoted to feeling everything as intensely as she can, Nemmo, a mysterious, philosophical creature, and my favourite, Varun, an ill-fated warrior who is doomed to almost succeed at just about everything he tries. Outside of the party, we also have a talking mouse, an eloquent bandit chief and his motley crew, and a second adventurer party full of interesting characters.
All of these individuals cross Mara’s path as she journeys across the afterlife to try and escape her master’s reach for good, and though she ends up using most of them to her own ends, her villainous outlook on life begins to waver as time elapses. For me, this is where the writing really shines. Chris captures Mara’s change so well that I went from disliking her to really rooting for her in a really natural way. As an example, the way she starts developing empathy for her tag-along party, trying to deny her own feelings in internal dialogue, really helped me to relate to the character. Indeed, the fact that one of her closest allies was actually killed by her in the first place is used to add so much bloody tension. I was waiting with dread for the moment that they remembered her, and when it finally came, it hit me like Iona’s hammer.
Mortal Coils is a fantastic fantasy story, and Chris has worked his usual magic to create an intriguing world full of relatable characters, getting his best result yet. Best of all, this is only the first part, so more will follow!
If you like strong characters, plenty of representation and diversity, and are a fan of fantasy with a twist of comedy and philosophy, then you can’t go far wrong with this book!
Craig Rathbone - Writer 
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