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Monday, November 30, 2009

Beautiful Dead


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

53 comments:

  1. I LOVE your reviews and this one, well it had me nearly falling off the chair laughing - I love how honest you are...and LOL FUNNY!!!

    Thank you for saving me from this, um well, not all that great book! I knew it could not be good at all when you said on Twitter that you had to go force yourself to finish it!

    Your better than me, I would have stoped WAY before then!

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  2. Umm the synopsis confused me. WTH? Great review! You know my co-worker told me sarcasm was a desperate persons way of hiding anger...or some such BS. I swallowed my coke zero wrong and it went up my nose. I think she was insulted when I choked and laughed at her at the same time. I love sarcasm. XOXO - Parajunkee

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  3. Well said review! I found these the other day and they sounded good, but now I'm thinking this is a book I need to get at the library, or just not at all. Thanks for the honest review!

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  4. Appreciated your honesty! Too bad it wasn't any good, as the idea has such potential.

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  5. Great, honest review. I've been wanting to read this, but now may place it towards the bottom of my TBR pile.

    Plus! Phoenix is my character's name, dagnabbit! But she's a girl and way cooler sounding. I'll make sure you can see what she looks like, too. =)

    d

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  6. I was confused with the synopsis. I like being able to picture the characters in my head and be able to relate to them somehow. Oh well, plenty of other great books to read.

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  7. lol! I'm with Book Crazy Jenn. This review totally had me laughing. So sad you didn't like it. It's so hard when you feel like you don't get to know the characters or understand their roles.

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  8. thank you for a good honest review! this will not got on my wl.

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  9. The synopsis sounds so good that I was bummed to see your review. The premise seems so original and does hold so much potential, but it sucks that it fell short.

    Thanks for an honest review. I may still consider reading it, but I might put it off for a while.

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  10. Too bad that the writing wasn't up to standard - because I think the book's cover is absolutely gorgeous. It's like wanting the movie poster but not the actual viewing experience, you know? Eye candy!

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  11. I'll still give this one a try, but I don't really think I'll be pushing it to the top of my stack. I really like the covers for these books though... they definitely caught my eye!

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  12. So glad I read your review! The book does sound good but I'm glad you pointed out what bugged you, it would have bugged me too.

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  13. Aww! I'm sorry you didn't like it! I haven't read any of the series, so I don't know what it's like...who knows? I might like it... =) Great review =)It was very honest =)

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  14. Thank-you for the review, you have confirmed my decision to not add this book to my TBR list :).

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  15. Nice honest review, eh I still wanna read it though, damn those pretty covers that suck me in!

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  16. I had never heard of this book before I saw your tweets about it, so I think I'm going to pass.

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  17. This is the second time I hear of this book, and from reviews I read on amazon you weren't the only one to be disapointed with this one. I read the followings books gets better though =)

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  18. Well i was looking foward to reading this book but now i'm not so sure if i want to waste my time but lover your honest review!!!

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  19. It sounds really good but I'll probably avoid it now that I've read your review. BTW, I love your negative reviews. :D

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  20. Sounds like a cool idea gone horribly wrong.

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  21. Thanks for the honesty:] I'm sorry you didnt like this one though.

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  22. looks interesting, too bad you didn't like it. Still might have to check it out

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  23. I found out about this series the other day and had added it to my list to read. I guess now I will have to rethink. I've read confusing books before, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

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  24. I've never heard of this book before.Might have to check it out,we'll see:)

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  25. Thank you for the thoughtful review.
    All the best,
    RKCharron
    xoxo

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  26. Thanks for the honest review!
    This sounds crazy confusing, but the characters have unique names!

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  27. Thanks for the great review. Sounds like something I would read but not search out right away. Interesting story at least.

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  28. Thanks for the honest review. I'm curious about this one. Maybe a library find for me. I'll let you know if I read it.

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  29. Nice honest review but seeing the great cover on this book still makes me want to pick it up.

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  30. What a shame it was not so good. Love that cover though.

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  31. Thanks for the honest review!! I am very curious as to what my take would be on it.

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  32. Thanks for the honest review. :( Sounded interesting.

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  33. Great review!

    cindyc725 at gmail dot com

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  34. I'm glad you were honest. I was looking forward to reading this, but not so much now. I do like the cover though.

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  35. I've been wanting to read this one! But thanks for the honest review. :)

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  36. Honest reviews - I LOVE them!! thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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  37. I hadn't actually heard of this one, and I'm not too sad about that now. Thanks for the review. :)

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  38. Honestly? I LOVE honest, down to Earth reviews. Even if you hate a book you can still give beautiful insight about the book.

    Even though you didn't like it much it sounds like a read I might enjoy! :)

    Thanks for the chance to win a copy!

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  39. Thanks for the honest and forthright review. Even so, I still may read it and give it a chance....not sure the point, but heck it would give me something to do...although, I may just borrow it instead of buying. Thanks. bekki1820cb at gmail

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  40. I had soda in my mouth when I began reading your review. Bad Bad thing that was. lmao Spewed all over my screen. ewww

    I love your reviews Kristen!

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  41. hmm it's too bad you didn't like it. I hate when the opening scenes are really confusing, it makes it a lot harder for me to get into the book.

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  42. Sounds like it'd confuse the snot outta me to after reading your review. LMAO! I really appreciate the honesty. I may or may not give this one a try. I'll just have to see.

    ~Briana

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  43. It sucks that you didn't like this. It seemed like such and interesting book. I'll have to try it out, but maybe not look forward to it so much. Too bad.

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  44. Great Review! At this rate Angels just might beat Vampires in popularity.

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  45. Interesting....I'm glad ur honest on how u did or didnt like a book. Thanks for the heads up. Like the others commenting above,I might still look for it at the library just to give it a fair shake. And I'll let u know how I liked or didnt, this book.

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  46. It sounded good but based on your very funny review, I think I'll pass.

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  47. This sounds like it had potential so I'm sad to hear that the execution is lacking. Maybe I'll pick it up at the library someday.

    whatinabox (at) gmail (dot) com

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  48. I love honest reviews...helps whittle down my endlessly long list of books to read. Thanks!

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  49. You definitely have honest reviews.
    They are very much appreciated.

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  50. I agree~You give the best Honest reviews! :-)

    I am so glad I found your blog!

    deb55106(at)gmail(dot)com

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  51. I seriously love how honest you are. I know that's what everyone is saying but you just don't see that very often in reviews. I'm not sure why.

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  52. Thank you for an honest review, now if I win the book will be trying to read it and hope can do so all the way through..
    Maybe will get a chance to find out, if not will not buy it that is for sure...


    Jackie B Central Texas

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