Line #2 Literature/ThreePartsDead


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/three_parts_dead.jpg]]
2	->''When a goddess neared death, the needs of her faithful, and of those to whom she was bound in contract, stuck like hooks in her soul. She could not desert her obligations, nor honor them and remain intact. The tension tore her mind to shreds of ectoplasm, leaving behind a body of inchoate divine power that a competent Craftswoman could reassemble into something that looked and functioned like the old goddess. But...''\
3	''Well. Much like Tara's revenants back at Edgemont, a being once resurrected was never quite the same.''
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5	''Three Parts Dead'' is the first book of the Literature/CraftSequence by Creator/MaxGladstone. Its basic plot is: GodIsDead, and His estate is contested.
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7	When Kos Everburning is found dead by His priesthood, the prestigious Concern of Kelethras, Albrecht and Ao is called in to salvage something of the situation with their Necromantic arts. Representing the firm are junior partner Elayne Kevarian and our protagonist, probational new hire Tara Abernathy.
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9	Tara was recently expelled from the Hidden Schools, a university of the Craft (the local name for magic) [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin hidden]] above the clouds. Given she was expelled ''right off the balcony'' of said ''flying'' school, it's clear that she has made some powerful enemies, and her future employment as a practitioner of the Craft is by no means certain; she badly needs to impress her new employers.
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11	Within her first few hours on the job, Tara narrowly survives plummeting from the heavens ''again'', befriends a powerful vampire, is [[ItMakesSenseInContext forced by circumstances to steal a gargoyle's face]], and acquires accomplices in a chain-smoking priest and a junkie cop. Then things get complicated.
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13	Followed in the series by ''Literature/TwoSerpentsRise''. See [[Literature/CraftSequence the series' page]] for tropes that are common to the whole Craft Sequence.
14	----
15	!!''Three Parts Dead'' provides examples of:
16	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Ms. Kevarian explaining how Denovo manages to stay young.
17	--> He drinks the life of those who come too close to him. Steals their youth. Also, he moisturizes.
18	* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:Alexander Denovo is one of the greatest Craftsmen in history. And it's not enough for him. He's trying to find a way to become a god while using his mind-control Craft to avoid the usual [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly godly weaknesses]].]]
19	* BadassInDistress:
20	** [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] by Elayne Kevarian when [[spoiler:Alexander Denovo robs her of her will -- once again. Knowing his modus operandi she walks into their dinner prepared and allows it to happen in order to entice him into telling her his plans and underestimating her ''and'' plants the seed that eventually destroys him for good]].
21	** Played straight when Tara discovers that the old and powerful vampire Raz Pelham's [[spoiler:will has been overpowered and his mind is being wiped clean of the memories she needs from him]]. It takes a lot of determination on Tara's part to catch up and stop the process.
22	* BlackMagicianGirl: Despite professing to be all about courts and contracts, Tara spends most of her time working (mainly necromantic) Craft on the offensive, and quite impressively so, and has enough power and talent to still be relevant despite having been thrown out of the Hidden Schools while fighting her professors. As the youngest of the people tasked with investigating Kos's case, she's got a forceful personality and can act foolishly but isn't above admitting that she's still got a lot to learn.
23	* ChekhovsGun:
24	** [[spoiler:The monster from the church boiler room, along with the dagger that Abelard finds.]]
25	** Early on, Ms. Kevarian notes how cloudy the weather is, and Cat later points out that this isn't typical weather for Alt Coulumb. [[spoiler:This is because the Hidden Schools are lurking over the city, allowing Denovo easier access to his 'lab'.]]
26	* EvilTeacher: Professor Denovo, Tara's former mentor, is a ''monster'' in ways that take most of the book for the reader to really appreciate. [[spoiler:He once [[MindRape stripped both Tara and Elayne of free will, and pulls it again on the latter towards the end of the story]]. He is a self-made HumanoidAbomination. And he has a ''completely plausible'' plan to make himself something rather greater than a god.]]
27	* FaceStealer: Tara steals Shale's face during their first meeting and sneaks it past the Blacksuits so she can question him about Judge Cabot's death.
28	* FantasticDrug: Vampire bites are drug-like, including physical addiction and withdrawal symptoms. There's also [[spoiler:addiction to Justice, which turns out to be just as Denovo planned.]]
29	* FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: Captain Pelham isn't really a paragon of good moral character, but he manages his vampirism ethically, without drinking from unwilling subjects.
30	* GodIsDead: Protestors start chanting outside the temple when they discover Kos is not, in fact, "contemplating his glory".
31	* GodWasMyCopilot: [[spoiler:Or, in this case, my/Abelard's cigarette flame.]]
32	* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Abelard chain smokes cigarettes, and is, in fact, the only character that's actually shown smoking. He's also [[InvertedTrope one of the nicest characters in the book]].
33	** Priests of Kos are also immune to all the negative consequences of smoking, but they get hit hard when Kos dies.
34	* HiveMind: In Alt Coulumb, justice is administered by Justice-- an (all-volunteer!) corps of part-time [[HumanoidAbomination humanoid monstrosities]]. When their GameFace is on they have extreme strength and endurance, [[TheBlank no distinguishing features]], and a single incorruptible, implacable mind. Said mind [[spoiler:turns out to be that of a dead goddess, and her original followers aren't happy about it.]]
35	* IAmXSonOfY: How Judge Cathbad introduces himself.
36	--> I am Judge Cathbad, son of Norbad.
37	* ImGoingToHellForThis: [[spoiler:After using mind control to get Cat out of the way, ironically by telling her how Denovo did the same to Tara and several other students to use their power, Tara admits as much to herself afterward.]]
38	* ItsPersonal: The Kos case becomes this to Tara when Denovo gets involved.
39	--> '''Ms. Kevarian:''' Remember, your first duty is to our client, not revenge.
40	--> '''Tara:''' If I have to raise a god from the dead to defeat Alexander Denovo, I will raise a hundred. I’ll bring Kos back ten times greater than he was.
41	* KillItWithFire: The sorcerous priests of Kos ''Everburning'' rather naturally start throwing fire around when it comes time to do violence. In fact, overuse of this is how Kos died in the first place: the navy of Iskar drew on a contract with Kos himself to blast some pirates with divine fire, but Kos was already running on fumes (unbeknownst to anyone), and this last drain on his power caused him to fail completely. Especially notable in being the only way Novice Abelard can fend off a horrifying shadow creature out to feed on his soul. [[spoiler:He uses his cigarette to harm it, which turns out to be a clue as to Kos's real fate.]]
42	* KissOfDeath: [[spoiler:A delayed variety - while Kevarian is under Denovo's control, he kisses her, and she uses the opportunity to breathe Craft into him, which he thought she couldn't do. Then, at the end of the book, it turns out that she passed him the creature from the church boiler room, and uses it to kill him as revenge.]]
43	* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Denovo to Cardinal Gustave.]]
44	* MagicallyBindingContract: The Craft and Practical Theology are both powerfully rooted in these. In this book in particular, it's ''fundamental'' to the plot. Kelethras, Albrecht and Ao is portrayed at least as much like a law firm as it is like a cabal of necromancers, and an unfavourable contract coming due at just the wrong time seems to have been what killed Kos Everburning.
45	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Tara using mind control on Cat (see Go Look At The Distraction) causes her to grow suspicious of her, and eventually leads to her believing that she's working with the gargoyles, whom she believes are responsible for Judge Cabot's death.]]
46	* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:Both Kos and Seril avoided death by hiding a reserve part of their power and a full portion of their personality. Kos hid his in Abelard's cigarette, while Seril divided hers among her gargoyles.]]
47	* OurGargoylesRock: The Guardians [[VoluntaryShapeshifter can take human form]], but in their natural form they each have a completely unique appearance. They are ''immensely'' physically powerful and quick, too. They are servants of Seril, the city's moon goddess and guardian of order, created to be a supernatural police force; at her death, they went crazy and were banished from the city. [[spoiler:Except, they didn't ''all'' go crazy, and their goddess is NotQuiteDead.]]
48	* PrivacyByDistraction: [[spoiler:Tara mind-controls Cat into checking in on Raz while they're in the hospital, so that she can talk to Shale by herself.]]
49	* PsychologicalProjection: [[spoiler:When Cat sees Tara communing with Seril, she assumes that she's a junkie, and helped the gargoyles after Judge Cabot's murder in exchange for a fix. Cat is herself a junkie, using vampire bites to cope whenever she isn't connected to Justice, which produces its own high, and had recently used Pelham to scratch that particular itch.]]
50	* ShamingTheMob: [[spoiler:Gustave does this to protesters who have realized that Kos is actually dead.]]
51	* TorchesAndPitchforks: Tara's town towards her when she was caught raising the dead, ironically done to help protect them. Magical holy pitchforks, but pitchforks none the less. [[NotHelpingYourCase It didn't help]] that she felt [[ContractualGenreBlindness compelled]] to have a [[EvilLaugh hearty chuckle]] while doing it.
52	* VampiresOwnNightclubs: Sort of. Alt Coulomb is home to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xibalba Xiltanda]], a nightclub named after the "[[FantasyCounterpartCulture Quechal]]" word for the underworld. It was started after the God Wars by those on the pro-Craft side of things, and while its founders aren't explicitly vampires, it is heavily patronized by vampires and others in that "subculture".
53	* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Gustave murdered Judge Cabot when he found out that he was trying to assist Kos in trying to bring Seril back to full power, since he believed that Seril abandoned Kos during the God Wars.]]

Context Literature / ThreePartsDead