Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Madison Avery is dead, but that won't stop her from trying to live a normal life for a high school girl. At Prom, Madison's willful ways lead to her physical death at the hands of a handsome dark angel. The fact that her strong will gives her a chance to survive beyond death seems only fair. But now she has to figure out how to exist and what the rules are.

Kim Harrison's Once Dead, Twice Shy is a well-written entry in the ever-growing and ever-popular young adult urban fantasy genre. Harrison, with her The Hollows series, is a force of nature in the urban fantasy market -- she's one of the best -- so her foray into YA work is more intriguing than surprising.

The first thing that I liked about Once Dead, Twice Shy is that Harrison didn't just re-create the Hollows for her new series. In fact, she didn't even develop an entirely new world where magic, werewolves, and vampires live -- this is our world. Kim Harrison used traditional ideas about guardian angels and twisted them a bit. In essence, Madison is caught in an on-going conflict between two different schools of thought about freedom of choice and fate.

Madison and the supporting cast are all interesting characters. I got a bit annoyed with some of them occasionally, but Kim Harrison has always been able to create characters who sometimes annoy me and yet still manage to keep me interested in their stories! I'm an adult male with my own teenage daughter, and while I may not be able to relate completely to Madison Avery, I think that many young readers will.

Harrison doesn't try to do too much in this first book. She doesn't have to because the world it's set in is our own world. That's welcome because it decreases the amount of information that a reader who is new to urban fantasy will have to absorb. I also want to give Kim Harrison credit for not falling back on her successful characters from the Hollows. While Madison Avery is feisty and tough (like Rachel Morgan), she's definitely her own character. And Once Dead, Twice Shy is definitely a good book.

Madison's dead. Well, sort of.

See, there was this dark reaper who scythed her, for reasons she still hasn't figured out, and technically she should be long gone. But when he came back to destroy her soul as well as her body, she was able to steal an amulet from him that's allowed her to keep walking around and breathing (even though she doesn't really need to), and appearing alive to anyone who doesn't know any better.

Unfortunately, the owner of that amulet wants it back - badly. And the light reaper assigned to help Madison adjust to her new pseudo-life may not be able to protect her from him.

As Madison struggles to hold onto her life and to save those she cares about who end up targeted as well, she discovers there's a whole lot about this life and death thing she doesn't know, and uncovering those secrets may be the only way she can hope to survive.

ONCE DEAD, TWICE SHY is a fast-paced and engaging read from start to finish. Madison makes an enjoyable narrator, stubborn and sarcastic but with a lot of heart, and enough smarts to get her through some very sticky situations. Harrison has created a fascinating and unique world of reapers and other afterlife figures, though at times readers may find all the information a little hard to follow.

With plenty of suspense and humor and a little romance, this book will appeal to paranormal fans of all ages.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

If you want some background story to Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1) you should read Kim Harrison's short story in Prom Nights from Hell anthology!

A Blurb:

Madison Avery is dead. After running away from her prom date with a strange guy she's never met before, they get in a car accident. This does not kill her. The guy's (a Dark Reaper) sword stabbing her does. She doesn't know why he came to kill her, but she knows that by stealing his amulet she is able to keep her soul in her body and continue living life normally, or as normal as possible when you're a dead teenager. Now she is constantly under the watchful eyes of Barnabas, a Light Reaper, and Grace, her new Guardian Angel. While trying to learn to read auras and thoughts, Madison is trying to keep up the facade of a normal life at home with her dad, and her relationship with Josh (her prom date).

Since I assure you I could not go into the depths needed to describe Light Reapers, Dark Reapers, and Time Keepers and have it make any sort of sense, I send you to here to get a Librarian's perspective! http://kpl-teen-reads.livejournal.com/73554.html

The Thoughts:

I love Madison. She's a super spunky girl trying to get used to being dead. Something we all can relate to right? Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1) is not a book to read super fast, because you need to be able to understand what you're reading. You have to pay attention to the world Kim Harrison has created, so you won't be sitting there scratching your head going "Duh, what just happened?" I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the characters are great, especially the addition of Grace the Guardian Angel! She's a smarty pants, and she reminds me a lot of Jenks from KH's Hollow Series. The world created is just like ours, but with this huge secret that (most) mortals don't know about. Mainly because the Reapers and Time Keepers can wipe the minds of humans and make them forget everything. Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1) is a unique and exciting addition to the Young Adult Paranormal world!

I'm excited to see the journey this series will take us on, and I hope that it is just as successful as The Hollows Series. Fans of Harrison's Hollows Series will surely enjoy this YA series, and it's worth checking out just to prove me right or wrong though!

Normally I don't read YA, but I do read Kim Harrison. Love her Hollows series.

Barely made it past the first four chapters, especially because the story starts in media res (in the middle of things). Madison spends the first few chapters more worried about what people think of her and her social status than focusing on the weird yet important stuff. I really hate dumb and shallow heroines, but Madison finally realizes she might die again if she doesn't figure out something with the supernatural stuff she's got.

The last half of the book is good Harrison without too much teenage baggage.

What really drops the book down to three stars is authority issues. Madison is 17. At that age you're more worried about birth control, as opposed to being grounded because your Dad comes home at 6pm and you have a boy over un-supervised. At 17 you don't have a 10pm curfew, and you are allowed to date. This makes sense only if the target audience is younger than 17, and you are writing for them.

So might be great book for young adults, but as an adult who likes Kim Harrison, I wish she'd written a more interesting, more wise heroine.

Kim Harrison, best known for her Rachel Morgan fantasy series, jumps into the growing paranormal teen genre with Once Dead, Twice Shy, her first entry in her new Madison Avery series.

Just after bad-girl Madison Avery was killed in a car accident following her junior prom, she was able to snatch an amulet from one of the infamous "dark reapers" who was attempting to kill her and take her soul. Thanks to the power of the amulet, Madison didn't die -- well, not exactly. Madison becomes stuck between life and death and must become one of the deadly reapers. She soon discovers that this is more of a curse than a blessing when she is thrown into an age-old war between good and evil. Just as Madison is learning to balance her new responsibilities as a reaper with light reaper Barnabas, the reaper whose amulet she stole comes to claim it. Madison must then team up with Barnabas to learn the ropes of her strange new profession, fight off the evil dark reapers after her amulet, and unravel the mysteries behind her unprecedented abilities and connections to the powerful talisman.

Though Harrison has a popular following in the adult paranormal romance arena thanks to her best-selling Hallows series, she seems have a little trouble moving into the teen/YA universe. This book is just about as confusing as it sounds. While the concept is very interesting and original, it simply is not presented very well. Even though Once Dead, Twice Shy is the first book in a series, it feels like the reader is expected to immediately understand the mechanics and vocabulary of the world. There were so many times that I found myself staring at the pages and wondering what on earth was happening. This book is actually my first exposure to Kim Harrison, and I found it to be somewhat disappointing.

Despite these shortcomings, the book wasn't a complete waste. The characters are fun, particularly the rebellious Madison, who has a strong edge and feisty personality. The world is very unique and filled with potential for great story. Even though this novel is short, at times it feels likes it takes forever to get anywhere and it lacks an adequate foundation to figure out just what is going on. Once I just gave up on that and just went along with the story, it became much more enjoyable. If readers stick with the book long enough, they are treated to an intense, compelling ending that points to even better stories in future installments.

While Once Dead, Twice Shy has its issues, it has a fascinating, unique urban world that has great potential for future stories. This novel is perfect for young girls (generally around age 14) who enjoy paranormal-style novels and spunky heroines, but some older audiences, particularly the target audience for the Rachel Morgan series, may have problems with it.

Madison Avery, the main character of Once Dead, Twice Shy, first appears in the anthology Prom Nights from Hell, in a short story entitled Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper. In it, Madison loses her life thanks to a dark reaper, but manages to get her own back by stealing his amulet. Although still dead, she now has an illusion of the body, as well as a lead up to a new series.

Unfortunately, those events are poorly recapped (if at all) in Once Dead, Twice Shy, and so readers who have not read Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper will most likely find themselves confused at all the names mentioned that we are expected to know, but aren't - I know I was.

Because of this, Once Dead, Twice Shy stumbles out of the gate and never quite catches up to where it should be. It launches straight out into the action and, when it does provide some backstory, neglects to tell the most important parts. Instead it focuses on racing ahead with the action, as if the ending of the short 232 pages simply cannot come fast enough. If a few more pages were added and spent on characters, backstory, transitions and things like that the potential could have been better realised.

And there is potential here in Once Dead, Twice Shy. The initial idea is really interesting and could have gone really far. The characters too, have their shining points: while Madison at times seems more intent on hitting all the stereotype markers of "I'm so alternative, I don't conform - see the streak in my hair?", the times where she takes initiative and sees the bigger picture, she was a very likable and interesting character. So too are the side-characters: ordinary boy Josh, frustrated light reaper Barnabas, and tiny Grace, the limerick-speaking guardian angel. And once we get into the main course of the plot, it's very interesting and leads into an ending that was a very decent saving throw at worse - although not perfect, the ending provided enough to make me willing to check out the next book in the series.

Once Dead, Twice Shy was a book that could have been very good, but didn't quite make it. Had it spent a little bit more explaining for those who hadn't read the short story, and a few more pages just expanding on some other things, Once Dead, Twice Shy would likely have been a far more enjoyable book than it turned out to be. Hopefully this is a case of a rare fumble, and that these problems are rectified in Early to Death, Early to Rise.

Kim Harrison's new young adult novel "Once Dead Twice Shy" has an interesting take on life and death. Two sides-- the dark life reapers and the light life reapers are competing against each other for souls. But not who takes more souls or who saves more souls. One side believes in choice and saves them the other believes in fate and destroys the bad souls before they can do much damage. Madison who is dead but has gained the chance to stay alive by the help of an amulet she snagged of the Dark timekeeper after he tried to kill her and did. Somewhat. Now, Madison finds herself being hunted by dark wings, or dark timekeepers..... really, I don't know to tell you.

The story unfolds and unfolds and the world builds but really in the end I am a bit lost as to how we got there. The premise is interesting; the characters are different and exciting. There's drama and action and fighting and running and death....*takes a deep breath* but no real story plot arc. What I mean by that is there's plot I just got lost in the sequence of things. I feel like I hopped from one minor plot line to the next and there was little explanation to tie them all together.

Now I will give Kim Harrison this much: it's an exciting book (the parts that I understood, which basically, was the end) I am much more interested now in the book that it's over hoping to see how Madison's life, or lack thereof, unfolds in the next book.

I am not a YA, but I loved this book. I am not going to recap the story line, but here are my thoughts:

1. Fresh new fantasy with a heroine who is dead! No werewolves, no faeries and absolutely no vampires!
2. I love books with angels/seraphs.
3. Along with the usual teen angst about being the new kid in school and dealing with divorced parents, this books slips in a little metaphysical philosophy lesson. Are our live predestined/fate based or do we have free choice? This is the battle played out by the light reaper/dark reaper battle
4.As is typical in these YA books, Madison has two potential love interest: one human and one not. The romance is really non-existent in this volume. Hopefully there will be a little more romance in the next book.

So why 3 stars not five? Well I thought the book was very short. Almost a novella length. Just because this is a YA genre doesn't mean we can't enjoy a meatier word count.

This was a great book with a refreshing premise. I can't wait to read the next installment. You do not need to have read the short story in Prom Nights from Hell to understand the story line. I liked this book even better than Kim Harrison's latest Rachel Morgan book!

Madison Avery died on her seventeenth birthday, in a mini-showdown between light and dark reapers. A dark reaper killed her with his soul-scything sword and a light reaper named Barnabas tried to save her, but Madison ended up saving herself by stealing the dark reaper's amulet, an object that holds serious power. At the moment, Madison looks the same as ever because the amulet gives her the illusion of a corporeal form, but she's far from normal now that she's embroiled in angelic affairs. Caught between the dark reapers, who try to kill anyone who will act contrary to the big-picture fate of the universe, and the light reapers who try to ensure free will by stopping the dark reapers, Madison's not comfortable with her tenuous place in the world. Why is she even alive? Why was she able to steal an amulet from an inhuman being? Is she a slave to fate or an agent of free will?

Almost from the start, it was clear to me that this first novel wasn't actually the first story dealing with Madison Avery. It seems like too much has happened before the story begins, like the first five or six chapters are missing, and a lot of mental exposition is used to recap and explain the action we've missed. After a quick look-up, I did discover that the first chronological tale is actually "Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper", a novella in the 2007 anthology Prom Night From Hell, and unfortunately, I think the information provided in the novella detracts from the novel itself, forcing it to explain a few too many things in row.

On the rules of the universe, I was surprised at how ineffectual the light reapers seem to be. They can't spot a dark reaper until the dark reaper draws their sword to take a soul, and they can't recognize a dark reaper's victim ahead of time, so their life-saving job is very difficult. It's not a big problem storywise, but it does kind of weight the scales in favor of the dark reapers. One interesting thing that I really liked about the light/dark conflict is that, oddly enough, it's the dark reapers who are the forces of order and the light reapers who are forces of chaos, making it a face-off of orderly evil (perhaps) against disorderly good (perhaps).

There isn't a lot of romance in this book, and it worked wonderfully well. The story was at its best in the actiony, urban fantasy parts, so big kissing scenes and love declarations weren't even necessary to complete the story. Being a YA reader, though, I immediately began playing "Find the Love Interest," but I quickly dismissed the helpful but seldom-successful light reaper Barnabas and Kairos, the guy who killed Madison (why did I even consider him to begin with? It wouldn't be the first time that a villain eased out of villainhood to become the darkhorse love interest). Turns out, the guy Madison finds most lovable is Josh, an utterly human, athletic nice-guy who took her to prom. Hurray for mortal guys! They almost never win in paranormal fiction, and Josh really is a sweetie. He used to make fun of Madison when talking with his jock friends, but now that he really knows her, he stands up for her repeatedly, risking social ostracization.

All the discussions of souls, death, fate, and the time continuum went a little over my head, and maybe because so much action happens before the start of the book, I never felt the danger Madison's supposed to be in, but the setup for book two actually looks really good, so I'll be signing on for a second volume.

Poetry bonus: Grace, Madison's tiny sphere-of-light guardian angel makes up limericks. Constantly. It's both cute and funny

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