Beautiful Dead

Beautiful Dead, Book 1 - Jonas
by Eden Maguire

Something strange is happening in Ellerton High. Phoenix is the fourth teenager to die within a year. His street fight stabbing follows the deaths of Jonas, Summer and Arizona in equally strange and sudden circumstances. Rumours of ghosts and strange happenings rip through the small community as it comes to terms with shock and loss. Darina, Phoenix's grief-stricken girlfriend, is on the verge. She can't escape her intense heartache, or the impossible apparitions of those that are meant to be dead. And all the while the sound of beating wings echo inside her head ! And then one day Phoenix appears to Darina. Ecstatic to be reunited, he tells her about the Beautiful Dead. Souls in limbo, they have been chosen to return to the world to set right a wrong linked to their deaths and bring about justice. Beautiful, superhuman and powerful, they are marked by a 'death mark' -- a small tattoo of angel's wings.Phoenix tells her that the sound of invisible wings beating are the millions of souls in limbo, desperate to return to earth. Darina's mission is clear: she must help Jonas, Summer,Arizona, and impossibly, her beloved Phoenix, right the wrong linked to their deaths to set them free from limbo so that they can finally rest in peace. Will love conquer death? And if it does, can Darina set it free?

I have to be very honest about this book. I didn't like it. The beginning confused the snot out of me. In the opening scene, Darina is in the middle of nowhere looking at an old decrepit house. No clue why she's there, but her boyfriend Pheonix just died two days ago and low and behold he is there, with 3 other dead kids and a guy described as "An older guy, with grey hair". And to be honest, the descriptions of characters does not progress - at all. One of the girls is described as "fair-haired" and that's it. Her boyfriend Pheonix is just beautiful and again.. we know his eye color and hair color. They are the 'Beautiful Dead'. You get a bit of information about what that means - they've come back from the in-between and have a year to figure out why they died.

And so, Darina doesn't get her memory zapped and becomes the little human helper of the group. The other thing that sort of bugged me was the fact that it was from Darina's point of view, but her mother was always called Laura outside of dialogue - which confused me - I thought she was a stepmother or adopted mother of some sort.

Oh, and that older guy with grey hair - he's the 'overlord' - but no one really understands the meaning and you get the feeling they should be afraid of him - because he's so powerful and controls the group - but he's really just some old guy with grey hair. Ooooo scary.

The plot would have been great if it had characters that you could physically see and relate to. I liked some of the ideas in the novel - such as a forcefield of angel wings that beat you back physically - but humans can only hear the flapping of wings. The idea of helping save souls of those murdered unjustly.. It had some serious potential.

I'm putting the downfall of this book to the lack of good writing, characterization and descriptions. But please, let me know if you've read this and LOVED it and why. I need to know. The plot just did not save the book for me.

2/5 Roses