Book Review: Hopeless Necromantic by Shiloh Briar
Published: June 2, 2026 (Traditional Re-release)
Series: The Catseye Chronicles #1
Genres: Adult // Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️ (Behind Closed Doors)
Quick Thoughts: At first glance, Hopeless Necromantic seemed like it wouldn't be the book for me. The dry, deadpan humor had me laughing out loud and it balances the darker, more serious themes perfectly. The found family here is also one of my new favorites. I'd recommend this even if you usually avoid cozy fantasies.
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What is Hopeless Necromanticabout?
Sticks and stones may break their bones, but he'll just resurrect them.
Four years ago, Sikras 'Catseye' Nikabod had it all: a beautiful wife, friends and family, and the endless luxuries that came with being the all-powerful necromancer to the queen.
Now, his brother-in-law is a walking corpse, he's wanted for tax evasion, his oldest friend, Vessik, has slaughtered thousands of the queen's people with a skeleton army, and his wife is dead. Sort of.
With the kingdom under threat, it's only natural for the queen to task Sikras with the totally normal, not-at-all-cruel chore of brutally murdering his dearest friend. Sure. Great. It's not like he already failed to stop Vessik's reign of terror twice or anything.
Turns out, it's hard to kill a monster when you can't stop remembering the good man he used to be. Harder still when you're pretty sure his descent into madness is kind of, sort of, hypothetically ... all your fault.
Raise a glass. Raise the dead. Just don't raise your hopes.
Hopeless Necromantic Review
As a person with dry, dark humor, I find that books rarely capture the kind of jokes I like. Cozy fantasies also tend to be too low stakes and slow moving to keep me invested. So at first glance, Hopeless Necromantic seemed like it wouldn't be the book for me. After seeing a few reviewers with the same tastes as me rate it so highly, I decided to give it a try, and I'm so glad I did.
Things I liked
The deadpan humor is perfect. The book is filled with puns and innuendos without being too corny or over the top. And the jokes balance the darker themes well rather than deflect from them.
Speaking of darker themes, maybe it was the bright, cutesy cover, but I did not expect this book to be such a moving and accurate depiction of grief, especially around survivor's guilt and the guilt of moving on. Healing is often exhausting and repetitive, and I feel like a lot of books get it wrong by showing it as a linear, clean arc.
The unlikely trio of characters is my favorite part of the book. Sikras, Helspira, and Benjamin are all misfits in their own way, and that's exactly what makes the found family so heartwarming. Benjamin stole the show for me, though. I'm a huge fan of sentient animal companions, but I did not expect sentient lute-playing skeletons to be the thing my stories were missing. I also appreciated that he's a fully realized person with a backstory, not just a comedic prop.
Things to take note of
There weren't that many things I didn't like, but here are a few heads-ups if you're thinking about picking this up. There is a plot and a main conflict to resolve, but I'd consider this a character-driven book. A lot of pages are spent traveling from one place to another and focusing on the relationships between the characters. If you're looking for action, this will feel slow. The setting is underdeveloped compared to the characters; the underworld and the magic system are interesting and I wanted more of both. And while I liked the romance, it stays surface level and happens kind of suddenly.
So, should you read Hopeless Necromantic?
I'd recommend this even if you usually avoid cozy fantasies. This one is a new favorite of mine and I can't wait to continue Sikras and Helspira's story in the next book!
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
Hopeless Necromantic FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
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Potential spoilers ahead ⚠️
Grief
Survivor’s guilt
Loss of loved ones
Death/Violence
Gore
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Potential spoilers ahead ⚠️
Grumpy-meets-sunshine
Reluctant allies
Mission/quest
Found family
Sentient sidekick skeleton
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Hopeless Necromantic is the first book in The Catseye Chronicles series. As of the writing of this post, the other books in the series have not been announced.
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There are no on-page, explicit spice scenes in Hopeless Necromantic, so the spice level is 2 🌶️ out of 5. However, there is one closed door scene at the end of the book.