Review: The Last Necromancer by C.J. Archer

Title: The Last Necromancer

Author: C.J. Archer

Series: The Ministry of Curiosities #1

Genre: Historical Fiction/Steampunk/YA

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

Publication Date: August 11th, 2015

Edition: Kindle Edition, 270 pages

Source: Purchased

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM

Synopsis:

  Victorian London: For five years, Charlotte (Charlie) Holloway has lived as a boy in the slums. But when one theft too many gets her arrested, her only means of escape lies with a dead man. Charlie hasn't raised a spirit since she first discovered she could do so five years ago. That time, her father banished her. This time, she brings even more trouble upon herself.

People are now hunting Charlie all over London, but only one man succeeds in capturing her. 

  Lincoln Fitzroy is the mysterious head of a secret organization on the trail of a madman who needs a necromancer to control his newly "made" creatures. There was only one known necromancer in the world - Charlotte - but now there appears to be two. Lincoln captures the willful Charlie in the hopes the boy will lead him to Charlotte. But what happens when he discovers the boy is in fact the young woman he's been searching for all along? And will she agree to work for the man who held her against her will, and for an organization she doesn't trust? 

Because Lincoln and his ministry might be just as dangerous as the madman they're hunting.

   I admit, I only got this book because it is currently free. And I download all the free books I come across that sound interesting in the Kindle store. And I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I was expecting a pretty cliche, slightly campy book. But this was actually much better and much more than that.

Charlotte (Charlie) is a really well-rounded character. She is very resourceful and pretty damn tough. She can't fight, knows it, but uses her smaller size to her advantage. She was a very likable character. 

Seth and Gus, I don't know exactly what to think of them. They were kind of the comic relief of the book, and I don't really have a clear picture of what they look like. They were very much supporting characters. And they filled the role without being pointless.

Lincoln Fitzroy. The brooding male character of the book. I liked his character. But I am still not really sure what his deal is. Chosen to be the leader of this secret society that fights/investigates the strange and oddities that haunt the country. He is obviously going to have some trouble navigating certain social interactions, he lacks tact at times being more straight forward than he should be at times. I hope more about his past is explored in later books.  He is also kind of the love interest of the book. And for me, it was kind of weird that he is. He's 30, and Charlotte is 18. And look, I know it's the 1800's... but this is a YA book. Meaning it's for teens. I just think he should have been a touch younger, like 23 or something. Twelve years is a really big age gap. Maybe my "old age" is showing... I dont know.

The plot of this book actually took a while to really get off the ground. It was more than half the book before they find out that Charlie is Charlotte, and why it was so important to find her. It wasn't a slow book, but I that's later into a book for the main plot to fully be revealed. Then the last half of the book kind of went really quickly, to the point that I felt somethings were kind of left unanswered. But I suppose that's what the sequel is for, which I hope to read soon. 

This was a surprise of a book, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series (Once my Library gets them, because I'm kind of cheap, and this is a 10 book series. I have recommended/requested the Kindle versions to be purchased, so hopefully they will be.).