Home > Categories > Books > Fantasy > Once Dead, Twice Shy review
"My name is Madison Avery, and I am here to tell you that there is more out there than you can see, hear or touch. Because I'm there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it."
Madison's prom was killer - literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper - yeah, that kind of reaper - intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away.
Now, she's stuck on Earth - dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to tow the line between life and death/ She still doesn't know why thedark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take it's course.
With a little ingenuity, some light-bending and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys, maybe...), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all... before it takes control of her.
Well, if she believed in that stuff...
Product reviews...
Having read some of Harrison's other works, I found this story to be a little 'weaker'... mind you, this storyline is teen fiction, so by definition it couldn't be as rough or raunchy as her 'Rachel Morgan' series... and the paradigm of this plot made me think a lot of the TV series "Dead Like Me" - a young girl is killed out of her allotted time, is able to hang around in the land of the living, and eventually becomes a part of the system that killed her in the first place... though this story is a little darker - this death was no accident but a play by a powerful agent of the system trying to buck the system for his own benefit.
Madison is a very easy character to emote with and attach to... 18 years old and suddenly dead - apparently by car crash, but really through the efforts of an angel of death... and as with all things spiritual, sometimes the good guys are really hard to tell from the bad guys... and sometimes they change sides on you without warning. As if the teenage years aren't tough enough to cope with, especially as we discover more of Madison's colourful past.
There is definite 'attachment' at the end of the story that makes it very clear there are more stories to come, and in fact at the time of writing this review, the second book is already in print... if it pans out to be as good as this, then I can see this being a very successful series indeed.
Overall, for the teens and young adults who enjoy a bit of of lighter fantasy to read, this is certainly one you'll want to look at... especially if you have read any other of Harrison's work and found it enjoyable. Her tales are always about strong female lead characters overcoming the worst odds to pull through and somehow survive, even if it does make things even tougher further along the track.
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