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uutopicaa's review
3.0
Before I go into details, I would like to say that the story is good and interesting, but I can't give it a higher rating because there're just too many small things that need to be fixed.
"What was the most important life-changing thing that ever happened to you?"
This question is the core of the entire plot.
For some of us, the answer would be a silly event or something as normal as our wedding, but for the main character of the book, this question is really hard to answer because his story is out of the ordinary.
This is a promising book, an unpolished diamond of the paranormal genre. It presents an intriguing mystery and well developed characters that can keep an average reader at the edge of their seats. Sadly, I'm not an average reader and I did find a lot of small unpleasant details that just added up.
I guess I first have to admit I'm not a native English speaker, but I've been working as an editor for a Spanish company for more than five years. With my experience, I realized there're a lot more things in common between both languages than I originally thought, specially when it comes to the quality of a narration style.
As I was reading "A Life of Death", I felt as if it was more like a manuscript than a finished and published version of the story. In my mind, it was just another manuscript sent to me for corrections and that made it hard to enjoy.
As I said earlier, the plot was great and characters had a good development BUT the text itself was filled with repetitions, redundancies, gerunds (present participle or however you call it in English) and some weird sentences that seemed to be either incomplete or out of place, as if they had nothing to do with what surrounded them.
Another negative thing is that the edition itself looks really unprofessional on the inside. It looks as if the author wrote the story on Microsoft Word and printed it as it was on his screen. There's absolutely no signs of effort on the internal design of the book. And that is important.
I know some of you might think "you are being too harsh. The story is what matters", but I disagree. It can sound silly to criticize the design of a book but we live in an era were LOOKS MATTER.
Let me put it this way, imagine the following:
I go to a bookstore, I see this book and it catches my eye because it has a pretty cover and an intriguing tittle. I pick it up, I read the back and I think "this sounds cool". Then, as I always do, I open it in a random page to see how its written.
AS SOON as I see how bad it looks inside, I will say "no, this looks like a school project" and put it back on the shelves.
I understand that most independent authors don't know much about marketing, design or how to professionally use computer programs in order to get their books to look good. I also understand that a lot of times we can't hire someone to do this kind of stuff for us, BUT I'm the kind of person who thinks "if it will look bad, just don't do it yet."
I made this same mistake myself when I was younger and I'm still paying the price with negative reviews of the first edition of my first novel because it looks unprofessional.
What was I saying? Oh, yeah. I think this book is good, but it could also be a million times better. As I said at the beginning of the review, its and unpolished diamond. It still needs some work.
On a personal note (this doesn't affect the rating) there was just ONE thing I disliked a lot about the story: the beginning. I'm TIRED of reading about the poor teenager who lives at a trailer park with a dysfunctional family (one of the parents is gone, the other one is always drunk, etc.). It might be a common ting in the US but WOW, in the last three or four years I've read SO MANY BOOKS with this same description of a main character's life that I'm tired of it.
Leaving that aside, I liked the rest of the story.
AS A SUMMARY, I would like to say that UNLESS you are as picky and obnoxious as I am, then you should read this book because the story is really interesting. The plot reminds me A LITTLE to "The Graveyard Queen" saga. This is good because I love those books and I never find similar stories, BUT the quality of the narration is not half as engaging and seducing as Amanda Steven's.
Last but not least: I hope the author soon gets the chance to find a good editor who can make this novel shine.
--I'm grateful to the author for giving me the chance to read this novel--
"What was the most important life-changing thing that ever happened to you?"
This question is the core of the entire plot.
For some of us, the answer would be a silly event or something as normal as our wedding, but for the main character of the book, this question is really hard to answer because his story is out of the ordinary.
This is a promising book, an unpolished diamond of the paranormal genre. It presents an intriguing mystery and well developed characters that can keep an average reader at the edge of their seats. Sadly, I'm not an average reader and I did find a lot of small unpleasant details that just added up.
I guess I first have to admit I'm not a native English speaker, but I've been working as an editor for a Spanish company for more than five years. With my experience, I realized there're a lot more things in common between both languages than I originally thought, specially when it comes to the quality of a narration style.
As I was reading "A Life of Death", I felt as if it was more like a manuscript than a finished and published version of the story. In my mind, it was just another manuscript sent to me for corrections and that made it hard to enjoy.
As I said earlier, the plot was great and characters had a good development BUT the text itself was filled with repetitions, redundancies, gerunds (present participle or however you call it in English) and some weird sentences that seemed to be either incomplete or out of place, as if they had nothing to do with what surrounded them.
Another negative thing is that the edition itself looks really unprofessional on the inside. It looks as if the author wrote the story on Microsoft Word and printed it as it was on his screen. There's absolutely no signs of effort on the internal design of the book. And that is important.
I know some of you might think "you are being too harsh. The story is what matters", but I disagree. It can sound silly to criticize the design of a book but we live in an era were LOOKS MATTER.
Let me put it this way, imagine the following:
I go to a bookstore, I see this book and it catches my eye because it has a pretty cover and an intriguing tittle. I pick it up, I read the back and I think "this sounds cool". Then, as I always do, I open it in a random page to see how its written.
AS SOON as I see how bad it looks inside, I will say "no, this looks like a school project" and put it back on the shelves.
I understand that most independent authors don't know much about marketing, design or how to professionally use computer programs in order to get their books to look good. I also understand that a lot of times we can't hire someone to do this kind of stuff for us, BUT I'm the kind of person who thinks "if it will look bad, just don't do it yet."
I made this same mistake myself when I was younger and I'm still paying the price with negative reviews of the first edition of my first novel because it looks unprofessional.
What was I saying? Oh, yeah. I think this book is good, but it could also be a million times better. As I said at the beginning of the review, its and unpolished diamond. It still needs some work.
On a personal note (this doesn't affect the rating) there was just ONE thing I disliked a lot about the story: the beginning. I'm TIRED of reading about the poor teenager who lives at a trailer park with a dysfunctional family (one of the parents is gone, the other one is always drunk, etc.). It might be a common ting in the US but WOW, in the last three or four years I've read SO MANY BOOKS with this same description of a main character's life that I'm tired of it.
Leaving that aside, I liked the rest of the story.
AS A SUMMARY, I would like to say that UNLESS you are as picky and obnoxious as I am, then you should read this book because the story is really interesting. The plot reminds me A LITTLE to "The Graveyard Queen" saga. This is good because I love those books and I never find similar stories, BUT the quality of the narration is not half as engaging and seducing as Amanda Steven's.
Last but not least: I hope the author soon gets the chance to find a good editor who can make this novel shine.
--I'm grateful to the author for giving me the chance to read this novel--
ponch22's review
4.0
Full disclosure—I received a free copy of this ebook for an honest review.
[a:Weston Kincade|4729210|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1423169429p2/4729210.jpg] reached out and gave a pretty good sell for his book, [b:A Life of Death|35163016|A Life of Death (A Thrilling Supernatural Detective Series full of Suspense, Book 1) (A Life of Death Trilogy)|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495071052s/35163016.jpg|16754023], & asked if I'd like to read and review it. I've had mixed results on these independent authors, but you never know who might have written something great, and at only 160 pages, how could I really say no?
The story sounded intriguing—Alex, a teenager who lost his father to a drunk driver, is able to relive the final moments of anyone's life if he touches an object they held while dying. It felt like a cross between Medium and iZombie (and was 160 pages of YA lit)!
The story did turn out to be pretty interesting—the novel ends with three chapters of Book Two, and I'm somewhat intrigued for its new turn. Seems the next part of the story is more of a detective novel.
Kincade's prose is excellent & the characters are well-formed. I did have trouble with some of the dialogue scenes, though—some of the conversations between Alex and his mother or Alex and his girl friend/girlfriend were tough to get through. As an actor, I can't help but read dialogue while trying to find the motivation behind the words. There were several times here when someone said something that felt against character or out of place (considering the events and relationships).
Also, I felt like the story was rushed—I think (minus the bookend chapters set 15 years after the main story takes place), everything happens in about two weeks? It feels a little too convenient that this supernatural power would manifest itself all of a sudden when everything else in his broken home comes crashing down too. I don't know if it would have worked if the story was longer or the events took place over a whole school year instead of two weeks, but when the climactic school presentation and a certain funeral took place on the same day, it felt a little too rushed.
Oh, and one last thing: those school reports—they were for history class right? The two we get to "hear" have their own merits for each character and his story arc, but they didn't seem to be very good history reports. They showed very little in the way of research and were more about self growth than anything. Alex's felt like it could have fit better as a graduation speech than history project—maybe another way this could have spread the story out over a longer period of time.
In the end, the book was a quick read and has an interesting hook. Curious how he uses this power in Book Two to catch a serial killer & may pick it up eventually to read. Hoping the next novel has some better pacing and dialogue (although the preview chapters don't give me much hope in regard to the latter).
[a:Weston Kincade|4729210|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1423169429p2/4729210.jpg] reached out and gave a pretty good sell for his book, [b:A Life of Death|35163016|A Life of Death (A Thrilling Supernatural Detective Series full of Suspense, Book 1) (A Life of Death Trilogy)|Weston Kincade|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495071052s/35163016.jpg|16754023], & asked if I'd like to read and review it. I've had mixed results on these independent authors, but you never know who might have written something great, and at only 160 pages, how could I really say no?
The story sounded intriguing—Alex, a teenager who lost his father to a drunk driver, is able to relive the final moments of anyone's life if he touches an object they held while dying. It felt like a cross between Medium and iZombie (and was 160 pages of YA lit)!
The story did turn out to be pretty interesting—the novel ends with three chapters of Book Two, and I'm somewhat intrigued for its new turn. Seems the next part of the story is more of a detective novel.
Kincade's prose is excellent & the characters are well-formed. I did have trouble with some of the dialogue scenes, though—some of the conversations between Alex and his mother or Alex and his girl friend/girlfriend were tough to get through. As an actor, I can't help but read dialogue while trying to find the motivation behind the words. There were several times here when someone said something that felt against character or out of place (considering the events and relationships).
Also, I felt like the story was rushed—I think (minus the bookend chapters set 15 years after the main story takes place), everything happens in about two weeks? It feels a little too convenient that this supernatural power would manifest itself all of a sudden when everything else in his broken home comes crashing down too. I don't know if it would have worked if the story was longer or the events took place over a whole school year instead of two weeks, but when the climactic school presentation and a certain funeral took place on the same day, it felt a little too rushed.
Oh, and one last thing: those school reports—they were for history class right? The two we get to "hear" have their own merits for each character and his story arc, but they didn't seem to be very good history reports. They showed very little in the way of research and were more about self growth than anything. Alex's felt like it could have fit better as a graduation speech than history project—maybe another way this could have spread the story out over a longer period of time.
In the end, the book was a quick read and has an interesting hook. Curious how he uses this power in Book Two to catch a serial killer & may pick it up eventually to read. Hoping the next novel has some better pacing and dialogue (although the preview chapters don't give me much hope in regard to the latter).
kblincoln's review
3.0
3.5 stars, actually. (I received a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review)
I read in other comments that this story was possibly published as a serial at first. In that case, I think it might have been a good idea to have really obvious warnings that this isn't your usual novel, but a repackaged serial (I probably missed that somewhere).
Why? Because reading serials and reading novels are different for me. I came into this one with novel expectations and for that reason I think this book never really "took" with me. In a serial, I'm much more forgiving-- even welcome-- repetition of character-building plot elements, as well as a very loose over-arching plot. In a novel? The combination of those two things sometimes makes me lose interest.
This first half of the book felt cyclical.... Bad thing happens, Alex goes to his dad's grave under the pine, he comes home, refuses to return greeting by drunk stepfather, gets beat up. After the second time I was still a bit unsure how this was going to fit into the main plot, what it was building up to. Again, this might have been the nature of the serial genre as opposed to what I expect from a novel.
On the other hand, Alex is a fairly engaging main character. He's definitely more of a beta hero, which I appreciate. I love how he feels towards his girlfriend (although her character annoyed me because, hey, her boyfriend's being abused and she does nothing) and how close he is to his dead father.
Also, although the first couple of death scenes didn't stand out for me, the Civil War battlefield encounters were pretty cool. And seemed to be researched enough for lay people like me to consider them authentic.
One other thing (minus half a star) that wasn't as enjoyable for me was the language used in a few of the action scenes. I actually enjoyed Alex's voice and his vocabulary. That was great. But when it came to being almost choked to death, sometimes the language got in my way. (i.e. "His smile widened, and his fingers tightened around my throat. His bulbous thumbs massaged my jugular in covetous anticipation.")
Interesting premise, engaging hero, ultimately didn't "take" with me because of serial nature.
I read in other comments that this story was possibly published as a serial at first. In that case, I think it might have been a good idea to have really obvious warnings that this isn't your usual novel, but a repackaged serial (I probably missed that somewhere).
Why? Because reading serials and reading novels are different for me. I came into this one with novel expectations and for that reason I think this book never really "took" with me. In a serial, I'm much more forgiving-- even welcome-- repetition of character-building plot elements, as well as a very loose over-arching plot. In a novel? The combination of those two things sometimes makes me lose interest.
This first half of the book felt cyclical.... Bad thing happens, Alex goes to his dad's grave under the pine, he comes home, refuses to return greeting by drunk stepfather, gets beat up. After the second time I was still a bit unsure how this was going to fit into the main plot, what it was building up to. Again, this might have been the nature of the serial genre as opposed to what I expect from a novel.
On the other hand, Alex is a fairly engaging main character. He's definitely more of a beta hero, which I appreciate. I love how he feels towards his girlfriend (although her character annoyed me because, hey, her boyfriend's being abused and she does nothing) and how close he is to his dead father.
Also, although the first couple of death scenes didn't stand out for me, the Civil War battlefield encounters were pretty cool. And seemed to be researched enough for lay people like me to consider them authentic.
One other thing (minus half a star) that wasn't as enjoyable for me was the language used in a few of the action scenes. I actually enjoyed Alex's voice and his vocabulary. That was great. But when it came to being almost choked to death, sometimes the language got in my way. (i.e. "His smile widened, and his fingers tightened around my throat. His bulbous thumbs massaged my jugular in covetous anticipation.")
Interesting premise, engaging hero, ultimately didn't "take" with me because of serial nature.
hsienhsien27's review
3.0
This Was Sent By The Author For An Honest Review
The author sent me this and I happen to check my email in the morning. I thought that I should give it a try, it's a coming of age story, a genre that I am fond of, because I'm still growing. Well, we all grow older every day or so. Anyway, I guess I can say that this is a YA novel, here and there, those books have been read and being added to my Goodreads shelf.
A Life of Death is a series of episodes, possibly 8 episodes, a short series, then they were combined into one volume, like a TV show series being packed into a DVD. The whole novel centers around the main character's power to see dead people's past moments before their demise. He comes from a dysfunctional family, formed by the step father who replaced the late biological father, has few friends, and with the supernatural gift thrown in, his life is flipped upside down.
The gift of the dead is what makes this novel stand out from most YA novels, however, I can't be too strong with that opinion, because I haven't really read much YA from that genre. A Life of Death is literally a combination of supernatural, a mystery,a thriller, and a coming of age all at the same time. It's sort of a breathe of fresh air.
The gift teaches the main character, Alex Drummond, to appreciate life a bit more, despite its flaws. In a sort of odd way, the character grows up after many death encounters. As if death itself had taught him to cope with living. Even through the worst circumstances, life can be worth living. Death is an eternal slumber that should only be done after experiencing the best you can find and the worst you can deal with. It's an ending, that should be executed appropriately. Okay, that sentence sounded like ritual suicide stuff. I'm pretty sure you get what I mean.
What I didn't like about the book was the prose, it wasn't really catching me much, it was simple, but I don't know how to explain, because there's nothing wrong with simplicity, sometimes I prefer minimalism. However, there was something about the writing that made it hard for me to stay absorbed into it. Most likely, the reason was because I was going through a funk, where I didn't feel like reading, but at the same time I wanted to. Oh life, sometimes summer makes it hard for me to read more, despite the abundant free time.
It was fairly enjoyable though, it's great for anybody looking for supernatural stories or coming of age tales, with a little detective twist to it.The author is an editor.... I hope there isn't anything in here, grammar and punctuation related, that will make his eyes bleed too much.
Rating: 3.5/5
The author sent me this and I happen to check my email in the morning. I thought that I should give it a try, it's a coming of age story, a genre that I am fond of, because I'm still growing. Well, we all grow older every day or so. Anyway, I guess I can say that this is a YA novel, here and there, those books have been read and being added to my Goodreads shelf.
A Life of Death is a series of episodes, possibly 8 episodes, a short series, then they were combined into one volume, like a TV show series being packed into a DVD. The whole novel centers around the main character's power to see dead people's past moments before their demise. He comes from a dysfunctional family, formed by the step father who replaced the late biological father, has few friends, and with the supernatural gift thrown in, his life is flipped upside down.
The gift of the dead is what makes this novel stand out from most YA novels, however, I can't be too strong with that opinion, because I haven't really read much YA from that genre. A Life of Death is literally a combination of supernatural, a mystery,a thriller, and a coming of age all at the same time. It's sort of a breathe of fresh air.
The gift teaches the main character, Alex Drummond, to appreciate life a bit more, despite its flaws. In a sort of odd way, the character grows up after many death encounters. As if death itself had taught him to cope with living. Even through the worst circumstances, life can be worth living. Death is an eternal slumber that should only be done after experiencing the best you can find and the worst you can deal with. It's an ending, that should be executed appropriately. Okay, that sentence sounded like ritual suicide stuff. I'm pretty sure you get what I mean.
What I didn't like about the book was the prose, it wasn't really catching me much, it was simple, but I don't know how to explain, because there's nothing wrong with simplicity, sometimes I prefer minimalism. However, there was something about the writing that made it hard for me to stay absorbed into it. Most likely, the reason was because I was going through a funk, where I didn't feel like reading, but at the same time I wanted to. Oh life, sometimes summer makes it hard for me to read more, despite the abundant free time.
It was fairly enjoyable though, it's great for anybody looking for supernatural stories or coming of age tales, with a little detective twist to it.The author is an editor.... I hope there isn't anything in here, grammar and punctuation related, that will make his eyes bleed too much.
Rating: 3.5/5
aly36's review
4.0
"Alex is a troubled teenager with a checkered past, a broken home, and a surprising ability: psychometry" This book was fun to read for me. I liked seeing how the ability of Psychometry worked for this kid. Ghosts always seem to want answers everywhere in most books and movies. I liked the book and the characters in it. I liked that is book was from a teens point of view for me, with the type of book it was, it is a different take on things. * I received this book from the author and this is my honest review*
pattilandia's review
3.0
A Life of Death begins with Alex, a detective, telling his son about his childhood for a school project. Alex’s life was far from normal; most would call it horrific. He tries to stay out of his stepfather’s way but the man beats Alex on a regular basis. One day, while he is walking to school, Alex touches a fence outside of an old house and has a vision of a woman being murdered. He soon has other visions and finds out that they are all real. He can see the last moments of a death just by touching any object the victim was touching at that time. This new power, if you want to call it that, allows Alex to help put the dead to rest by solving their murders, as well as finding out what happened to his stepfamily.
The premise of this story is very interesting and parts of it were full of suspense and excitement. I appreciated how Alex did not take his new power lightly; he often felt weighed down by the responsibility of helping these victims but knew that he could not ignore them. It felt true to character and realistic. I loved reading about the visions. They were heartrending and beautifully written. I wanted to know more about the victims’ lives, not just their murders, and was always disappointed when the visions were over, even though they were always brutal.
My only issue was with the pacing of the story. It was a bit uneven and there was a lot of telling, not showing. For example, Alex’s friendships and the love story felt rushed and while Alex says that Paige is his friend, it did not really seem like they were more than acquaintances and before I knew it they were going out. But other than that, Kincade has a knack for suspenseful writing.
Kincade wrote a sequel, The Golden Bulls. In it, Alex is older, a detective, and he still has his powers. He’s chasing a serial killer who kills a victim every year on September 20th.
The premise of this story is very interesting and parts of it were full of suspense and excitement. I appreciated how Alex did not take his new power lightly; he often felt weighed down by the responsibility of helping these victims but knew that he could not ignore them. It felt true to character and realistic. I loved reading about the visions. They were heartrending and beautifully written. I wanted to know more about the victims’ lives, not just their murders, and was always disappointed when the visions were over, even though they were always brutal.
My only issue was with the pacing of the story. It was a bit uneven and there was a lot of telling, not showing. For example, Alex’s friendships and the love story felt rushed and while Alex says that Paige is his friend, it did not really seem like they were more than acquaintances and before I knew it they were going out. But other than that, Kincade has a knack for suspenseful writing.
Kincade wrote a sequel, The Golden Bulls. In it, Alex is older, a detective, and he still has his powers. He’s chasing a serial killer who kills a victim every year on September 20th.
wulfwyn's review
5.0
A Life of Death is a coming of age type book with a paranormal twist. This story opens with a vision Alex is having of how is father died - killed by a drunk driver. Jamie, Alex's son is doing a paper for school. He tells his father,"Dad, I need to know about the most important thing that ever happened to you. Was there ever something that changed your life that much?" What follows is a recanting of a horrifying few weeks of Alex's life. A few years after Alex's father is killed his mother remarries, ironically to a violent drunk. And so we hear a tale of horrible abuse, murder, guilt, fear, the voices of the dead, love, understanding and hope. Mr Kincade did a wonderful job telling this story. The characters are well developed and easy to relate to. They are people you know and some you hope to never know. It is intense at times, it will move you and realistic. Mr Kincade has written a story you will get lost in. Time will fall away while you are glued to reading it. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this book. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars.
chymerra's review
5.0
I have read a few books where the main characters have elements of Alex’s gift and for the most part, they bored me. There was a certain oomph missing from those books. So, when I agreed to review A Life of Death, I was expecting the same thing. My expectations were not high. So, imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed reading this story.
What I enjoyed the most about this book was that it was a story within a story. The book starts off with an older Alex telling the story about how he started using his gift to his son. Then it goes back in time to when Alex first discovered his gift.
Alex had my full sympathy the entire book. His stepfather (aka the drunk) beat him senseless over the littlest things. His mother chose to turn a blind eye to what was going on. She showed more concern for her stepson than her own son. I have never despised a character before Vivian. He had to go to school with bruises and the school could do nothing. It was heart-wrenching to read. The only reason he stuck around was because of Paige and his step sisters, Abby and Glory.
I will admit that the scenes where Alex’s stepfather beat him disturbed me. It disturbed me because everyone knew he was getting beaten but no one did anything about it. His mother turned a blind eye and his principal and nurse did want to do something but didn’t want him in foster care. No wonder he had an attitude and didn’t apply himself. I want to make it clear that while those scenes disturbed me, they are essential to the book and Alex’s character development.
Alex’s gift kind of scared me. I couldn’t imagine touching an item and being transported the last owner’s death. I had shivers reading those scenes. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to deal with it like Alex did. I also know that I wouldn’t be able to use the information that I saw in those visions like Alex too. As I was reading those scenes, I did think to myself “Reckless“. But, he did use the information for good too. He avenged a couple of deaths using the information gleaned from those visions.
The end of the book was great but I did have some questions that weren’t answered in the book. Mainly about Coach Moyer and his disappearance. I do have a feeling that he will turn up in the next book. Speaking of that, I cannot wait to read it. The excerpt was fantastic.
My Summary of A Life of Death: 5 stars
I enjoyed reading A Life of Death. It was a fast paced, well written paranormal YA book with 3-dimensional characters. This is not a book where everything is sunlight and roses. This is a dark book that deals with child abuse, death, and dysfunctional family dynamic. It’s the darkness that makes this book shine. This is a graphic no holds bar book and I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone under the age of 16.
Will I reread: Yes
Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes
Age range: Older Teen
Why: Violence, language. No sex (Alex and Paige do kiss but nothing beyond that). There are some graphic child abuse scenes (where Alex is getting beaten by the drunk) and some graphic death scenes.
I would like to thank Weston Kincade for allowing me to read and review A Life of Death. All opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.
**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**
What I enjoyed the most about this book was that it was a story within a story. The book starts off with an older Alex telling the story about how he started using his gift to his son. Then it goes back in time to when Alex first discovered his gift.
Alex had my full sympathy the entire book. His stepfather (aka the drunk) beat him senseless over the littlest things. His mother chose to turn a blind eye to what was going on. She showed more concern for her stepson than her own son. I have never despised a character before Vivian. He had to go to school with bruises and the school could do nothing. It was heart-wrenching to read. The only reason he stuck around was because of Paige and his step sisters, Abby and Glory.
I will admit that the scenes where Alex’s stepfather beat him disturbed me. It disturbed me because everyone knew he was getting beaten but no one did anything about it. His mother turned a blind eye and his principal and nurse did want to do something but didn’t want him in foster care. No wonder he had an attitude and didn’t apply himself. I want to make it clear that while those scenes disturbed me, they are essential to the book and Alex’s character development.
Alex’s gift kind of scared me. I couldn’t imagine touching an item and being transported the last owner’s death. I had shivers reading those scenes. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to deal with it like Alex did. I also know that I wouldn’t be able to use the information that I saw in those visions like Alex too. As I was reading those scenes, I did think to myself “Reckless“. But, he did use the information for good too. He avenged a couple of deaths using the information gleaned from those visions.
The end of the book was great but I did have some questions that weren’t answered in the book. Mainly about Coach Moyer and his disappearance. I do have a feeling that he will turn up in the next book. Speaking of that, I cannot wait to read it. The excerpt was fantastic.
My Summary of A Life of Death: 5 stars
I enjoyed reading A Life of Death. It was a fast paced, well written paranormal YA book with 3-dimensional characters. This is not a book where everything is sunlight and roses. This is a dark book that deals with child abuse, death, and dysfunctional family dynamic. It’s the darkness that makes this book shine. This is a graphic no holds bar book and I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone under the age of 16.
Will I reread: Yes
Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes
Age range: Older Teen
Why: Violence, language. No sex (Alex and Paige do kiss but nothing beyond that). There are some graphic child abuse scenes (where Alex is getting beaten by the drunk) and some graphic death scenes.
I would like to thank Weston Kincade for allowing me to read and review A Life of Death. All opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.
**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**
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