The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like The Goblin Emperor and The Witness for the Dead, the story is full of rich fantasy worldbuilding that serves the purpose of an extended Cozy Mystery.

That being said, if you like sedate, rich fantasy that handles the little things and almost entirely the little things -- until it gets to the one big thing -- then this is definitely gonna be your kind of book.

This one doesn't disappoint. Indeed, I may have really enjoyed the small stuff better than the one big mystery. That one was rather rough, emotionally, and seeing justice be done was rather pressing for me.


I get it. Having this bit of realism, no matter how horrible, is necessary for these kinds of books, but it does take away from the reality of escapism. My initial reaction was... "oh hell no, no, no, I read these kinds of books to escape the horrors of reality, not realize that there is no escape... anywhere."

But then I remembered the kind of racism and nastiness that was inherent in the first book and I knew it was all of a similar vein.

My only complaint is that I felt a certain lack of urgency and conflict, aside from the big one, but this IS still a Cozy Mystery.

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