Necromancer & Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

*Book source ~ Picked up for free on Amazon

Title ~ Necromancer

Series ~ Necromancer, #0.5

Author ~ Lish McBride

Publisher ~ Henry Holt and Co.

Published ~ 1 February 2011

Genre ~ YA/Fantasy/Paranormal

Pages ~ 33

My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5

Matt’s best friend Ashley died of cancer when she was 10. That doesn’t stop her from coming around to visit with him though.

I picked this up after reading Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. I went looking to see if there were more stories in the series and couldn’t believe my luck when I saw this short for free on Amazon. Score!

Ashley is a Harbinger. Matt calls her Death though that’s not what she is. She doesn’t kill people, she’s just a guide for those who are newly dead. Sort of like an usher showing you to your seat in a stadium. She can make herself look however she wants, but she prefers the form of her 10-yr-old self. She says it makes her less threatening to the newly dead who are confused though that can backfire when they have a hard time believing a little girl. She’s smart, funny, loving and occasionally snarky. I loved her. She’s a great character! I’m glad she got her own short story in this one and I look forward to seeing more of her in the series.

*Book source ~ Local library

Title ~ Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Series ~ Necromancer, #1

Author ~ Lish McBride

Publisher ~ Henry Holt and Co.

Published ~ 12 October 2010

Genre ~ NA/Fantasy/Paranormal

Pages ~ 343

My Rating ~ 5 bites out of 5

Samhain ‘Sam’ Corvus LaCroix is a college drop out working in a fast food place with his best friend Ramon when a potato turns his life upside down. Yep, a potato. A spud, a tater, a po-tay-to. If it hadn’t been for that sneaky tuber then Sam may have continued his clueless drifting for a very long time. Instead, he meets Douglas Montgomery, crazy sociopath and mega powerful necromancer. Turns out, Sam is also a necromancer and Douglas does not like to share his territory with any other necromancer even one as weak in power as Sam, so he gives Sam a week to leave town, become his apprentice or die. Not good options there and the messenger he sent to Sam’s apartment? That is messed up. Sam’s running out of time while he tries to figure out what is going on, dodge the cops and stay alive.

I went into this book without a lot of expectations. I saw a lot of book blogging friends had read it and the blurb sounded interesting, but it still took awhile to get on my radar and then longer for me to actually read it. However, once I started it I couldn’t put it down. I like books about people who have no idea they are something else entirely. And Sam’s situation is one I haven’t seen before in all the books I’ve read. The world, the characters, the villains and the plot are all riveting. I did wonder why Douglas wanted to train Sam at all. With his massive ego and paranoia about having anyone in his territory with any kind of power I didn’t see the point though it made for a good plot device. The end has me wondering though. Did Douglas pull a Voldemort? Hmmmm…