A review by bookslikegranola
Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride

3.5

A good followup to the first book, though the worldbuilding perhaps feels a bit shakier.

Sam has to find his place in the wider magical Seattle community, but something spooky is lurking in the woods. This was a fine sequel, delivering a lot more of the same. The problem was the slightly sparse worldbuilding of book 1 feels flimsier when Sam is no longer a recent inductee to the magical world. Also, the plot threads feel a bit at odds with each other as the tension of can Sam and friends grow up and find their place in the adult magical world is ultimately supplanted by the fighting evil spirit plot, which kind of subverts the first one. I did appreciate Sam’s struggle with his powers/role and what it means for his pacifism. I thought it was one of the better “hero struggles with killing bad guy even as bad guy kills as lot.”

Recommended if you liked the first one.