Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

I must say, Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison was a bit of a disappointment. With the basic premise (dead girl who created a fake body with a stolen amulet tries to navigate normal life while light and dark reapers flit about her world) and the pretty cover (black and white photo, cool hair and eye make-up on the girl), I was expecting a much more exciting book. However, I had to practically force myself to plow my way through 232 pages of bland writing, under-developed characters, and a decidedly unharrowing plot.

One interesting thing that the book brings to the table is the idea that light is good and dark is bad. Most generally take that assumption and run with it, generally not questioning it. Even in its ridiculous abruptness, the story questions our idea of right and wrong, along with the argument over fate versus free will. Fascinatingly enough, the author chucks this idea in amongst the unimaginative dialogue and definitely-not-the-seat-of-your-pants action.

The protagonist is flat, with very little going on with her besides, of course, being dead, and "just wanting to be myself." Though, as the reading public, there's not a lot to tell us what brand of "me" this girl is. We know she likes purple hair and photography. Greatttt. There's not much else to work with.

Now, the plot was interesting, which is why I finished the book, faulty characters, boring writing, and all. One topic I've been drawn to in recent years is angels; one of my favorite books deals with the idea of floating angels and their role in desperate people's lives (but that's a whole other blog). I had originally been drawn to this book based on the idea of a corporeal body created by an amulet for a dead person and how cool that would be. But the reason I kept reading was the angels. Warrior angels, to be precise, which is probably one of the most bad-ass concepts ever. Avenging angels, epic swords, flowing cloaks, and curses on their enemies - it makes for a really exciting addition to a story. Not to mention that they're un-sexual beings (almost the opposite of hermaphrodites: they don't have a gender at all). They are also doing the work of God in the most direct manner, battling the actual root of the problem - evil in the form of actual demons and fallen angels.

But this book used a different idea of warrior angels, and while Harrison is perfectly at liberty to do that, as it's fiction, I was disappointed in the lack of distinction and attention paid to the angels, called "reapers." The particular brand of angel shown is much like humans but they are supposed to be the fearsome warrior angels who fight over the lives and souls of humans on earth. I don't know if she just didn't make them sound exciting enough, but I was disappointed because of how central of a role they played in the plot, but the best she could do was say they all looked like models, they were so pretty.

Moral of the story: it's a boring book that brings up some interesting points for about five seconds, before spiraling into its blandness once again.