As a rule, I love Kim Harrison's books. I absolutely HATED this one.

For starters, I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on for the first half of the book. It turns out that even though this was billed as Book 1 of the Madison Avery series, there is actually a prequel that you can find in a book of short stories. Had I read the prequel first, I probably would have been less confused.

Then again, it may not have helped all that much. Even after I had kind of figured out what was happening, I was still confused about all the characters and different types of supernatural beings. We had amulets and auras and swords and timemasters and light reapers and dark reapers and shadow wing things and cherubs and seraphs. I read a ton of urban fantasy and couldn't keep any of them straight.

Two chapters in, I wondered if I should even continue reading the book. I talked myself into finishing it because I love Kim Harrison. I wish I had just put it down. It sucked away hours of my life that I will never, ever get back. ( )

My Thoughts:
The beginning of Dead is a tad bit confusing, as Harrison doesn't give any real back story to the world of reapers, timekeepers, and angels. However, you will soon forget you are confused because of the hilarity. Madison could be a completely emo, downtrodden character, but Kim Harrison writes her with the best personality. Not even three chapters in, I got the feeling that I wanted Madison Avery as my best friend. There was tons of fluff in this story, but not so much that you couldn't see the actual story underneath. Madison's snappy comebacks and witticisms are what had me laughing the most. In this book, the phrase "when I died" could have been greatly overused, but Kim did a phenomenal job at not letting that happen. I think one of my favorite lines is when Madison says "when I hit ctrl + alt + del" instead of saying "when I died".
There was a lot of action right up front, but then it sort of cooled off for a while and it felt like nothing happened. The end, however, is packed full of everything I love about Kim Harrison. We expect a page-turning urban fantasy from Kim, and she delivers in Dead. She doesn't take an overused fantastical world from YA fiction and plug her characters into it. She uses our world, right here, and twists what we already know.
This is a war between good and evil, choice and fate. You just don't know which is which.
The Verdict: A great read for anyone with a paranormal sense of humor.
Expect a sequel on, or around, May 12, 2010 ( )

In Once Dead, Twice Shy, Kim Harrison introduces the reader to Madison Avery shortly after her 17th birthday. It's an understatement to say her birthday isn't the best day of her life. The all important high school ritual of prom is the same day, her date is the son of her father's friend who took her as a favor since she's new to school, and the handsome stranger she left prom with purposely crashes his car. When she doesn't die he scythes her because he's a reaper. But she steals his amulet which gives her the illusion of a body. She's dead and stuck on earth with no body.

While reading this, I was reminded a little bit of the tv series Dead Like Me. The reapers are given their assignments and they're supposed to help the souls go to a better place until they've done enough assignments to go on to their own reward. Once Dead, Twice Shy is only similar on the surface. There are dark reapers who believe in destiny and cut down those who would make a name for themselves in history. Their counterpart, the light reapers, believe in free will and they protect people who are about to die. The reapers are angels who have been assigned this duty.

I loved this book. Madison sounds like a self-aware teenager who misses her old life. It can be difficult for a writer to nail the voice of someone 20 years younger. The world Harrison has built is complicated. Avery is kept as much in the dark as the reader regarding the motivations of other characters and how the magic works. It's great to read a book where you're learning about things along with the main character. ( )

I really really enjoyed Once Dead, Twice Shy. I loved the twists and turns and how Harrison was able to keep the plot and characters fresh and fun. I read all of the Rachel Morgan books previously, before I stumbled on Once Dead, Twice Shy. I'm really glad that I had been browsing the YA racks for Cassandra Clare and Holly Black. I hope that there will be more of Madison's adventures in the future! :) ( )

Reviewed by Mariah (Class of 2010) ( )