Book Review: Widow's Welcome by D. K Fields

Title: Widow's Welcome
Author: D. K. Fields
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Release Date:

Synopsis: Dead bodies aren't unusual in the alleyways of Fenest. Muggings, brawls gone bad, debts collected—Detective Cora Gorderheim has seen it all. Until she finds a Wayward man with his mouth sewn shut. As Detective Gorderheim pieces together the dead man's story, she's drawn into the most dangerous story in the Union of Realms: the election. Gorderheim just wants to find a killer but nothing's that simple in an election year. Dark forces conspire against the Union and Gorderheim finds herself at the rotten core of it all. She'll find the killer, but at what cost?



Review: I love a book about stories so when I got an email where the tag line was "theres power in stories and this is a story of power" i got the tingles I said YES please I need to read this book. And I did. And it was worth it. There was a lot of different elements thrown into this book, but i like that. It gives me a familiar vibe with lots of different genres moulding together. 

It was also a book within a book times TWO so you got lost in these layers of stories and then was brought back to the world like it was your reality. INCEPTION IN A BOOK! I was here for it. Yes It was kind of hard to initially build into these layered stories but them suddenly you forgot this was a secondary narrative and this was the book so when you finished it you had to take a moment. 

Stories are powerful. We know this. But they're also political statements and this was what not underpinned the story but gave it a real gravitas! This is what really made not only this book but will carry the series on ( I was soo frustrated that the book didn't give me all the stories, but when you're left wanting that's only a good sign!) I feel like at this point I need to add context. In Fenest during an election each territory elects a storyteller and it is on the merit of this that someone is elected. I LOVE THIS CONCEPT! How different and leading is this! That's how you get wrapped up in these stories like you're one of the spectators sitting listening before casting your vote. It was very much a Victorian crime noir but with feelings of Terry Pratchett's Discworld because you then layer on top of that the actual story of murder and gods and general life in Fenest! It's like the book I'd always wanted to write!

Gods in fiction are my non secret vice, and this book changed up the game about how we present Gods. Here we have the Audience who are multifaceted and we get glimmers of the different Gods thought as our characters bear witness. They have their own characteristics and masks and the world was beautifully built around them so you knew certain things going into this book and when you went to a temple you added layers to your understanding. They also  came into the political story element which tied everything together and i found that i was thinking about these gods long after I'd finished the book. 

This isn't your high bow series but it doesn't need to be and I love it for that. I almost wish it was something that only I had read, but i also want you to go and read it. Luckily the second instalment The Stitcher and the Mute, which for me is evoking allllllll kids of feelings as a title, is out in November because I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!