Thursday, August 11, 2011

Queen of the Dead ~ Stacey Kade (eARC) review

Queen of the Dead
Hyperion Book CH
May 31, 2011
272 pages
Amazon/Goodreads


Queen of the Dead is Stacey Kade’s incredibly enjoyable follow-up to The Ghost and the Goth. In this sequel, Alone Dare, former Homecoming Queen current Queen of the Dead, is stuck doing one of the things she likes the least: helping people. And it’s requiring work, too.

Back from the light, Alona is helping other lost spirits, along with Will Killian. Will, a seer and the social outcast Alona was all too ready to write off during her life.

Just as Will and Alona are starting to get their interaction figured out, someone new – a girl named Mina – shows up.

Alona decides right away the new, mysterious girl’s not to be trusted. Will, though, is intrigued by her. She is, after all, the first other ghost-talker he’s met and she might be able to provide him with some answers about his past and/or his father.

Just how big of a rift will this girl create between Alona and Will? And could she have come at a worse time – with Alona’s family – her mother & her father and his wife – moving on and Will and Alona trying to figure out if they’re more than ‘just friends?


Stacey Kade’s second novel is an excellent follow-up to her debut. Queen of the Dead builds on Ghost and the Goth without requiring the reader to remember (or, I suppose, know) everything from that first novel. Several of the secondary characters make repeat appearances, but the action mainly focuses on Alona and Will and their relationship.

Told, like the first in the series, in chapters of alternating perspectives, Queen gives readers glimpses into both characters minds and how they view each other. It’s easy, then, to connect with both of them.

The new character – and what she brings with her – brings a great new angle to the story. The potential for Will to learn about his father (and by extension himself and his seer ability) is a great temptation and a fantastic way to bring a new, possibly divisive character into play.

It’s great to see the two characters grow from where they were in the first novel – and over the course of the second. No backtracking was done and nothing was illogical based on the first novel to the second.

Really the only people I wouldn’t recommend this to (and this is a light not because they can take it) is people who abhor cliffhangers because Queen of the Dead ends with a doozy of one. Can’t wait for more!

8/10


Read thanks to NetGalley and the publisher :)

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