Three Parts Dead
“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.”
First book in the Craft Sequence, though third chronologically.
Featuring necromantic lawyers, badass women taking down an abuser, resurrection of a literal God, Elayne Kevarian (a non-literal goddess among mortals), a vampire pirate, shapeshifting gargoyles, an immersive fully-realised fantasy world, allegories for IRL issues, laugh out loud moments… what more could you want?
Hidden Schools articles about Three Parts Dead
Wicked Problems has so many characters meeting up, hooking up, fighting (...up?) that we need an update to the character connections post - so here's even more ways characters know each other.
Something is wrong with Tara Abernathy’s timeline… but is it a purposeful point, or author error? I’m still not sure, but let’s take a look at the problem and *theorise*.
This is one of those way-too-deep-dives about something that is ultimately probably a typo rather than a grand conspiracy, so if that’s your jam then strap in.
We know that the Craft Sequence has a weird chronology, but what is the actual timeline across the series? How old are characters during different novels.
We’ve worked it out from references in the books – and updated it with new information.
Vampires are creatures of Craft, and we get to know one - Raz Pelham - early on in the series. Yet, something doesn’t add up; despite how commonplace we’re told they are, we rarely see vampires in the rest of the books. But something tells me we’re going to see more soon…
It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that the order of books in the Craft Sequence is confusing. The author himself has said as much.
But have no fear, intrepid reader – we have pulled together NINE different reading orders for you to choose from.
A nerdy deep dive into demographics of POV characters in the Craft Sequence.
With 44 POV characters across 8 books, who has the most narrative page-time in the Craft Sequence so far? Who are the ‘main’ characters, and what does that mean for the story?
Need a reminder of the plot of the Craft Sequence before reading Wicked Problems? You’re in luck - the first seven books all summarised neatly here.
Everything you need to remember from THREE PARTS DEAD before reading WICKED PROBLEMS. Characters, plots, and the importance of the book for the rest of the series.
The Craft Sequence is a sprawling series with characters showing up in different narratives and meeting all sorts of characters. This somewhat crazy article tracks the connections between the main characters in a conspiracy theory style wall.
Our upbringings shape us, for better or for worse. What was Tara Abernathy’s childhood and upbringing like? How did it shape the woman she became? Part of the Tara Deep Dive series.
We’ve looked at almost every reference to dragons in the Craft Sequence, so now we’re bringing out the big guns - figuratively and literally. Read on to see how dragons act as magical jumbo jets and also corpse WMDs - yes, literally.
In honour of Tor Books’s 5th annual Dragon Week, here’s an unplanned article about EVERY SINGLE dragon reference in the series. Part 1, because it turns out there’s way more than I thought. YOU’RE WELCOME.
Tara Abernathy is the main character of the CRAFT WARS trilogy, and a major protagonist of the CRAFT SEQUENCE series. But who is she? How does she develop over the series so far? This introduction to Tara Abernathy starts our new character deep dive series - check it out.
The OFFICIAL Craft Sequence timeline, translated from the German timeline in the cover of Drei Viertel Tod.
Summary of Three Parts Dead
A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart.
Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.
Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.
When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.
Set in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs.
Priest Abelard, vampirate Raz, and gargoyle Shale are unlikely friends who become entwined in the Kos conspiracy of Three Parts Dead. But what's next for them? How will their characters continue to grow in the Craft Wars series?