Caitlin Seal

A teenage girl becomes one of the undead—and an unlikely spy for her country—in this imaginative fantasy debut for fans of Graceling and Daughter of Smoke and Bone Naya, the daughter of a sea merchant captain, nervously undertakes her first solo trading mission in the necromancer-friendly country bordering her homeland of Talmir. Unfortunately, she never even makes it to the meeting. She's struck down in the streets of Ceramor. Murdered. But death is not the end for Naya. She awakens to realize she's become an abomination—a wraith, a ghostly creature bound by runes to the bones of her former corpse. She's been resurrected in order to become a spy for her country. Reluctantly, she assumes the face and persona of a servant girl named Blue. She never intended to become embroiled in political plots, kidnapping, and murder . . . Or to fall in love with the young man and former necromancer she is destined to betray . . . “A high fantasy filled with adventure, espionage, and romance.” —Kirkus Reviews

Twice Dead

Jillian Clare

** This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

I liked this book, for all that it offered. It was well written and packed with action, magic, and political conspiracies. Other than a bit of dragging around 2/3rds in, I thought the pacing was easy to follow and I was able to finish this all in a day!

I didn’t do much reading about this book before I started, but I had a feeling pretty early on that this was going to be a multiple book installment. Mainly because the world building seemed to be on a pretty big scale and, although interesting, pretty vague. The city where the book is set was clear enough, but the building of the neighboring countries seemed a bit flimsy and skipped over. But, to be fair, I thought worked because we got to focus on the necromancers and magic and the people they bring back. I liked Seal’s take on necromancy, and it was fun seeing a city where this magic is accepted and the walking dead are common place.

With all that said, the plot felt all too familiar.
 
It was good. But apart from the necromancer magic, not much different from several other YA fantasy series that have recently been released. I did enjoy the necromancers against the backdrop of warring kingdoms, and I clung to the things that made this unique: necromancer magic and exploration of its capabilities, such as the creation of wraiths and reapers. I really hope that this continues to be relevant and becomes the central focus, mainly because I feel like all the fantasy books with warring kingdoms are all starting to blend together.


TL;DR 
I didn't love Twice Dead, but I definitely didn't hate it. It was well written and packed with action, magic, and political conspiracies, but the plot of war felt all too familiar. It sets itself apart with its take on necromancy and magic, so I do have some hope for this series!

Ashlee

Advance reading copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Twice Dead sounded so interesting: necromancers, wraiths and espionage!? Sign me up! Unfortunately, I was incredibly disappointed by the end. To the point that all I wanted to do was finish it and felt a weight lifted off my shoulders when I did. It took me almost two weeks to finish reading this book - which is absolutely unheard of for me. 

There were aspects that I did like. I enjoyed the secondary characters Lucia and Corten. I found the idea of resurrecting the dead very intriguing as well as the types of undead and how they fit into society. Seeing the ways that Corten and other undead made lives for themselves, despite the negative aura constantly following them was one of the best parts of this story.

That said, the main character was absolutely uninteresting. I just couldn't believe she was truly driven by her love of country, certainly not to the point that she would become a spy. It just wasn't set up properly. Additionally, the government was incredibly confusing. There is a king that is supposed to be in charge but it kept feeling as though the Necromancer's Council (are they a government entity or just a group of citizens?) and the Talmir ambassador were running the show? I kept trying to figure out who held the power and who was apart of the government and just couldn't wrap my head around it. It felt as though I was expected to know these things but I just don't remember them being explained very well.

To top it off, it felt as though NOTHING happened until well past the halfway point. My attention was never truly grabbed. While I appreciate the uniqueness of the story and really feel the author has something promising here, I felt as though her editor really dropped the ball. There was much to be desired when it came to thoroughly explaining things but also keeping other aspects concise. It shouldn't take a hundred pages to pass time that could have been managed in five pages. Naya's training to become a spy was muddled and drawn out. Her getting a handle on her powers as a wraith was drawn out and hard to follow at times. 

Overall, there were a few high points as previously mentioned. I found the romance sweet and did enjoy how Naya began to see the truth in what was happening to those around her, plus her willingness to take action. However, much was brushed over and the pacing was all over the place. I hate writing reviews like this, but I really feel as though this story could have been more thoroughly polished with better editing and direction.

Story Eater

Twice Dead was a brilliantly pitched book from the blurb description, but the execution was, as many other reviewers have pointed out, not as promised. The plot was heavily overcomplicated, and many characters, as a result were not done the justice due them in such a detailed spy-thriller/paranormal romance/mystery/whodunnit. It’s a shame really, as I my hopes rose sky high for this one.

My thanks to the publisher, Charlesbridge Teen, who generously provided an ARC through Edelweiss+; and for which I give my honest review.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher and then bought my own copy. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Twice Dead

Author: Caitlin Seal

Book Series: The Necromancer's Song Book 1

Rating: 3/5

Publication Date: September 18, 2018

Publisher: Charlesbridge Teen

Recommended Age: 16+ (romance, violence, gore, death)

Synopsis: Naya, the daughter of a sea merchant captain, nervously undertakes her first solo trading mission in the necromancer-friendly country bordering her homeland of Talmir. Unfortunately, she never even makes it to the meeting. She's struck down in the streets of Ceramor. Murdered.

But death is not the end for Naya. She awakens to realize she's become an abomination--a wraith, a ghostly creature bound by runes to the bones of her former corpse. She's been resurrected in order to become a spy for her country. Reluctantly, she assumes the face and persona of a servant girl named Blue. 

She never intended to become embroiled in political plots, kidnapping, and murder. Or to fall in love with the young man and former necromancer she is destined to betray.

Review: Overall, this was a good book. It's your typical ya fantasy but with a dead twist. I liked their inclusion of wraiths, as I haven't seen that before in books and because I just fought one in my monster of the week campaign, so it's nice to see a nice wraith. I liked the plot and the characters were also fun.

However, I did wish that the book had more world building and detail. I also felt that the book heavily leaned into the romance aspect and not so much the action bits. Also, I do have a concern about the use of a wraith. Lore wise wraiths are basically revenge spirits from once alive evil beings, so it confused me greatly to see a sweet character be a wraith but I think more lore in this book would have combatted that. Also, they don't normally retain their bodies from what I know of them, that's more of a wight in lore sense.

Verdict: A decent start to a series but needs some work.

In this imaginative debut perfect for fans of character-driven fantasies like Graceling and Daughter of Smoke and Bone, seventeen-year-old Naya Garth becomes one of the undead and an unlikely spy for her country. Naya, the daughter of a sea merchant captain, nervously undertakes her first solo trading mission in the necromancer-friendly country bordering her homeland of Talmir. Unfortunately, she never even makes it to the meeting. She's struck down in the streets of Ceramor. Murdered. But death is not the end for Naya. She awakens to realize she's become an abomination--a wraith, a ghostly creature bound by runes to the bones of her former corpse. She's been resurrected in order to become a spy for her country. Reluctantly, she assumes the face and persona of a servant girl named Blue. She never intended to become embroiled in political plots, kidnapping, and murder. Or to fall in love with the young man and former necromancer she is destined to betray. "A high fantasy filled with adventure, espionage, and romance that envelops the reader in a world where the undead walk among the living."—Kirkus Reviews

Ashton Reed

I really really really enjoyed reading this book! Such an interesting concept and exciting new topic of fantasy to explore. Ugh I need the second one now!

Our main character, Naya Garth, is a sailor on the Gallant and is training for anything and everything that could please her father, the captain of the ship. However, quickly upon her arrival in the foreign country of Ceramor, where evil necromancy runs all but rampant, Naya is abruptly murdered. In a horrifying turn of events for Naya, some men her father is working with hire a necromancer to bring Naya back to life as a wraith, an almost non-corporeal being made up of the individual's soul and tied to the earth through aether, another form of energy that flows through all life forces. All of a sudden, Naya's world is tilted on its axis as she trains to be a spy for her father and his allies, while she becomes the monster she has always feared. She slowly learns, however, that the horror stories she had always been taught about necromancy may not really be true. But what would it mean if they're not?

First of all, this book starts out a teensy bit slow, and I'm not quite sure it starts in the right place. The action almost immediately begins once you start reading, and I wish there was a bit more exposition, which might have made up for the lack of world-building I noticed. Adding on to that, whatever world-building wasn't included didn't matter a whole lot to the story, but it matters to me (haha) because I want to completely understand the world, and I want more description to describe the world beyond Ceramore, necromancy, and the little bit of Talmir we see. There were a couple tiny questions I had about the specifics of wraiths and aether, questions Caitlin Seal might not even have the answers to. They didn't affect my comprehension of the story, but they did make me long for more thorough and intentional descriptions of the logistics of necromancy to make the story seem a tad more fleshed-out.

Those are the only critiques I had, and honestly, they seem kind of bad but are really not. None of them truly affect your reading experience. Speaking of, let's talk about how freaking awesome this book is! I was really hooked with the uniqueness of this whole concept, and I was always so interested to learn more about how everything worked. The plot gets pretty intense, and the characters are just so lovable! There's some sweet sweet romance too, if you're into that, but it's definitely not the main plot line of the story. And that cliffhanger, AAHH! I really cannot wait for the sequel. This book had the feel of an introduction, and the ending set the sequel up with so much potential! 

Guess who's gonna be first in line for that one (spoiler alert: it's me ;) ).
Keep calm and au revoir, fellow bookworms!

Here's a special thanks to NetGalley, Caitlin Seal, and Charlesbridge Teen for giving me this amazing novel in exchange for an honest review. Every opinion in this review is my own.

For more book awesomeness, visit my blog at http://ashtonread.blogspot.com !