This post first published August 31, 2011.
Author: Yvonne Woon
Published: February 2012
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Series: Dead Beautiful #2
408 pages (galley)
Life Eternal is the second book in the Undead paranormal romance series, Dead Beautiful
(the first book goes by the series title), which I received from
NetGalley. It kind of goes without being said that there are going to be
Dead Beautiful spoilers in this review of Life Eternal (no Life Eternal spoilers though). As a recap of what I thought of book one, I thought it was very similar to Twilight in the general plotline, however, it was still a rather interesting read and I liked it. Because of how Dead Beautiful ended, I was extremely curious as to how everything would pan out in the sequel.
Last we left off in the romance between Renee and Dante, Renee had
given up her soul to Dante, who gave it back to Renee. Thus, Renee had
technically died at one point, and now Dante is on the run because
everyone thinks he played a part in the murder of the Gottfried Academy
headmistress. In Life Eternal, Gottfried has shut down because
everyone thinks the school curse has come back, so Renee’s grandfather
ships her off to Montreal, Quebec, to study at a Monitor training
school.
At her new school, Renee finds herself the subject of a rumor —
because she died last year, but “magically” came back to life (she never
told anyone she gave her soul to Dante but he gave it back), everyone
thinks she’s gained some sort of immortality. Somehow, this has enhanced
her abilities as a Monitor and she finds herself ranked top of the
class, which causes some jealous classmates to start bullying her. But
Renee has bigger worries — her boyfriend Dante, is still hiding from
those who think he killed someone, and his time as an Undead is running
out. When Renee hears about the legend of the Nine Sisters, Monitors who
may or may not have discovered the secret to Immortality, Renee decides
to seek the truth to see if she can possibly buy Dante more time.
I found this to be a very solid sequel to Dead Beautiful.
The beginning was a bit disappointing because it was kind of a repeat of
the first book — Renee goes to a new school and has to learn to adapt
all over again, she learns secrets about the Undead and Monitoring like
before, she needs to hide her relationship with Dante — but it was also
different enough that I was interested and want to know what happens.
The beginning was a tad flat because Renee spends a considerable
amount of time being mopey and, of course, pining for Dante. I think it
was when the story begins to unfold in a mystery novel-like manner that
the book really got my attention. Like the first book, it’s not a super
complicated mystery (Renee receives all her clues via “visions”, which
was a bit lame) but I loved finding out more about the Undead world and
the Monitor culture. I admit, sometimes I found the story kind of
bizarre. I mean, we’re talking zombies here. Why even bother trying to
get along with the Undead when most have this instinct to suck your soul
out? Plus, despite the explanation provided which I didn’t really buy, I
think if there were really Undead things walking around, everyone
ought to know for their own safety. That’s just me though. If you
suspend your reality high enough, the book is actually quite enjoyable,
and if anything, Woon has quite the imagination.
I am mostly indifferent to Renee — she’s the narrator to me, nothing
more — but one thing that happened in the book that truly had me
admiring her was when she thought that Dante might be a real danger to
her. Like, maybe he could kill her. I was SO glad that she
didn’t go the desperate/crazy-person route and thought, “Well, it’s
Dante! He can’t possibly hurt me!” Instead, she thought like a rational
person and thought, “Oh god, I need to get away from this guy.” When
you’ve read a LOT of YA with obsessive girls ready to lay
themselves down like doormats for Their Man, it’s extremely refreshing
to have a female lead who has the brains to realize she might actually
be in danger and need to get away from the situation. It wasn’t enough
for Renee just to have Dante say, “I’ll never hurt you.” You know what
she did? She didn’t believe him. (Well, until she could prove he wasn’t
dangerous). Honestly, I was really impressed with that aspect of Renee.
Props to the author for writing a character that knows how to think for
herself.
I am not a fan of the ending though. It was extremely
abrupt. The story was just getting exciting, and then in MID-SCENE, the
story ends. How can you end a book in mid-scene?! That’s not even a
proper cliff-hanger! And it was the most exciting part of the book too …
I mean, I was really getting into it and then it just ends! I’m not
disappointed with the direction it was heading in, just the timing of
the ending. I really don’t think that ending can be considered a proper
ending at all. Mid-scene! Really!
Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait till book three now to find out the other half of that scene.
My Rating: 3.5/5
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