Customer Reviews

Early to Death, Early to Rise (Madison Avery)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Madison is dead, her body is no where to be found and officially she's the new Dark Timekeeper. Always by her side are the Dark Reaper Nakita and The Light (actually neutral) Reaper Barnabas. She doesn't believe in fate though as the Dark Timekeeper she is suppose to, yet she doesn't believe that all these 'marks' will make the right decision on their own, they need some intervention. Naturally this is throwing off the order of everything, and no one Reaper or Seraph knows what to do with her. The sad fact is that as a young senior in high school, she's flying by instinct alone and isn't sure what she's doing either.

This is the second installment of the Madison Avery series and I personally think is better than the first one. The first book Once Dead, Twice Shy threw the reader into a world of marks, Reapers, Timekeepers, amulets, Seraphs, guardian angels, exc. In this book we already have a feel for Madison's world and understand a bit more how reaps work. Madison is working so hard to try to find a balance between being the Timekeeper of fate, yet herself believing in free choice. This whole book is about one reap and the everyone connected to it.

The only reason it didn't get five stars was because I believe it was too short, in hardcover, and needed more storyline. The plot was fantastic, but simple and only involved one reap. Madison didn't even learn any new skills or train with Barnabas. There also wasn't that much action. I love how the story unfolds and where the plot is going though and that makes it a worthy read. Light on action, but thick in characters.

Madison is the new Dark timekeeping. Much to her disliking I might add. Trying to change the way the heavens have been doing things since the beginning of time isn't as easy as she might think. Especially while she is constantly finding herself in the middle of Nakita, a dark angel, and Barnabus, a once light angel gone grim. The three of them working together is next to impossible. Determined not to give into a fate Madison doesn't believe in, she is out to prove there is another way. That everyone has a choice, but she begins to question herself after spending a little time inside her marks head. Will Madison be able to change the rules of the divine? Or will Nakita get frustrated and scythe him? In the end the big question is will Madison be able to hang on to her beliefs?

After reading the first book in this series I was left intrigued by the whole concept of light and dark timekeepers.
Fate vs. Choice

While I did come to understand the concept a little better something about it just isn't setting right with me. I still found myself a bit confused from time to time, as I often did in the first book. I'm also sad to report that it just didn't seem to keep me interested. My mind kept wondering to other stories I've read recently. I will say that I am happy to see Madison has grown up some and Grace is still talking in riddles. At times her riddles were funny, but at others they fell flat.

I was also sad to see that Josh, Madison's love interest, didn't have much of a roll in this book. I would have liked to see more from him and I will admit that when he was in the picture, the book had my attention. When he wasn't my mind started to wander. Can you tell I'm a sucker for teen agnsty tension?? Yep yep I am and I'm not afraid to admit it, but there just wasn't enough in here for me.

This being said all I have left is...Try it you might like it. There are a lot of reviews out there for this series and they range from 1 to 5 stars so who knows maybe you'll understand it better than i did!

Early to Death, Early to Rise (2010) is the second Fantasy novel in the Madison Avery series, following Once Dead, Twice Shy. In the previous volume, Seth tried to give Madison a final death, but Nakita intervened and killed the dark timekeeper. A seraph then confirmed that Madison was the new dark timekeeper, but Madison still believes in Choice rather than Fate.

Madison decided to try to talk the marks into saving their souls by changing their ways. The seraphs allowed her to try and gave her Barnabas and Nakita to support the effort. Grace was also assigned to Madison.

In this novel, Madison Avery is dead, but appears alive due to Seth's amulet. Although she is now the dark timekeeper, she knows very little about the role. Her reapers are trying to help her, but Nakita is only sure that Madison is boss. Everything else is subject to debate.

Josh Daniels is the son of a coworker of Madison's father. He had witnessed the death of Madison. His memories of the incident were wiped, but now he remembers again.

Barnabas was a light reaper. He is now a grim reaper, neither dark nor light. He is Madison's principal supporter in the project, but even he is not convinced that intervention will work.

Nakita is a dark reaper. She is still puzzled by the situation, but tries her best. Still, this doesn't mean that she has stopped arguing with Baranbas.

Charon is the light timekeeper. Ron had been Barnabas's boss, but is now just a pain in the neck. He believes in Choice, but tends to lie to Madison and Barnabas.

Grace had been Guardian, Reaper-Augmented Cherub Extinction Security number one-seventy-six -- a first level guardian angel -- before Madison gave her a name. Then she was promoted to messenger and assigned to assist and watch Madison. Grace also issues relevant Limericks now and then.

Mitch (Shoe) is a young man is his last year of high school and is headed to college. He works at a pizza joint and plays with computers in his spare time.

Ace is Shoe's best friend, but recently they have been arguing a lot. He is not going to college and believes that Shoe is leaving him behind. Ace also works at the pizza place.

In this story, Grace has brought Madison word of a cyber prankster who will cause the death of a few people at a local hospital. Madison, Josh, Barnabas and Nakita sneak out of school to hunt the cracker. But Nakita doesn't understand about sneaking. She just walks out toward Josh's pickup.

Naturally, Nakita is spotted and the group is caught. Worse yet, they are caught by a cop. They are escorted back toward the school entrance by the policewoman.

Barnabas tells her to drop back as they are walking. As each one passes the cop, Barnabas wipes her memory of that person. Finally, the policewoman reaches the school with only Josh in tow.

Madison is sorry to leave Josh behind, but somebody has to remain or the memory wipe must be deeper. Besides, Josh has little to add to the cracker hunt. Madison gets a ride with Barnabas and they fly off.

During their flight, Madison has an urge to land at a local mall. As she enters the pizzeria to order a cold drink, she witnesses the firing of two teenage employees. She feels that one of them is the cracker.

The reapers argue over which one is the mark. Madison lets them argue and Grace recites a limerick. Then Madison suggests that they split up -- mostly to separate the reapers --and sends Barnabas after Shoe. Then Madison and Nakita follow Ace.

Madison and Nakita get a ride in Ace's car. Along the way, he tells her something about his life and his relationship to Shoe. Madison confides a little about their mission and Ace is shocked. Then Nakita grabs his shirt and demands that he take them to Shoe's house.

Ace orders them out of the truck. Madison is ready to leave, but Nakita isn't ready to let go. Ace threatens to hit her and Madison drags her out of the vehicle.

Now Madison believes that Shoe is one who will cause the deaths. She tries to use her amulet to contact Barnabas, but also touches Ron and another person. Barnabas reaches the two just before Ron appears.

This tale has Madison spying on Shoe at his computer. Then she does a flash forward and watches the cracker load the virus onto a disk. But the flash forward hurts beautifully.

Nothing goes right, but Madison keeps trying. The next installment is Something Deadly This Way Comes. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Harrison fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of supernatural magic, the walking dead, and girls making the best of their situation.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Madison is officially the new Dark Timekeeper. This second book is better than the first one. The first book was harder to follow because of the intricate world-building, but now it was laid out, this second book allows you to follow the story of Madison as she attempts to balance her Timekeeper duties with her life. The large cast of characters are interesting, and the book length is fine, as the plot is laid out well. Less action than in the first book, but more character.

This book just wasn't deep enough for me. I decided to give the series a second chance, just because it *is* Kim Harrison. I have decided to stick with the Hollows and ignore Kim's future YA offerings. This book does have the celestial choice vs fate dilemma, but without analysis. Madison isn't smart enough to actually understand her position, and she 'thinks' with her 'feelings'. I do not enjoy an immature main character wallowing in her own contradictions.

So Madison Avery is the Dark Timekeeper, and she's starting to understand her abilities (while being dead). This older high school student still has a 10pm curfew, still doesn't trust her parents, and is now trying to get her two light and dark reaper sidekicks to get along. She does Nikita's nails. In pink.

The plot of this novel is Madison's first real 'reap' complete with 'flashing ahead' and meeting the apprentice Light Timekeeper (who thinks she eats babies). Where is the reap located? There is only one of each Timekeeper in the entire world. Is it in China, Rio De La Plata, or maybe Hawaii? No. It's located about two miles away from Madison Avery's house, allowing for all sorts of 'hiding things from the parents' complications.

Let's just say I found the entire thing too contrived and leave it at that.

It will definetly keep you guessing until the very end.I love the sequel,even though I'm not one for sequels. I wish there would be a movie based on this thrilling series.

This is the second installment to the Madion Avery series. The first book had me hooked but this one, I am not to sure.

The book picks off right were it left off. Madison has chosen choice. In which she believes everyone has a choice and you can choose your future, not in fate. Madison is once again trying to save someone by giving them a chance to choose. In between it all, Madison is joined with the struggle of the both Light and Dark, and the very annoying Grace. Not to mention Josh, who has grown into a great love interest.

This book was a fast and easy read. It was short so it did not take me a long time to read it. While the writing and plot was good, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I felt like the book was missing something. Like words were missing in detailing something or maybe the drama could of played out a different way. I just felt as if this book lost it spark. It did hold my interest, but just not in a great way.

I did however enjoy the ever increasing chemistry between Josh and Madison. I was glad to see them finally crossing that line. I also enjoyed Grace and her annoying singing. If one thing puts a smile on my face it was Grace. Her little songs are just hilarious. Plus I love her humor in it all.

If you have not read the first book, Once Dead, Twice Shy, you should before you read this one. It will confuse you since if starts off where the first one left off.

Madison just learned that she is the dark timekeeper and that she is in charge of all the dark reapers who all follow the guidelines of fate. But Madison doesn't believe in fate; she believes in choice and she think that its time for a major change. You see, the dark reapers reap the souls of those who will do very bad things in the future. But Madison thinks that if she can convince them to make the right choice, they could save the person's soul. If she could only convince the Seraphs of this...

With the help of Nakita and Barnabas (and almost Josh, but he got stuck in school lol) They set out to save a boy's soul who will use a computer virus to kill many people. The virus was only meant as a joke. Ace and Shoe were going to insert the virus into the computer system of their school so the system would shut down and they would have a free day on the 1st day of school. But things will go bad from there. One of the two boys will insert that same virus into the computer system of the hospital and many people will die because of it.

Its up to Madison to stop the right boy from doing this and save his soul as well as many innocent people. But first, Madison needs to figure out which boy is the one that will cause the destruction. And while all this is going on, she has to deal with the overwhelming powers that come along with being a timekeeper.

I absolutely loved this book! I loved all the twists at the end and I really liked all the characters, except for maybe Ace who got on my nerves sometimes, lol. I enjoyed watching Madison learn to get a hold of her powers. I kinda wished Josh was a little more involved, but since the book took place within a 24 hour span, and Josh was at school most of the time, I can understand.

Hopefully he will be in the next book a lot more. Talking about the next book, i cant wait to start it!! :D

"Seventeen, dead and in charge of heaven's dark angels - all itching to kill someone. Yup, that's me, Madison, the new dark timekeeper without a clue. It wasn't exactly how I envisioned my "higher education" going the night I blew off my junior prom and died at the bottom of a ravine."

Lots of things should be different in Madison Avery's life. Obviously, she shouldn't be dead and not just because she was so young when she died - it wasn't her time, any way you look at it. And, you know, she shouldn't be a timekeeper, not yet. She was meant to be a living, breathing rising-timekeeper. Right now, her predecessor, Kairos, should be training her. Of course, he's the jerk who killed her in an effort to keep his job and live forever. Then he hid her body and tried to steal her soul. Luckily, things didn't quite work out Kairos's way, either. Now he's dead and Madison is the dark timekeeper, but she's hasn't had any training and she has no idea how to do her job.

The irony of this whole fiasco is that light reapers (and their timekeeper) protect human choice while their dark counterparts answer to fate, at least as it is interpreted by the Seraphim. Madison (and this is where the irony comes in) is all about choice. She does NOT believe in fate. The only way she's going to be able to reconcile herself to her job as dark timekeeper is to tweak the system a bit, maybe make a few fundamental changes. As her allies, Madison has a pair of reapers who, like her, are somewhat out of the ordinary. Barnabas, the light reaper who failed to prevent Madison's death, has broken his ties to the light timekeeper in order to stay by Madison's side. Nakita is a dark reaper through and through. While still following the orders of the devious Kairos, Nakita had a run in with Madison that altered her dramatically - she is now the only angel who feels the very human emotion of fear.

I love the funny, snarky Madison, whose adventures began in the short story "Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper" (included in the anthology Prom Nights from Hell) and continued in Once Dead, Twice Shy. She's a heroine who refuses to take the easy, expected way out. Ms. Harrison, the New York Times bestselling author of The Hollows series, is a master at building tension in these fun, fast-paced paranormal adventures.

After defeating the Previous Timekeeper who was out to destroy her soul, Madison is now in charge of the Dark Reapers, who carry out heaven's "hit" orders. She is still dead, and has to deal with trying to change the system, as well as an overzealous Light Keeper who will do everything he can to see her fail. Yet despite all this, Josh, her human friend, seems to want to be something more than friends, much to her delight. With her Dark Reaper bodyguard Nakita, and the Light Reaper defector Barnabas at her side, they set out to change one boy's fate. But fate it seems, doesn't want to be changed, and it won't be as easy as she thought after all. Madison may just have bitten off more than she can chew.

Madison, Nakita, Josh, and Barnabas make for one heck of a motley crew. I mean you have a dead girl, a dark reaper, a light reaper and a plain old human, so sparks are bound to fly at some point. You would think things would get a little overwhelming with so many main characters, yet it never does. Kim Harrison is fantastic at giving each character a distinct voice, with none of them ever seeming to just be a cookie cutter pattern, no matter how small the role. So when something happens, you can guarantee that the character's reaction will be very realistic and true to the character. I especially like the way she is able to show realistic growth in the characters without ever feeling forced.

Fate and choice play an even larger role in this book than the last one. It's kinda funny that Madison doesn't believe in fate, yet she is in charge of the reapers that kill in the name of fate. She's trying to change a system that has been in place for ages. While she may get frustrated and just want to give up, I don't think she has it in her to quit. Even when she finally finds her body, I just don't think she will be able to walk away. She is in it for the long hall, and with her determination, I just don't see how things wouldn't start to change; no matter how slowly.

I'm really enjoying reading the Madison Avery Series, and I'm so happy to see the same writing style I fell in love with in previous books, continuing on with this series. Early to Death, Early to Rise was a very enjoyable read, even more so than the first installment. Now that I know what is going on, I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride. I have a feeling I will enjoy the next book even more as I've become attached to these characters and their journey, and cannot wait to see how things pan out for them. All in all if you are a Kim Harrison fan, you should enjoy this book, and I highly recommend checking it out.