Something Deadly This Way Comes by Kim Harrison

Note: This review contains no spoilers of Something Deadly This Way Comes, but does contain spoilers of the previous two books in the series. The first book is Once Dead, Twice Shy a review of which  can be found here and the second is Early to Death, Early to Rise a review of which can be found here.

Something Deadly This Way Comes is the third and final book featuring the dead teenage heroine Madison Avery by Kim Harrison. After enjoying, although not being blown away, by the first two novels in the series- which began with Once Dead, Twice Shy and was followed up with Early to Death, Early to Rise- both of which I listened to on audiobook, I was definitely intrigued to see what Madison's final adventure would be like. Would she finally regain her body? Would things work out with her and Josh? What about Heaven's Plan? Although the subsequent books work well on their own, Harrison still provides plenty of questions to be answered in Something Deadly This Way Comes.

Like the first two books, Something Deadly This Way Comes takes place in a very short time period with the plot revolving around one major quest. In this case, Madison has a vision of a teenage girl who loses her will to live once her brother dies in a fire. So Madison takes the two reapers willing to give her controversial views a chance, Nakita and Barnabas, with her to try to change Tammy's path so that her soul and life are both safe from Dark and Light Reapers. At the same time, Madison hasn't forgotten about the fact that she's, well, dead, and she'd love to have her body back so she can have a normal relationship with her boyfriend Josh, as well as a normal life in general. But things aren't as simple as Madison wants to believe, and could it be that her role as Dark Timekeeper is her true fate? Either way, Madison has some big choices to face in this final installment of the Madison Avery Trilogy.

A major thing I noticed almost immediately upon beginning Something Deadly This Way Comes is that a lot of the squeaky clean language that got on my nerves in the first two books, Madison swearing by saying things like "puppy treats on the rug!" is a lot less annoying on paper than it is listening to a perky narrator read it out repeatedly. Either that or I kinda just skimmed over the unnecessary slang with the printed novel. I also feel like you finally really get a chance to know Madison's two heavenly sidekicks in this novel. Nakita and Barnabas both have very interesting back stories and I was glad Harrison gave us a glimpse of them, they are both strong characters who could definitely stand on their own. Nakita is fun and spunky with an emotional side, and Barnabas has a little bit of a fatherly flavour, while remaining conflicted over where his alliance really lies.

Although there isn't a lot of development with regards to Madison herself, I did appreciate that in Something Deadly This Way Comes Harrison had finally gotten all the explanations about how the Dark/Light Timekeepers work out of the way and could just focus on the story. Like the previous two books, this is a short, easy read, but I found myself far more involved in the story than I had been earlier in the series. That said, while I won't be reading the Madison Avery Trilogy again in the future, Something Deadly This Way Comes was definitely my favourite book in the series and does a good job wrapping everything up as well as having a storyline that I thought was the best of the books. Though it was not exactly right for me, I would definitely recommend these books to parents trying to find some clean paranormal with a touch of romance and a dash of adventure for their young girls.

Release Date: May 24th 2011
Pages: 256
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Source: ARC From Publisher

Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison

Note: This review contains no spoilers of Early to Death, Early to Rise, but does contain spoilers of the previous book in the series, Once Dead, Twice Shy which I recommend you begin the series with. A review of Once Dead, Twice Shy can be found here.

Madison Avery is seventeen years old and dead, after the Dark Timekeeper killed her on her Prom Night to keep her from taking his place. When Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison, the sequel to Once Dead, Twice Shy, picks up, Madison has accepted the job of Dark Timekeeper, even though she doesn't believe in fate which is what the dark side is responsible for, as opposed to the light side which upholds human choice. Initially, Madison agreed to do the job so she could maintain the illusion of a human body, just until she could find her real body and regain her human life.  Like the first book, this one takes place almost entirely over twenty four hours, during which Madison goes on an adventure to help prove that it is possible to stop a person from doing evil, by letting them know what the consequences of their actions will be, and therefore eliminating the need to kill them prematurely in order to save their soul- something that dark reapers have been doing for millennia.  

On her journey to save a soul without taking a life, Madison has some help in the form of Dark Reaper Nakita and Light Reaper gone rogue Barnabas. In order to complete her mission, Madison won't only have to figure out who exactly the mark (or intended target of the reap) is, but also prevent Ron, the Light Timekeeper from putting a guardian angel on the mark before she saves his soul. All of this, and she's somehow supposed to keep up a normal teenage life too? It's a good thing Madison doesn't need to sleep anymore. 

Even though I had a lot of issues with the Madison Avery series, I decided to give it another try when I discovered Early to Death, Early to Rise was also available on audiobook as it is just the kind of light read I enjoy listening to when I am also doing something else. Although I honestly don't think the novel would have kept my attention if it had been my sole focus, I did enjoy Mandy Siegfried as the returning narrator who has a cheerful and youthful voice. The book itself has similar issues to Once Dead, Twice Shy, notably the annoying fake swearing and repeated reference to Madison's purple tipped hair, but I found myself better able to enjoy it because I was already introduced to the complex world and had to spend less time figuring out who was who and what exactly was going on. I also thought the storyline in this novel was a bit better and the plot itself had a better pace than the first one, although I could predict the plot "twist" as soon as the characters were introduced.

The novel is an extremely clean read when it comes to swearing, violence and sex, with the most scandalous parts including a chaste kiss and Madison being embarrassed when her shirt is ripped, so I think it is a book I'd be more likely to recommend to a younger audience interested in the paranormal genre. Overall, Early to Death, Early to Rise is a cute but not entirely memorable little book with an enjoyable narrator and a premise best suited to a young teen audience.

Release Date: May 11th, 2010
Pages: 240 (5 h 55 min)
Overall: 2.5/5
Source: Audio book
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Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

"My name is Madison Avery, and I'm here to tell you that there's more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I'm there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it."

Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison is the first full length novel in the Madison Avery series. I had previously been introduced to Madison when I read a short story "Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper" by Kim Harrison in the Prom Nights From Hell collection which turned out to be the prequel to Once Dead, Twice Shy. At the time I wrote that the story had "more potential which instead of fulfilling she saved for her actual novels" so when I had the opportunity to listen to the first novel on audio book and find out if that was the case, it seemed like the perfect way to spend my walk to work.

When Once Dead, Twice Shy begins, Madison is adjusting to life as a dead girl after being prematurely killed on her prom night by a Dark Reaper. The only thing keep Madison from vanishing is the amulet she stole from her killer. The Light Reaper Barnabas is trying to teach her how to use her amulet to communicate with him through thoughts, but despite all the nights they've spent practicing- Madison doesn't need to sleep now that she's dead- it's just not happening. When Madison has a run in with a Dark Reaper, she learns the reason she can't get her amulet to work is that the guy she stole it from wasn't a Dark Reaper at all but a Dark Time Keeper. While Barnabas and the Light Time Keeper go off to petition to allow Madison to keep the amulet anyway, she's assigned a guardian angel who speaks mostly in limericks. Madison and the guardian angel who she names Grace, are also trying to protect Josh, the guy Madison ditched at the prom the night she was killed. From that point forward the book is mostly an effort in keeping Josh alive and Madison from having her soul taken, and it takes place over only a couple days.  

Although I didn't originally think it was necessary, once I got into Once Dead, Twice Shy I was extremely grateful I'd read the short story first, as the world Harrison has created is extremely complicated with guardian angels and reapers and time keepers, and it's hard to keep track of at first. That said my biggest issues with the novel weren't with the paranormal world Harrison has invented but rather with the human one. Madison is supposed to be a rebel girl, because, as Harrison points out every few sentences, she has purple tips in her hair and wears skull and crossbones on her clothing. These repeated descriptions seem as if they are attempted to make Madison seem cool and hardcore, but instead it comes across as dated as Define Normal by Julie Anne Peters did but at least that book had the excuse of having been published a decade ago, Once Dead, Twice Shy is from 2009! 

It's not just the clothing that comes across as dated though, I appreciate the attempt to write a "clean" book but Madison repeatedly uses made up swears like "son of a dead puppy" which sound even more ridiculous when listening to them on audio book. It's just unbelievable that any teen, especially one so rebellious she was sent to live with her father by her mom for being out of control, would speak the way Harrison writes. That said, I actually did enjoy the audio book reader Mandy Siegfried with the exception of when she did this rasping voice for the female Dark Reaper, Nakita, which was a bit strange. I found Siegfried enjoyable to listen to, and young enough sounding that it she worked well as a teenage narrator.

I was actually really excited going into Once Dead, Twice Shy despite my normal aversion to paranormal. Not only does the book feature a heroine with a backbone, but it's also not all focused on gushy romance both of which are aspects I found really refreshing. Unfortunately, Harrison inability to create believable teenage characters as well as the overcomplicated paranormal world results in Once Dead, Twice Shy being a book I will definitely not be picking up twice.

Release Date: July 1st, 2009
Pages: 256 (6 h 3 min)
Overall: 2/5
Source: Audio book
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