Sea of Ghosts

Sea of Ghosts is the first novel in The Gravedigger Chronicles series by Alan Campbell.


 * Blind Seer: Ianthe, but her extraordinary perception works so well that she can fake being normal.
 * The Caligula: Emperor Hu is a Downplayed example, though possibly only because we haven't seen enough of him.
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Maskelyne genuinely loves his wife and son.
 * Evil Versus Evil: All the factions involved in the story are evil. The main characters fighting them are evil too.
 * Functional Magic: The power of the Unmer. The two paths are brutalism, manipulating energy, and entropathy, creating and destroying matter.
 * Magitech: Unmer devices combine magic and technology.
 * Our Elves Are Better: The long-lived, innately magical Unmer correspond to elves in other fantasy works.
 * Power of the Void: Void arrows annihilate everything in their path and can even go unimpeded through solid rock, eventually flying into space. Bottles of void flies work similarly but are even more destructive because each bottle contains a swarm.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Maskelyne figures out that
 * Telepathy: The power of the Haurstaf.
 * Torture Technician: Torturer Mara of the Haurstaf.
 * Trial by Combat: Emperor Hu arranges a really unfair version of this
 * Villain Protagonist: It is hard to see Granger even as the darkest possible Anti-Hero, and Maskelyne is plainly a villain despite his few redeeming traits.