Mortal Danger (The Immortal Game, #1)

by Ann Aguirre

Agreeing to join the mysterious Kian's magical faction to exact revenge on a group of bullies who have tormented her, Edie transforms into a beautiful girl and begins to sabotage the bullies' inner circle only to discover dark truths about Kian's world.

Edie is being bullied, and she's come to the end of her rope, until mysterious Kian shows up to make her dreams come true if she signs an agreement with him and his magical faction. The plot contains profanity, sexual references, and violence. #1

• ISBN10: 1250024641
• ISBN13: 9781250024640
• Publish Date: 5 August 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 17 November 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Feiwel & Friends
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[cornerfolds]

When I first saw the cover of Mortal Danger, I knew I'd have to read it. That combined with the synopsis and the fact that I absolutely LOVED Ann Aguirre's Razorland trilogy (highly recommended, by the way) sealed the deal for me. I ended up picking it up on audiobook (which was actually how I read the Razorland trilogy too...) and that was definitely a good decision!

Mortal Danger is definitely unique - I'll give it that. Edie is an outcast and she's pretty much done with everything. The book begins with the shock of Edie on the verge of committing suicide. But she's saved in a very unusual manner and is basically given three wishes. Unfortunately, Edie's first wish was kind of a turnoff for me.

The entire central them of this book is beauty. Edie's wish is to be beautiful and I just really can't figure out exactly how I feel about it. Of course everyone has something they'd like to change about themselves - even me! If I had three wishes, I might use one of them to fix something about myself, sure. I could have been totally on board if her issues were things that she couldn't have done anything about. But none of Edie's problems were things that she couldn't have changed about herself and that's what bugged me. She didn't like her weight? Okay, so stop eating junk and go to the gym. She didn't like her glasses: get freaking contacts! I don't want to go so far as to say this book tells girls they can't do anything about their body image problems and to call it quits, but it kind of leans pretty far in that direction. I mean, she's about to kill herself over it when the book starts. From that point on, the book revolves around how beautiful everyone, including Edie, is (and she sure gets over all of her self-esteem issues in a hurry once she's pretty).

That aside (but that's a pretty huge aside), this was a pretty good book. I actually did like Kian. I liked his honesty and the way he seemed to regret Edie changing herself. The romance between them seemed genuine, though I can see how some people might think it's slightly insta-lovey. I'm sure that probably had something to do with the fact that Kian had been creeping on Edie for quite awhile before they met... The other relationships in the book were about the same. Honestly, all of the character interactions were just meh for me.

The concept of the game between immortals was certainly interesting and I feel like it had a lot of potential. The bad guys were super creepy for sure! Especially the Bag Man - he was straight out of a creepypasta! There were definitely some moments that had me on the edge of my seat. Mortal Danger is full of suspense and the creep factor is there. It just didn't do it for me... And that makes me sad.

As always, everyone will obviously have differing opinions when it comes to certain topics. This one just didn't sit well with me, although plenty of others will have no problem looking right past it without a second glance! I loved Ann Aguirre's Razorland series and will not hesitate to read any new series she puts out, but I don't think I'll be finishing this one. It did have some good qualities like the horror and originality, but there were too many negatives that outweighed them.


Notes on the Audiobook
Susan Hanfield is an amazing voice actor!! Her narration skills really saved this book for me. I'm not sure I would have finished it had I been reading it on paper. Susan has unique voices for each of her characters and made the scary ones truly terrifying. I'll definitely be on the lookout for other books read by her!

[readingwithwrin]

Honestly this book was a huge disappointment to me. Going into it I thought it was going to be a story about revenge.. and it was for the first few chapters and then here and their throughout the book. Mostly though I feel like this was a beauty will make everything better, and partially a love story? Their were a few creepy things that happened here and there but they were so random and came out of nowhere that it was slightly confusing at times.

See more reviews like this on my blog

[inlibrisveritas]

Mortal Games is a creepy twist on the ‘be careful what you wish for’ idiom and one that I find myself torn over. The overall story is pretty good and I loved the inclusion of all of the paranormal and horror aspects…but the main character made me want to scream.

When we start the book Edie is on the low in of life and ready to opt out, but she’s given the chance to turn things around with what seems to be a simple deal. She gets three wishes and they get to call in their favor whenever they want, easy. She wants to get revenge and those three wishes are perfect…until she discovers just how deeply things go and she finds herself growing closer to people around her. I loved seeing the horrible things that skulk in the dark and their outlook on life, but some of it bordered on silly at times though it was a rare occurrence. The story does move quickly at first but it slows down quite a bit as Edie falls in to her new life, so adjusting to pace was a bit of a trail in itself.

The other problem I had was Edie. I liked her toward the beginning. She was intelligent and completely analytical about everything…but as soon as she changes the way she looks she also seems to change her thinking. She suddenly decides relying on numbero uno is the best option. I’m all for a strong self-reliant main character, but there is a level of common sense that is needed for that. When dealing with monsters talk to the people who know monsters…seriously…There is a touch of insta-love, which I was able to move past but it’s there.

Regardless of my issues I actually did enjoy the storyline and I loved Aguirre’s writing style, so I’ll be reading the second one when it comes out!

[kimbacaffeinate]

Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre is the first in the Immortal Game trilogy. It is a paranormal tale with a side of romance; a little urban legend and a twisted creep factor that grabs your attention from the beginning.

We meet Edie Kramer; a downtrodden misfit bullied until she breaks. It is at this moment she meets Kian. He offers a chance to settle the score with the “beautiful people” at Blackbriar Academy. She takes a leap and over the summer, her world is transformed. When she returns to the academy, revenge becomes complicated when pranks turn deadly. The tale that unfolds has twists, turns, lore and legends.

Edie Kramer has been to hell in back. Aquirre does an excellent job of revealing the anguish she experienced. When we first meet her, she is socially awkward and dealing with self-esteem issues. What happen to her is not fully revealed until later in the story, but it clear that she was bullied at school purely based on her smarts and appearance. I am not surprised she wanted revenge but as Edie moves within their circles, she finds there is more to them than the tormented chaos they created for her. While, I did not always love Edie we did see growth throughout the story, and I suppose she deserved some selfish, shallow moments. Even when revenge was forefront in her mind, she still cared for others; even those who mistreated her. Kain started out shrouded in mystery; along with Edie, we learn his history and role. It is clear from the start he genuinely cares for Edie, and I found it endearing. While he has known Edie for much longer, these two form a connection. Romance is strictly forbidden between them further complicating their feelings and perhaps enhancing them. Other characters rounded out the tale, including the parents. It was refreshing to see them involved.

Mortal Danger had an intriguing plot that plays on a few familiar tropes and twists them. Aquirre weaves in old urban legends breathing new life into and creates a complicated game of chess with humans as the players. The world building was interesting, and we as the reader learn and discover along with Edie adding an air of mystery and suspense. What we learned clarified things but created an entirely new set of questions. Aguirre allowed things to unfold slowly, and while this hurt the pacing especially in the middle, she set things up and created a world I am curious to explore. I am not entirely sold on the romance yet. It had an air of insta-love to it, but I am rooting for them just the same. The ending while not a cliffy leaves us dangling enough to be eager for more.

I thought Mortal Danger was an exciting beginning to this trilogy and found the last three-fourths of the novel to be the strongest. I am curious about all the players and mystery surrounding this little game. Fans of urban legends, revenge, games and paranormal romance will find this one intriguing.  Public Enemies the second book in this trilogy is set for release in 2015 and Infinite Risk the final book in 2016.

Copy received from publisher in exchange for unbiased review.This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Katie King]

**I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

**1 star**

**Spoiler warning**

Every once in a while, a book comes along that really makes you take a good, hard look at yourself. Mortal Danger did exactly that, but not in a good way.

Our insipid heroine is Edith, unremarkable except for her location on the edge of a bridge at the beginning of the book. Tormented mercilessly by the popular crowd at Blackbriar Academy, Edie dreams of putting it an end - a permanent end. On the brink of despair, Edie is saved by a sexy/dangerous/mysterious stranger, who offers her a deal in exchange for her life. Stay on the bridge, and she will receive three favors for anything she could possibly want. Once those favors have been used, Edie becomes a lackey for the distant/cruel/evil head of the Satanic mafia until she repays her favors. Just kidding, they aren't Italian.

Wedderburn (that name, seriously?) IS the mind behind some weird evil organization that doles out favors and retains formerly suicidal teenagers, but I didn't really understand how this "game" works. There's two competing sides - Wedderburn and Dwyer & Fell - who apparently take interest in suicidal people and offer them favors. There's also third parties like Harbringer (still unsure of who he is) and "monsters" both involved in the game and not. There's a clown executioner (literally), psychic vampire, whatever the teacher was (that was never figured out), a dead guy with a sack and two dead kids, a Slenderman rip-off, shadow wolves, and mirror spirits. All in one book. With absolutely no clear ties to each other or the game, I often wondered what their relevance was. Edie's beloved Kian can't even see any of them. So I'm guessing this is going to lead into some special snowflake plotline in later books. This has already been hinted at in it being revealed Edie isn't just another girl, she's a "catalyst," whatever that's supposed to mean.

What else went wrong? Everything!

A unnecessary emphasis on beauty. Edie is of course ugly and hated before she cashes in her first favor for a magical makeover. Once Kian literally reshapes her face with his hands, she is beautiful, adored, and worthy of attention. Good thing, because we all know it's hard out there when you've been beaten with the ugly stick! But now she makes friends with the popular kids that DROVE HER TO SUICIDE and can flirt like the best of them. In addition, her relationship with her mother is very strained and impersonal until they start going to the gym together and buy her mom some better make-up. Yay for acceptance!

A romance out of thin air. Edie, a shy virgin, uses her new beautiful-people powers to force Kian to kiss her before the first 50 pages are up. After that, she's pretty much in love and determined to hold on to her stalker forever. Because yep, he's been watching her from afar since she was in elementary school. Not to mention he witnessed the grand bullying event that made Edie suicidal in the first place, and didn't intervene whatsoever. Don't worry, he's really sorry! After the multiple flip flops between being in love and randomly being distant, he eventually sacrifices his life to protect Edie. Despite their sordid past (sex is like, REALLY BAD, but don't worry, we can dry hump), this ill-conceived idea does come across as romantic. Good thing Edie undermines it by calling in her last favor!

A stupid plot. If the basics of the game laid out above weren't confusing enough, I've got good news - there's more! There's the random subplot of science summer camp where Edie dates a boy and makes a few friends that she promptly ignores unless she needs them to do something for her. There's the Queen Bee of the school being some weird psychic vampire who apparently drove a boy to suicide and the other to insanity. The popular girl with the face-eating disease hemorrhages to death! The mom's head is cut off by the random dead guy with a bag! Her new popular friend Jen randomly goes to Thailand and is never heard from again! What do all these things have in common? Nothing, except that they're in the same book and none of that ever really gets explained. Listless zombie-like girl attacks vampire girl over hot otherworldly (still don't know exactly what he is...) teacher? Edie just rolls with it! She goes over to Davina's house to gossip and do homework! What if Jen has been killed or abducted and isn't really in Thailand? Edie can't be bothered to send an email! Was this novel even plotted out or did the author just write whatever she felt like for that day??

There's so much more, but then this review would span multiple pages.

Summary:

My subconscious knew I was going to hate this one, and that's why I resisted reading it for so long. I just can't with this one. I LITERALLY cannot name one thing I enjoyed. What a clusterf*ck.

[Jack]

This was an amazing read and I couldn’t put it down. The more I read, the more frightening the book got. I can’t remember the last time I was so sucked into a book.

Edie is a very smart, (probably a genius) level high schooler, who is ostracized by The Teflon Crew, aka the popular kids at school for being so different. She’s not pretty, a little chubby, a recluse and very smart. So she gets mercilessly picked on by her peers.

After The Teflon Crew does something to push Edie over the edge she decides she’s going to end it all and jump over a bridge somewhere in Boston. She thought it out, planned everything out so that there would be minimal people around to stop her. It was very meticulous and scary how well thought out she had planned her suicide. She didn’t leave a note for her distant parents who are too caught up in the academical world to pay much attention to their daughter, let alone know how much she is suffering.

She was just about to let go, when an hand caught her arm, pulling her back, stopping Edie from ending it all. A strikingly beautiful young man is gazing intently at Edie, before telling her not to do it. She tries to pull away from him but he doesn’t let her go. She finds out Kian is his name and she has a deal to make with her.

They are instantly transported to a diner, which freaks out Edie. But the young woman sticks around long enough to hear Kian out. He makes her the deal of a lifetime. Kian offers her three favors, that can be used for anything, limited only by the imagination and what Edie is capable of doing. The catch is that she has to do three favors in return to Kian and the people he works for.

Sounds like a really good deal! Which Edie takes. She uses her first favor to make herself more attractive, the perfect version of herself. For the summer she goes away to a science camp so when she comes back her parents would be more accepting of the big changes that happened.

Once back at school she instantly goes from a loser to one of the popular kids. The outer members of the Teflon Crew are really kind to her, as they had nothing to do with what happened that caused Edie to cause her to go over the edge.

Edie really has her guard up when she starts to get more involved with the Teflon Crew. It’s about here when things start to get creepy. Edie sees creepy men out of the corner of her eye, a skinny man that smells of death that almost touched her.

Things start to get more crazy from there, shadows appear on the outskirts on her vision, a man with a bag and children with black eyes. They stalk her wherever she goes, she tries to go to Kian for protection, but knows she cannot trust him 100% because of the not so human man that he works for.

Edie realizes that she is destined for greatness, and Kian has been tasked to keep her on that path. What that path is, Edie has yet to figure out.

This book had me frightened on more then one occasion. It was deliciously creepy and left me wanting more. The world building and characters were amazing.

Immortals were playing a large game of chess with humans as the pawns. But Edie was the Queen, destined for amazing things.

The only thing I wasn’t partial to in this book was the romance between Kian and Edie. It felt really shallow, and I couldn’t quiet accept that Kian was being honest with her, and was really on her side.

I cannot wait for the next book in this series!