Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison
Release Date: May 26, 2009
Publisher: Harper Teen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 240
Everyone does it. Dies, I mean. I found this out for myself on my seventeenth birthday—which also happened to be the night of my prom—when I was killed in a car accident. It was a carefully planned scything, just a small moment in the battle between light reapers and dark, heaven and hell, choice and fate.
My name is Madison Avery, and I’m here to tell you that there’s more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I’m seeing it, hearing it, touching it, living it.
Once Dead, Twice Shy was an interesting read. I was about thirty pages or so into the book, and I was pretty confused with what exactly was going on. I then read Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper, which is a short story in the Prom Nights from Hell anthology, I’d recommend reading that before Once Dead, Twice Shy, if you find yourself lost like I was. The short story sets the stage for Once Dead, Twice Shy. Harrison did a poor job recapping. Once that was out of the way, I was finally able to get into the story. I’m still not sure who the good/bad guys are, but I’m assuming that is something that will be addressed further into the series. Harrison has created a unique and fascinating world of reapers and after life shenanigans.
Madison’s character as well as her thoughts seemed uneven at times. Adding another complication to the story. The plot was steady throughout the novel until the very fast and anticlimactic ending.
Overall, a very interesting world, it just seemed to be executed poorly.
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Thanks for the heads up on rdg Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper 1st.
Wow. After reading this and thinking back to my review, I think we thought the same exact things.
I never even knew about the short story…eh.
I think that Kim Harrison was banking a lot on the fast that the reader knew her world. It's not like it's a vampire realm or a witch real or ever werewolves, where a reader has a lot of common knowledge. She's creating a whole new world and I got up to page 10 before I went, "????"
Thanks for an honest review. I'm not sure if I'd enjoy this book now. If a book confuses me I tend to read backwards or hope it gets cleared up later on. Thanks for the info about Prom Nights from Hell.
I was quite interested in reading this, just because it sounded like something different, but now I'm not sure. I might get the short story first and see how I enjoy it!
I probably enjoyed this book when I read it because I had already read the short story and am used to her writing in her adult novels. I did think it wasn't up to par with what I was expecting and hopefully it gets clearer as the series continues on.
Ah! I thought this book reminded me of the short story in the Prom Nights anthology. Good to know I'm not insane.
Not too sure I'll read this, but I wasn't too certain on it before anyway. I've read the short story and found it just okay. Thanks for the review!
- Alex
I wasn't really confused, but then again I think it might be because I had already read that short story (albeit a while back). I wasn't sure who the good and bad guys were either actually, but I thought the story was pretty fun to read.
I don't know why I am disappointed that you didn't like it. Maybe because I wanted to share the excitement of the book with you. haha! I feel so alone now. *sniffle*
I'm not much into the paranormal because most of the time I have a problem trying to imagine the world in my mind, even with well executed novels. This doesn't look like my type of read.
Huh, I'm sort of surprised with this one. I've only read the first couple chapters that HarperTeen had posted but I immediately liked Madison – now I have to move this to the top of my TBR so I can compare with your reading experience.
Thanks for the review!
Kristi, I really like your honest review.
However the novel doesn't seem like something I would enjoy so I will probably get it from the library.
I'm reading this now…I was confused to while reading the excerpt..I was like hmmm in this a follow-up let me research. So without reading the short story, I was trying to get a feel for some of the characters, but now I'm finally getting into the book….
Let's see what happens…. I'll probably put up a review in about 2 weeks since I'm booked with posts.
I love this cover and was thinking of picking this up. Unfortunately the reviews have been the same, not that wonderful. Maybe I'll check the library instead of buying.
What a bummer. This is the third review I've read that said the same thing. I was so looking forward to this book. I just picked up Prom Dates From Hell this past weekend so will read that short story first.
I was so excited to get this book this week but now I'm thinking of saving it for later! Thanks for the heads up!
I a lot of people seem to not like this one too much, or basically find it confusing. I'd be interested in reading it at some point though. and I actually loved the cover!!!
-Lauren
I've been wanting to read Prom Dates from Hell, I never see it when I'm at the bookstore. Thanks for the heads up on this. If I decide to read it, I'll make sure I read the short story first.
That's disappointing to hear,
Hmm, I've read the short story, which I liked, and another, longer, story of hers that I didn't like much. I felt she really rushed sometimes, you know? Still curious, though.
It seems to me they should have printed the story from Prom Nights at the beginning of the book.