Review : Until I Die by Amy Plum
Until I Die by Amy Plum
Pages : 353
Genre : YA, Paranormal, Zombies (kinda)
Series : Revenants, Book 2
My Rating : 3,5/5
What it’s about :
Complications are bound to arise when you’re a young woman dating a revenant, and sometimes, these complications can take a turn for the worst. When old enemies of the revenants start threatening Kate and her friends’ lives, even the beautiful museums of Paris and the start of a new school year are not enough to distract her.
Kate and Vincent are determined to protect each other. To do so, they’ll have to explore old manuscripts and keep secrets from each other – all the while, in the streets’ shadows, the danger grows…
My Thoughts :
I remember being pleasantly surprised by my reading of Die for Me. In a sea of supernatural YA novels, this one had a little something that made it stand out. It might have been that I love Paris so much, I was automatically seduced; it might also be that I loved the originality of the revenants and the characters of Kate and her sister. Anyway, I really liked it, and I was looking forward to reading this sequel.
Was it as good as I hoped it would be? Not really. The story is slow to get a start and for a long while, nothing really happens. There are bits of new information, new characters, attempts to investigate, but all of this doesn’t come together before the last third of the book. Even the romance (which never was my favorite part of the novel, but was still cute) didn’t do much for the book.
Another disappointment; the predictability. I’ll repeat myself, but sometimes predictability is a good thing; a happy ending romance, a kingdom saved, the princess being rescued are things that you can expect and happily predict. But the road to this happy ending does not have to be predictable, and that was a bit of the problem here. It lacked a touch of subtlely. That’s not to say the story isn’t interesting; there are very intriguing elements that are revealed, and the world or numa and revenants seems even more supernatural by the end of the book. I loved learning about them, I just wish the twists would have been more… twisty.
I feel this has been more of a negative review so far, which is a bit unfair for what I would say is a 3,5 novel; so let’s talk a little more about the positive aspects of it! First, I really like how the author writes Kate’s narration. She is a little witty, but not in an exaggerated manner. It’s easy to relate to her. I also felt like though her grief for her parents is still present, she is dealing with it better and better. And I can’t deny it : I will never tire of the series’ landscape. I felt there were a few more well known landmarks in this book, but it made it easy to imagine the setting and the scenes.
The ending was great, too. Sadly, I can’t say much more than that without spoiling anything. It will certainly make you want to read the next book right away! If I Should Die, third in the series, will be available next year; meanwhile, the cover has just been revealed this week, so there’s at least that to make us salivate a little while we wait!
Reading Order :
- Die for Me
- Until I Die
- If I Should Die (coming 2013)
Since it’s supernatural and predictable, it’s probably not for me.
I don’t care for predictable reads but the cover’s lovely.