Twice Dead

Written By: Caitlin Seal

Publication: September 18th 2018, by Charlesbridge Teen

Date Finished: April 14, 2018

Would Recommend To: fantasy readers who love original ideas, sweet romance, and supernatural spies

Rating: 4/5 stars

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 (🤣) because I want to completely understand the world, and I want more description to describe the world beyond Ceramor, 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.

Feel free to comment your thoughts!