Review: Three Parts Dead (Spoiler Free)

A god has died in Alt Coulumb, and Tara Abernathy is tasked with bringing him back to life.

After being (literally) kicked out of the Hidden Schools, Tara Abernathy is brought on board to a leading Craft firm (read: magical lawyer necromancers) to represent the god’s church and bring him back to life as unchanged as possible. Alongside senior Craftswoman Elayne Kevarian, novice priest Abelard, and drug addict cop Cat, Tara must unpick a complex web of motive, magic and machinations, and go up against her old nemesis Alexander Denovo.

This is the first in a series, but third chronologically, set in a world where gods are real and fought a vicious 60 year war with users of the Craft (magic).

Three Parts Dead has a difficult job, but pulls it off with aplomb. Equally enticing on first read and after many re-reads, it is one of my favourite installments of the Craft Sequence.

So what does it have to do? It has to make sense as the first book in a series but third chronologically, allowing readers from either pathway to make sense of and enjoy it; it set up a long overarching plot (Gladstone has said he believes there will be about 12 or 13 instalments total) whilst having a satisfying, fully self-contained storyline; it introduces four important POV characters and a cast of well-rounded secondary characters; and it introduces a complex magic system and background conflict.

Three Parts Dead is tightly plotted and generally well-paced, with a good balance between plot, characterisation, and exposition. At times the exposition dumps get a bit heavy, and there are some chunks I typically skip in re-reads for that reason; similarly, some set pieces that feel very cinematic and well-described also drag on a bit long – Abelard’s journey into the boiler room is a good example of this. Whilst it has some major plot importance, the lead up to his discovery could be cut dramatically shorter.

Ultimately, for me at least, it’s the characters that turn this from a good read into a great one. I immediately loved Tara Abernathy – her first chapter opens with her being kicked out of a flying university and clawing her way back from near-death – and felt a real kinship with her. Her drive to prove herself in worlds where she doesn’t quite fit, her determination to win, her quick-thinking and at times rash decision making feel so real and relatable that she is a perfect entry point to a complex world of unfamiliar magic.

Elayne Kevarian’s sharp competency, no-nonsense attitude, and unexpected humour are a nice change from the typical wise mentor character often found in first books. She is slightly underutilised here, but Gladstone more than makes up for that in a future book. Without having to explicitly say as much, it’s clear that she sees Tara as like a young version of herself – and at the end of the book, Tara makes a different choice than Elayne did. This contrast is subtle on first read, but incredibly meaningful when one goes back after finishing the whole series.

Abelard, quite honestly, kind of bored me on first read. He’s the white male protagonist thrown into a big plot by someone else’s actions that we find in so many books. The book opens with him, and while I understand the need from a storytelling perspective it didn’t grab me. Tara’s first chapter is where I tend to start my rereads.

(Also, “When the Hidden Schools threw Tara Abernathy out, she fell a thousand feet through wisps of cloud and woke to find herself alive, broken and bleeding, beside the Crack in the World” is objectively a better opening line than “God wasn’t answering tonight.”)

However, Abelard brings a much needed contrast to Tara’s academic knowledge and tenacity, and his arc in some ways demonstrates one of the key themes of both Three Parts Dead and the Craft Sequence as a whole: “Before this case is over, Abelard, you may have to choose between the city you believe you inhabit, and Alt Coulumb as it exists in truth. What choice will you make?” 

(I have massively enjoyed Abelard more when imagining him as the actor who played Will in the recent His Dark Materials adaptation, by the way.)

Cat is another character that benefits from hindsight on rereads; as a secondary character she’s relatively one-note in Three Parts Dead, though does have a full arc and is a necessary POV in the story. I was instinctively unsure of her to begin with because, frankly, ‘Cat’ is a ridiculously overused name in fantasy, and when I was unfamiliar with Gladstone’s work it felt uninspired. I do still have questions about naming choices in Alt Coulumb – I am a massive name nerd and it’s one of the first things I judge about a book, particularly fantasy – but that is very much a me-issue, not a book issue.

Denovo is a horrific person and an excellently portrayed villain of the piece. Despite the whole almost-immortal-necromancer-magician thing, he feels like so many men that we come across in day to day life, abusing his power over young women and getting away with it. The books came out pre #MeToo but feel like an indictment of the culture that led to the movement.

I was particularly impressed with how Gladstone, who to my knowledge is a straight cis man, writes women. I know that there are people within the book community who strongly believe that people should only write characters from their own demographic – and if that’s you, you probably won’t like this series – but to me, the women were written so well I checked multiple times that Max wasn’t short for Maxine. This has been feedback I’ve seen widely from readers of all sorts of demographics represented by Craft characters, particularly trans readers speaking on a trans protagonist from future books, and is a real credit to Gladstone’s writing. 

Overall, Three Parts Dead is a strong opening to the series, with excellent characterisation, mostly strong worldbuilding, tight plotting and good writing. Its flaws are improved upon in later books, which is a sign of a good writer. This remains one of my favourites of the series, in large part because the Tara-Elayne double act is unparalleled.

Whilst you could start reading this series in almost any order, Three Parts Dead will always be my recommendation for a first place to start.