Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, #1)

by Kim Harrison

Spunky teen Madison, though technically dead, uses a stolen amulet to retain the illusion of a body and help her in the struggle between Light and Dark reapers.

• ISBN10: 0061718165
• ISBN13: 9780061718168
• Publish Date: 1 June 2009 (first published 26 May 2009)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 11 October 2011
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperTeen
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

This is Kim Harrison’s first series since her Rachel Morgan series, and being such a huge fan of that one I had to give this a shot. This is a young adult series, so I expected the tone and writing style to be different. It was, but the things that make Harrison’s writing so good were still there – color characters, interesting sidekicks, and a compelling new world.

At first glance, Madison’s world is just like ours. Except, she’s dead. Now, she’s trying to keep from the clutches of the dark reaper who didn’t finish his job, all while learning how to become a reaper herself.

In many ways, this reminded me of the (much too short) Showtime series Dead Like Me, about a group of reapers out to save the souls of the recently departed. But not completely. Madison is a softer lead character than the bitter, sarcastic George of the TV series, and there is more of a good vs. evil feel to the book.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to this, but I do have one major complaint. When the book opens, you are thrown into the story without any real explanation of what’s going on. This is something Harrison does very well in the Rachel Morgan series, but in this case I just felt like I was missing something. So much so that I double-checked that I wasn’t listening to the second book by mistake. I really could have used a slower introduction into what was going on.

I’m not sure if this will end up being as fantastic as the Rachel Morgan series, but I will certainly read on!

[celinenyx]

Once Dead, Twice Shy was.. disappointing. Maybe I shouldn't have such high expectations, but Kim Harrison's urban fantasy series about Rachel Morgan are one of my favourite series of all time, so I was expecting to absolutely be in love with her YA books as well.

This isn't a bad book, not at all. It was entertaining, the heroine was incredibly likeable (which is quite an achievement in a YA novel without making the protagonist seem too mature), and the plot was fast paced. I really liked Madison's quirky nature, and even her purple hair. Josh seems like a nice guy and is a great love interest and I would like to see where that goes.

It just felt like there was something lacking in this story. Usually Kim Harrison has such deep characters, and this felt so flat. I hadn't read the short story from the Prom Nights from Hell book, so I had no idea what happened before this book. The whole angel/reaper/timekeeper-lore is is pretty complicated, so it was too much to just try to interpret the little information given in the dialogue. Harrison should have included the short story, or should have eased us into the story a little bit more, introducing us to the reapers and telling us what happened, because if you had no clue, just like me, that you have to read the anthology first, you feel like you're totally missing out.

One thing I did like was the fight between "choice" and "fate". The different between dark and light angels is not that one is good and the other is bad, but the ongoing struggle between choice and fate. In the end, both aren't good but not bad either. I would really like to see where that goes. It gave the story much more meaning, and not the usual black/white contrast. Sometimes grey is the best option.

Kim Harrison still is a great writer, she has a great imagination, the plot wasn't predictable, the descriptions clear, the dialogue flowed like it should and the characters are likeable. The lack of detail disturbed me. But for the unsuspecting reader this still is a nice book. I'd say, read it, but do not expect a YA Hollows.