Chronicles of the Necromancer

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Chronicles of the Necromancer is a four novel long fantasy series by Gail Z Martin which consists of the novels The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven and Dark Lady’s Chosen. Book one in the follow up series, The Fallen Kings Cycle, is scheduled to be released in early 2011.

The series is set in the Winter Kingdoms which is split into seven different countries. The first book opens in the country of Margolan during the Feast of the Departed, and follows second Prince Martris "Tris" Drayke as he flees the castle after learning that Crown Prince Jared's men had assassinated the rest of their family.

Tropes used in Chronicles of the Necromancer include:

• A God Am I: Some of the vayash moru feel this way, most notably Uri.
  • I think that Malesh would be a better example actually, considering that he tried to become a consort.
• Action Girl: Kiara Sharsequin is the most obvious.
• Agent Scully: Vahanian verges on this originally, though it is mentioned several times that ghosts appear visible to all once a year.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: King Jared and Lord Curane.
• Arranged Marriage: Kiara has one with Jared that was arranged at her birth. She ends up with Tris instead, which still holds true to the arranged marriage because it was to the heir of Margolan and not to Jared specifically.
• Author Appeal: The inclusion of vampires vayash moru is most likely this.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Subverted, as it's never actually described in more than a few dismissive sentences, but Tris' coronation finishes the second book.
• Badass Normal: Vahanian.
• Bargain with Heaven:/Deal with the Devil: Vahanian makes a pact with the Dark Lady
• Being Watched: Usually mentioned several times whenever there are ghosts present. Vahanian's first encounter with Gabriel, who is one of the more powerful vayash moru, begins with pages of this trope.
• Blood Magic: dark magic in this setting.
• The Blacksmith: Vahanian was one when he was younger.
• Break the Haughty: Uri becomes much meeker and trustworthy after nearly being disposed by Malesh and saved by Vahanian.
• Character Title: The Summoner is Tris, and The Blood King is the Arontala/Jared partnership. The fourth book, Dark Lady's Chosen, refers to Vahanian.
• Complete Monster: Quite a few, but Jared is especially bad, since he is a human.
• Cool Sword: Mageslayer for one. Nexus for another.
• Corrupt Church: The Nagri priests
• Dark Is Not Evil: Tris where's dark clothing as a summoner.
  • Also the Dark Lady
• Deadpan Snarker: Vahanian. It goes with the territory.
• Defector From Decadence: Most of Jared's army.
• Deus Ex Machina: When the heroes have made a mess, the Goddess appears to clean it up. More than once.
• Embarrassing First Name: Carroway has one of these. His first name isn't even mentioned until the second half of the series.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Kiara, and Berry.
• Evil Chancellor: Lord Curane
• Fate Worse Than Death: The ghost of the assassin sent by Jared is met by the Formless One, described as "too terrible to comprehend".
  • Another spirit, Crevan, gets a fate worse than this when he meets what's waiting for him in the afterlife, Shanthadura. The second example is described in full.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture
• Fantasy Pantheon
• Fisher King: Not a literal example, but Margolan becomes a dreadful dystopia with Jared in charge.
• Four Lines, All Waiting: The last book in the series alternates between Tris; Kiara; Carina and Vahanian; and Cam.
• God of Evil: Shanthadura
• Heroic Sacrifice: Tris attempts this at the end of book two in order to save his country and his beloved, but the spirit of his grandfather, who was also a necromancer, manages to keep him from dying.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Adiane the seroquette, as long as several others.
• Hot-Blooded: This is a common trait in the Isencroft royal family, and the kingdom as a whole.
• Hot Chick with a Sword: Kiara
• Ho Yay: There's the occasional moment between Tris and Vahanian.
• Just Following Orders: Tris make it clear that those that willingly served Jared will not receive mercy.
• Knife Nut: Carroway, and Berry gets this later on.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Vahanian and his wife.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Sawaki the Land Mage
• Magic Knight: Tris
• Mind Rape: Arontala tries this with Tris, when he's shown the loss of Kiara.
• Motor Mouth: Cam's sidekick, Rhistiart
• My Nayme Is: Martris and Jared Drayke.
• Necromancer: Tris is a non-evil one.
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: Kiara is willingly subjected to this.
• Oh My Gods: The Goddess has eight aspects, and almost all of them are invoked at some point or another.
• Only in It For the Money: Vahanian's original motivation for guiding the heroes.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires in the Winter Kingdoms are usually called vayash moru. The process to create a vayash moru is slightly more complicated than simply biting the victim - the victim must also drink some of the creator's blood as well. They are susceptible to sunlight, but the older the vayash moru is the longer it takes for it to kill them. The do need blood to live, but it can come from either humans or animals. Vayash moru are as likely to be evil as their human counterparts.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: The Vyrkin, they switch from wolf to human form at will.
• Peaceful in Death: Many characters, but subverted hard with the ghosts of Ruune Videya.
• The Power of Blood:
• Pregnant Badass: Averted with Kiara, but Lampshaded.
  • "Why am I acting like such a helpless maiden, it must be the hormones." (paraphrased)
• Punctuation Shaker: Bava K'aa is Tris' grandmother, and her name features an apostrophe for no apparent reason.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: There are vampires in this series, so it naturally applies.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: King Donelan and Byrce
• Sacrifical Lamb: Kait and Queen Serae
• Scars Are Forever: Vahanian has them everywhere.
• Shoot the Messenger: King Jared has no problem with killing those that bring him bad news.
• Slap Slap Kiss: Vahanian and Carina.
• Soul Jar: The Soulcatcher.
• Spoony Bard: Averted with Carroway
• The Older Immortal: Gabriel and the Council of Blood.
• Title Drop: Royster, the librarian, in book two.

Royster: Chronicles of the Necromancer. Catchy, isn't it?

• Tomboy: Kait
• The Usurper: Jared, he is even called this.
  • However, he considers Tris to be one, and has it pointed out by Arontola that his thinking is backwards.
• Shipper on Deck: Berry is the earliest, but Kiara does this too later on.
• The White Prince: Tris
• White Mage: Carina Jesthrata.
• Youngest Child Wins: Jared's mother was hated even after her death, and his father was grieving for years and too preoccupied to care about him. He uses this to justify his hatred of his half-brother, who had a comparatively sheltered upbringing.
• You Will Know What to Do: Bava K'aa to Tris before he faces the ghosts of Ruune Videya.