The Halls of the Dead follows Irene Haley, a woman who has dedicated her life to necromancy. Necromancy is a form of magic that is forbidden and if caught, means death for the accused. Irene, alongside her undead husband St. John, has devoted her life to trying to rebuild the crypt, where the grimoires made of human skin that contained the spells of the necromancers were once housed before they were burned and the necromancers hanged. After Irene's love, Agnes, is hanged for witchcraft, Irene decides to try a spell that has not been successfully attempted in thousands of years, a true resurrection for her love to return to her. Irene manages to bring Agnes back into her body but Agnes is not the same. She craves human flesh and another malevolent spirit tied itself to Agnes before she left the Halls of the Dead. Now Irene needs to find a way to save Agnes, to help her be truly free, while trying to keep herself, her husband and her love safe from the man that sentenced Agnes to death in the first place.
First of all, hats off to S.M. Hallow because the way this was written was just awe-inspiring to me, just the amount of research and the ideas and the way everything unfolds, I am just left a little wowed because this is a debut novel. You can bet your bottom dollar I will be following Hallow to every other written work from here on out. I loved the set-up of this story, the ideas of the magic and how it was another side of what are commonly known religious aspects in society. The way this took something familiar and changed it just enough to keep it familiar and yet at the same time so wholly different BUT still entirely believable was something that made me grin a little because I could completely believe the magic of this world. It made so much sense to me and because of that, it was easy to learn the ins and outs of what Irene and Agnes could do and then what St. John was capable of, as well, because his being undead made his magic different from the necromancy that his wife and her love were able to do. Then there was the format of the book with separate chapters from each of the three leads, some going back in time to show the childhoods of Irene and Agnes, others showing what made St. John what he was as the undead. Then there were the quotes from some familiar names to open some chapters while others had lines from the grimoires mentioned that Irene and St. John had been trying to recover and when it is all put together, I'm kind of marveling over every well-thought out piece of this book. Hallow had an idea and the many different moving parts of the writing showed a clear understanding of the vision for this story and the end product proves that Hallow is a true writer, able to execute their vision with a clever hand and produce a truly respectable read.
As for the characters, I can't say enough about Irene, Agnes and St. John because each was so essential to the outcome of the story and each had their own individual, independent story arc of their own aside from the main story and I cannot see this book working without all of these characters. I loved Irene's determination and the strength she showed to take back Agnes from the fate she was given. This woman worked with blood and pain to make her magic work and the sacrifice it took to accomplish what she did left me in awe of her. I wanted to save Agnes from her life and I wanted to help her to truly be happy and I was so impressed with the turn her character took over the course of the story, the way she became her own force and was just as essential in getting the answers they needed to get their villains to get their comeuppance. St. John was this pillar of strength and devotion, ready to serve his wife and her love without question and then at the same time, a reckoning of his own to contend with and his background as the undead was a story I wish we'd gotten more of but what is on the page is still pretty much perfect.
The three of these characters together were already enough to keep the pages turning but then readers learn more about Irene's family life with her sister, Willa, and her parents and what it was like for Irene to grow up trying to learn necromancy in a household that forbade it. Then there was Agnes and her life with her brother who had a gambling problem and controlled every move that Agnes made and then there was St. John and the very many necromancers he'd known over the centuries he'd been undead and there are just so many threads to this story with the people in it and every moving part makes the whole of this book glitter with ingenuity, I'm still sitting here a few hours later wishing I could read this again a little bit slower so I can really appreciate every nuance of this book. It's just so well-done with the people and the magic and the ideas that I just really loved this story.
As for the plot, I always believe that when a book puts for a question, it needs to be answered by the end of the book and this book had so many questions, I wasn't sure where the story was going to go by the time we reached the end. That being said, every question was answered, some in ways that were wholly unexpected and it was those moments that just elevated the story for me as each reveal was made. I knew some things would happen, certain characters being revealed, various acts of revenge coming to fruition, but Hallow turns the tables a bit with each given answer and it was those more moments that made the book so impressive to me. The way this story wraps up, it left me feeling so content with where the story left everything and that is a wonderful feeling to have after completing a book. I want to pass this story around to other readers. I want to read more by S.M. Hallow and I want to get this book and actually highlight my favorite lines because so much of the writing, the turns of phrases, the observations and the revelations, were the kinds of things I feel would be almost inspiring to read on their own when you don't have the time to read the whole book again. I will repeat myself, this is such an impressive, respectable read and a wonderful gothic/horror novel addition for readers everywhere.
In the end, I keep thinking about these three leads and I feel like they managed to create a new world for themselves in this story, something that would benefit the magic of the world for the future. The fact that it left me feeling like it was completely, uniquely it's own perfect whole is something I am so grateful for and I sincerely hope to read more from S.M. Hallow for years to come.
Rating on my Scale: 10 Stars. I can't say anything more about this book to convince people to read it. I thought everything was so interesting and impressive and I wish I could really delve into all the specifics that Hallow came up with but the discovery of each aspect is part of the fun of this book. Read if you like stories that take the familiar and turn them on their head, showing the darkness and the people who are daring enough to want something more.
My thanks to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager and S.M. Hallow for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
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