Steve crawls to shore… apparently free from the Death of Water’s eternal hell. This is unexpected – but not as much as being greeted by men with guns… or finally getting home to find that Lisa and Tim think he’s a monster.

And they have 3 other copies of him lurking in the basement. Each of which thinks they’re the real one.

When I first came across this book I was sceptical. The Death Works series had ended – it had ended rather elegantly, if somewhat tragically, and I didn’t see how another book would come out of the series, especially one that still involved Steve de Selby. Or even the universe since everything seems neatly resolved. I admit, I rather cynically expected a poor book that had stretched out a done concept.

And I was wrong.

This book continues on with the same fascinating world and excellent characters and does manage to keep the story going. Steve is still very true to what he was – so well meaning, more than a little inept, but so determined to do what is right. He’s still a little whiney, his optimism still rather expecting things to work out even when nothing owes him a happy ending. Tim and Lisa are the hard edged professionals they’ve always been with some added insight into some of the other entities around him.

The time gap has added some interesting elements – like it confirmed that Tim and Lisa are actually way better at the job than Steve ever was. But also seeing the Hungry Death through Lisa’s eyes, perhaps, gives a better sense of just what Steve was facing as Hungry Death. I also like how Tim and Lisa have grieved to an extent, but are still angry about what Steve did without telling them at the end of The Business of Death. He doesn’t get to come back and have everything be twee and lovely and he can just step back into his old role, his old relationships as if nothing had happened and no time had passed. It’s not that neat

I think that’s one thing that really made me like this book – along with some nifty action and some great world revelations. It resisted the urge to be twee. These books have never been twee, there’s always been an edge of grittiness, a sense that the world isn’t fair and an idea that the “good guys” weren’t really all that good. Just good in comparison. It was one of the things that made Steve stand out as the good, rather naïve, but genuinely nice guy in a sea of sharks. When bringing a character back as happened in this book it is easy to get all saccharine about it. This doesn’t – it’s not sweet, it’s not neat, it’s still rough and painful and difficult and there’s no shiny “love conquers all” fluffy ending. Especially since Lisa is far far too professional to let sentiment cloud her professional judgement

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The Memory of Death by Trent Jamieson is a sequel to the Death Works trilogy (beginning with Death Most Definite, published by Orbit) and — to my surprise when I opened it — it's also a novella. Furthermore, the premise is kind of a spoiler, in the sense that I think the story is more enjoyable if you don't know what to expect going in. Happily, the blurb does not give it away as I feared it might. And a final note, before I get on with the bulk of the review, this novella really should be read after the original trilogy. Although some backstory is given, I don't think it will make as much sense as a whole without the background provided in the trilogy. And, of course, it contains spoilers for the resolution of said trilogy. So does the blurb, to an extent. You've been warned.

Steven de Selby gave up his love, his life, and his lucrative position as Head of Mortmax, the corporation in charge of Death. Then he found himself banished to the briny depths of hell. But hell has never held him before ...

Now Steven's back from hell, after escaping from the cruel Death of the Water, but he's not sure how or why, or even if. No-one at Mortmax trusts him, and he's running out of time to prove he is who he says he is.

Steven is about to discover that hell really is other people, and the worst of them may well be himself.

I don't know much about the upcoming sequel — other than the title, The Carnival of Death — but The Memory of Death reads a bit like it might be a bridging novella between the trilogy and the next story. It has it's own story, of course, but it's mostly the story of How Steve Gets Out Of The Mess Of Book Three's Conclusion. It's the set-up for something more, which I look forward to reading and which I suspect won't make as much sense without the bridge that is The Memory of Death.

This novella opens with Steven waking up on a beach and thinking "what the hell?" and continues to build on that initial confusion throughout. By the end we do find out what the hell was going on and, to an extent, why. That plus some action and icky (/creepy) events along the way make up the entire novella (obviously I'm leaving out spoilers here; the spoiler bits are pretty good). As I said, although it's self contained, it definitely feels like its setting the stage for the next story.

I recommend The Memory of Death to fans of the Death Works series, but I'm not sure I'd necessarily recommend it to new readers. On the other hand, the latter part of that may change once The Carnival of Death is out, depending on how that goes. I enjoyed revisiting Steven, Lissa and Tim in the Death Works universe. It has certainly whetted my appetite for whatever comes next.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. ( )