10.29.2014 | Wednesday

Dead Girl Walking

Item: Dead Girl Walking
Rating: 4
Author: Kim

category: Book Reviews
tag(s): young adult
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title: Dead Girl Walking
author: Ruth Silver
series: Royal Reapers #1
published: 24 April 2014
publisher: Patchwork Press
genre(s): fantasy, romance
pages: 195
source: bought
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | StoryGraph | Goodreads

rating:

| series rating:

the blurb

Forget everything you know about grim reapers. Princess Ophelia Dacre sneaks out of the castle to visit her boyfriend in secret. A perfect night cut short when she's brutally murdered. Ophelia is given the rare chance to become a grim reaper. She must become Leila Bele, cut ties with her old life, and follow the rules of the reapers. Her greatest adventure begins with death.

my review

Dead Girl Walking is the first novel in the new Royal Reapers series by Ruth Silver, author of the fantastic Aberranti series. Aberrant is a dystopian/sci-fi/post-apocalyptic series that is absolutely chilling at times, but Royal Reapers is an entirely different kind of series.

The world of this book is wonderful, set in midst of kingdoms and royal politics with a side of grim reapers and dark angels and romance, too. The reapers that the author created were very different than others I have read, living and walking and easily seen by those still living around them. What is interesting is that, in many ways, Ophelia’s life really doesn’t begin until she becomes a reaper… a whole new twist on life after death!!

The mythology that has been created for these reapers is truly interesting. There are rules and regulations for their work, punishments for not carrying out their reaps accordingly. Yet, even as mediators of death, there is much they don’t know about where the souls they reap go. This is a point that is made often, but never really explained so I am hoping that this is something that will be part of further books in the series.

The story line and its premise were refreshingly original to me. I loved the reapers she created and the plot was thoroughly engrossing. There was romance, intrigue, fantasy, and mystery galore. My only real issue, and it isn’t a big one, was the slight insta-love between Wynter and Leila/Ophelia. It seemed to develop rather quickly on the heels of some traumatic events.

Things to love…

The original mythology of the reapers.
The interesting characters among the reapers.

Things I wanted more/less of…

Less insta-love.

This is a very different read than most of the “ghost reaper” kind of mythology. I love the interaction that the fantasy world had with the “real” world. If you like a good paranormal fantasy this is a good choice. A prequel novella, Ashes to Ashes, is due out in May of 2015.

About Ruth Silver

Ruth Silver is the best-selling author of Aberrant. The Young Adult/New Adult Romantic Dystopian Adventure, Aberrant is the first in a trilogy, released April 17th, 2013. Silver first began writing poetry as a teenager and reading heaps of fan fiction in her free time. She attended Northern Illinois University in 2001 and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Communication. While in college she spent much of her free time writing with friends she met online and penning her first novel, Deuces are Wild, which she self-published in 2004. Her favorite class was Creative Writing senior year where she often handed in assignments longer than the professor required because she loved to write and always wanted to finish her stories. Her love of writing, led her on an adventure in 2007 to Melbourne, Australia. Silver enjoys reading YA/NA novels and sharing her favorite books with other readers. She also enjoys photography, traveling and of most of all writing.