In "The Necromancer's Dance" by S.J. Himes, readers are introduced to Angelus Salvatore, a necromancer and the lone survivor of one of New England's greatest magical families. The story follows Angel's daily life teaching magic, dealing with vampires, and navigating his complex relationships. As the plot unfolds, Angel's past resurfaces, leading to unexpected events and a burgeoning romance with the enigmatic Celtic vampire, Simeon. The writing style is engaging, blending detailed descriptions of magic, creatures, and emotions with a mix of romance, action, and mystery, creating a unique and captivating narrative.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include violence, mentions of death, and elements of non-consensual acts related to vampirism.
Has Romance?
The romance in The Necromancer's Dance is a central focus of the plot, with significant development and chemistry between Angel and Simeon.
From The Publisher:
The bestselling international hit begins with The Necromancer's Dance...
In a world where magic is real and evil walks amongst humanity, a young sorcerer is beset upon by enemies, both old and new.
Angelus Salvatore is the only necromancer in all of Boston, and his name is whispered warily by the undead and fellow sorcerers alike. He and his brother Isaac are the lone survivors of an attack by an army of the undead, in which Angel used a spell so powerful it forever marked his place in history. Now, years later, Angel struggles to balance his career as a teacher of the higher magical arts, his role as big brother, and a tenuous relationship with an Elder vampire from the local clan. When his brother's boyfriend is used as a pawn in a mysterious plot to draw Angel out, Angel is once again drawn back into the old hostilities that fueled the Blood Wars and led to his family's death.
Leaning on others for help is something Angel cannot do, and while he searches for clues into who may be targeting him and his brother, Angel finds his heart steadily growing occupied with Simeon, Elder and vampire. Dealing with death magic and vampires on a daily basis may leave Angel jaded when it comes to life and staying that way, but the more time he spends fending off the ancient vampire's attention and affections, the more he realizes he wants to give in.
Can Angel find out who wants him dead, and keep his heart safe in the process? How can he fall for a vampire, when his whole family was torn apart by an army of the undead?
Death stalks the streets of Boston's historic Beacon Hill....and there is no one more suited to battle against death than a necromancer.
This is the first book in The Beacon Hill Sorcerer series. This series is best enjoyed in order. Content Advisories are on the Copyright page and can be seen by using the Look Inside feature or by downloading a sample of this book.
Ratings (4)
Loved It (2) | |
It Was OK (1) | |
Did Not Like (1) |
Reader Stats (7):
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Not Interested (1) |
2 comment(s)
The Necromancer's Dance tells the story of Angelus Salvatore, the lone necromancer in Boston. This is an open world where vampires mix and mingle with humans. Angel and his younger brother, Isaac, are the sole survivors of the Blood Wars and its massacre that occurred a decade ago. Since then, Angel has been called upon by the vampire Master of Boston for magical assistance. Sorcerer blood is poisonous to vampires and sometimes they learn too late that they've fed on one with magical ancestry.
Two years ago Angel meets Simeon, an Elder in the Master's bloodclan. He's intrigued, but doesn't pursue any type of relationship. Simeon, on the other hand, has had his sights firmly set on Angel since that meeting. He's biding his time, getting to know Angel, before revealing his intentions.
...all he wanted was to live what was left of his life in peace, and forget the past. And leave the dead buried with it, too.
Unfortunately, Angel's unable to leave the past in the past. He ended the massacre and everyone is curious how he was able to do so. He's frequently questioned about it and treated unfairly by the Boston PD (full of members of the founding family who were partially responsible for the massacre). So, it's not entirely surprising when a demon appears set on ending Angel.
There were many things I liked about this intro into Himes'
Beacon Hill Sorcercer series. There were, however, a bunch of areas where better editing would've been useful. I'm a bit OCD, so typos, oddly worded sentences and such tend to detract from my enjoyment of a story. I was eventually able to overlook them and get into the story, in this case, but I do hope that the following installments have less/none of those occurrences.
(Full rating: ✮✮✮½)
So many of my friends read this series that I decided to start too. And I truly like the story and the characters, however I have skipped some parts and have some issues.
First the good things. I really like the characters. Angel and Simeon make an interesting couple. Still, I find Simeon slightly undeveloped. We don’t really know a lot about him. But the next books in this series are there to discover him better. And it will be a true pleasure to do. I like the fact that Angelus past doesn’t dominate his personality. The secondary characters, including Angel’s brother Isaac, are also pretty interesting.
About the romance, this part is mostly already done when the story begins. They just make the first steps and from there everything goes pretty fast. On the one hand, it's okay, because we do not deal with instant love, but on the other hand everything is still very simple and very fast. The romance development is nearly non-existing. And even though I wish there is more in this department, I find the thing between Angel and Simeon quite sweet. I like them as a couple.
The suspense part may not be excessively innovative but it’s enjoyable. I wasn’t really astonished by the final outcome, still, there are some twists and turns to satisfy me. And the suspense part is connected to the magic aspects of the story which is always good in this genre.
Finally, the thing I definitely dislike about this book and which caused that I lowered my rate of this book, although I’m still thinking about raising it because, despite some shortcomings, it was a very pleasant experience. Unfortunately, this book is unpleasantly wordy. Although the concept of the magical world created by the author is not overly complicated, the story is seriously slowed down by lengthy descriptions that could be effectively avoided. These, combined with sometimes extensive internal reflections of Angel, make the story stumble in place from time to time.
I’m giving this story 3.5 stars and I will give a though to raising it. After all this is a pretty nice read and I will definitely read the next book in this series somewhat soon.
What can you read after
The Necromancer's Dance?
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