Monday, December 3, 2012

Book Review: HOLD ME CLOSER, NECROMANCER by Lish Mcbride

Title: “Hold me Closer, Necromancer
Author: Lish Mcbride
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co – 2010
Genre: young adult fantasy

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Sam’s life is pretty normal. That is until he discovers he’s a necromancer and attracts the attention of Douglas, a necromancer who does inhumane experiments on humans and supernatural creatures. Douglas wants to join forces with Sam. Sam’s not interested, but Douglas isn’t giving him much of a choice. With only a week to save himself, Sam enlists the help of Seattle’s supernatural community.

Even though this book is about necromancers, it isn’t swimming with graphic death scenes. Quite the contrary, the humor is laugh-out-loud funny. Just when I started to get terrified, something funny would happen to diffuse the tension, and I was back to laughing. The point of view in this story shifts back and forth between the first-person Sam and a few third-person characters. In some cases, this kind of switch can be jarring, but it was handled well here. The secondary points of view really brought this novel into the realm of young adult literature. Sam is a bit squeamish. So, showing some of the more gruesome scenes from his perspective may not have worked well for the story. That said, it was really nice to see a protagonist who openly admitted to not being brave. There are so many kick-ass, not-afraid-of-anything heroes in this genre. Reading about one who was both scared and squeamish was truly refreshing.

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