Liching Hour

Liches Get Stitches #2

by H.J. Tolson

Evil has arrived in the capital... and she's looking to go shopping.

After a startling vision and an uninvited visit from a rival lich, Maud sets off for the city to prepare for war. Leaving a trail of deboned corpses in her wake, this simple country lich solves a few murders, commits a few more, and discovers along the way that some things are worth dying for. Again.

Maud’s heart may have stopped beating long ago, but she is determined to live her new ‘life’ to the fullest. Featuring necrotic crafting, neurotic knitting, two naughty crows, and one very haunted castle.

A grisly slice-of-life progression fantasy.

Trigger warning for gore.

Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Litrpg, Dark Fantasy, Audiobook, Zombies, Swashbuckling

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 26, 2022

Reviews

[Jo]

Yaaaaay what an awesome follow-up to part 1! I looooved Maud exploring the city, the same balance between humor and horror that we had in Liches Get Stitches, and it was great that we got to see more of the world and the kind of people in it. The friction between Maud and Javier is fantastic, I cannot wait for Maud to absolutely fuck him up. ❤️ The voice remains perfect for this and I love that we get these tense moments of unapologetic evil vs o no I am catching feels for these dumb humans. I’m really looking forward to the next part and am psyched to see more of what sneaky shit the gods are up to. Also the knitting guild, these people are beyond precious 😭❤️

[Marlon]

Fun

This is a very entertaining read. Longer and more detailed than I expected. And that's a great thing. More time to build out the world; flesh out the characters, so to speak. I hope the next book is on its way because this is a very fun story.

[Петър Стойков]

Продължението на Liches Get Stitches което не е толкова оригинално като първата част, но е що годе достатъчно забавно, за да подхвана третата с известна надежда.

[Cody Hatch]

I adored book one, and had high hopes for this book, which were...sadly...not really met.

There's nothing wrong with this book, but it dragged a bit. I suspect (or perhaps hope) that the author is taking this book to try and setup the rest of the series by fleshing out the world a bit, adding more plot threads, and generally tidying things up after the first book. If so, perhaps the rest of the series will pick back up again.

Alternatively, maybe the first book used up all the offbeat hilarious cozy charm the author had on tap, and the rest of the series will continue like this book; as servicable fantasy novels.

I hope it's the former, but even if it's the latter, I've read worse books, so it's fine. Ish.

[Jasmine Anderson]

This audiobook narrator seriously just tickles me. I liked the first book better, but this was so fun. And the narrator is seriously brilliant.

[Callum]

A fun continuation.

I read this back to back with the first so the line between them is a little blurred for me but I found this to be a good sequel. Maude was morally ambiguous leaning towards evil in the first book but now she’s leaning much more towards the good side of things. She was still a quirky homebody in the first book - even if one with some bloody pastimes and a capacity to kill at the drop of a hat - but she wasn’t explicitly out to help anyone but herself really. In this book though she is definitely shown to care in a prickly, somewhat standoffish way. In that character development some of the humour is lost but that was inevitable really. In the first book this little hermit witch living with her cat suddenly having enormous power and ripping the souls out of anything that looked at her twice was comedic territory as was the cheerful way she would do it. This would have ceased to be interesting after long though so I don’t mind the more caring direction she is heading in. There was also not too much of an overall story arch in the first book, much of it was just her finding her feet and adjusting to this new life. This book works to significantly expand the world though and introduce several plot lines - competition in the form of another lich, a city with a few mysteries, questions surrounding the gods and Maude’s place in their plans. The first book was a lot of fun but it was hard to see where the story would go long term. This book was slightly less, though still very, fun but went a long way to develop a compelling world around Maude and her forest of undead.

[Liesl Andrico]

I loved this series! Imagine a hedge witch who accidently becomes a powerful undead. She continues to love to knit, garden, craft, and make potions, only now she crafts with dead bodies, and her potions are made with undead ingredients. All she wants to do is live in peace in her quiet cottage working on her crafting. All others want to do is kill her. In book one we see her deal with conflicts with the local barony. In book 2 she deals with another undead Lich and his kingdom. In books 3, 4, and 5 she manages disputes with the fae queen of summer and other powerful characters. The dry humor in this story is delightful, especially when it comes to her knitting and embroidery. I highly recommend this series.

[chancee young]

amazing writing great story line for hero books

If your into the whole hero thing and saving humanity then this one is for you, I was looking for more of a lich beginning book but didn’t get that here. Don’t get me wrong wonderful story if your into the whole hero thing which I’m not, we have enough of those books out already. One thing I didn’t understand about this one though is how can newly made lich beat someone who held home ground advantage, had over 100yrs of mastery and more spells, that’s one just didn’t seat right with me.

[Rhea Whitney]

Expanding the Setting

Maud is always a delight. In this book we get a little less crafting and a little more complicated feelings about lichdom, but it's still a good time. A new lich is in town, and Maud is going to have to step up her game to maintain her peace and quiet. We spend a lot of time with new characters and new locations, and I look forward to seeing how all of this will mesh with our original minions and home base in the third book.

[Anya Josephs]

Liching Hour continues Maud's story. Initially, I wasn't sure about it, since Liches Get Stitches feels like such a complete story, and I do love a standalone. However, it paid off completely. Liching hour introduces readers to a whole host of fun new characters and a brand new setting: the city rather than the country. There's a bit of fish-out-of-water comedy, a bit of gore, and a lot of fun.

[Roberto Flores]

This has a lot of story to tell.

It is hobbled by the main character. She has no direction, no drive, no plan, she has nothing. She is not dark or heartless or a savior or a leader of much of anything. She dabbles in whatever is present in the moment and nothing more. She is too boring for slice of life, and too aimless for fantasy.

[Melara Dark]

I liked the first book so much I immediately started reading this one. I think of the two, the first I found ever so slightly better, but I think that was because I was really enjoying Maud learning and exploring the new state she found herself in. This book was definitely a worthy successor and I have already started the third!

[Pat Klug]

you can’t keep a good lich down

Poor Maud, she just wants her silence and privacy so she can craft to her “hearts” content. Instead , some jerk comes calling and totally upsets her life. But, being a crafty lich, she starts setting things right for herself and upsetting the plans Mr jerky lich has for her. Go Maud!

[Charles]

Book 2 continues to expand on Maude's adventures as a Lich. She's sassy, funny, takes no *** from anyone, and is delusional. Throw in various undead, paladins, gods, a cat, and plenty of body parts to go around and you have a fantastically humorous grimdark adventure, narrated perfectly by Ella Lynch. Looking forward to book 3.

[Caitlin Edwards]

a delightful gruesome tale

I really enjoy Maud’s interesting views on gore and how to use it to make beauty. The punny chapter names make me grin. It’s a fun romp, and this second installment of the series has done well introducing new wrinkles in poor Maud’s desire to be left alone to craft. Worth a read

[Dustin]

Maud has completely understandable motivations and completely understandable reactions to the bullshit she has to put up with.
While the previous book was a standalone story this is the setup for a larger story and I'm looking forward to reading it all.

[Jadis LeFeu]

Maud is the best

I love Maud and her ruthless practicality and her embroidery and her unwilling attachment to both the living and the dead and her fervent desire to make her cat a lich so he can live forever with her

[Wilfred Berkhof]

A strong second book. I love how the main character just wants to tend her garden and live in a nice cosy fantasy book, but then kills innocent people and animals just because they were annoying or inconvenienced here.

[Mel]

3.5 stars, a bit disappointing follow-up to such a strong beginning. The humor propels this book, while some of the plot seems to fall flat. Both the tension leading up to and the big fight itself, left something to be desired. A quick, easy, and overall enjoyable read though.

[Diane Basner]

when is next book coming out!!??

I really enjoyed this story and can hardly wait for the next book to come out! Just loved it! Keep going….

[Tom Petersen]

More please!

Maud builds her forces but so do her enemies. A battle of Titans with the Kingdom as the prize. An epic story of evil vs somewhat less evil! Tom out

[Peter Thomson]

Just when you think Maud is a baddie, she fights to the death to saver a button-shop or tenderly sews a new leg on her undead cat. Fast-moving, macabre and funny.

[Rose M.]

Very entertaining, just like the first. I excited to read Lich Please and see how this all ends.

[M L Brooks]

It's... Okay

So this book didn't have a lot of momentum to it. An awful lot of it was Maud just sort of doing arts and crafts with a little bit of plot in between.

[Elyse]

I super enjoy this series. It's just a really good time. I think it's so funny with a great plot and great characters.

[Christopher]

A fun follow-up that expands the world, but Maud’s morality still is a little topsy turvy for me. I do love Maud’s crafting sequences.

[Chad Hagner]

Fun and witty

I couldn't swipe the pages fast enough, fun and humorous writing. You'll find yourself giggling evilly while kicking your feet in the air behind you. 🤣

[Nicki Permanently exhausted pigeon]

these are very well done just a really good adventure all the way through

[Shae]

I love the cozy dark combo this book has going for it. The overall plot is advancing nicely and I'm definitely continuing the series.

[JC Smiley Jr.]

Love this story

Simple yet satisfying. The main character is fun and everything makes sense. I love stories that make me laugh and has no romantic nonsense.