I was excited about this book and I really tried to get into it.
The premise was great. It was just the execution which turned me off a little bit. The pacing was too slow for my liking but I still enjoyed the story.
I will certainly be giving the second book a try since there is a lot more story to tell. Plus I want to know what happened to Corwen.
The world building was also great as was the the character building. It was just a little too wordy without much being said.

Seal, Caitlin Twice Dead, 336 pages. Charlesbridge, SEPTEMBER 2018. $18. Language: PG (10 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (death, battle)

Naya has been trying to find a place for herself at her father’s side, helping him with his contacts at the various ports he visits in his sailing adventures. She is running an important errand for him at their latest port, when she is struck down and killed. When she regains consciousness, she has become a wraith – a spirit given form through necromancy. Necromancy is anathema in Naya’s own country, but her it is common place. As she tries to come to terms with her new existence, her father’s contact has a spying job for her. Everything is a confusing, but she has a huge learning curve and if she doesn’t figure this out, her option will permanent death.

As much as I enjoyed following Naya’s story, I caught myself about 2/3rds of the way through wondering – what’s the point? The book is mostly character development – well-written character development – without a plot to hang it on. Well, there is some plot, but it is served up in little bits, which makes it feel unimportant. I am thinking there will a second book – hopefully it will be a better balance of plot and character.

MS, HS – OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library Teacher

I enjoyed reading this book. It may not be my favorite to-be-released-book, but it definitely will capture the readers imagination. The plot was very unique, the idea of necromancers and the the idea of second life for those who died and resurrecting them as a wraith or a reaper is very interesting. But in teems of the flow of the story, I could say that everything is a little bit predictable, and I bet you would have guess who killed her even at the first few chapter. The idea and description on how the “resurrecting” part is a little bit confusing. And even after I finished the book, it is still a little bit confusing for me to understand the terms and steps how the resurrection was being done. The Characters are also okay.

Overall, the book is good. I will have it recommended to my friends. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

I think this story was interesting and unique, and people who like to read YA. Will definitely like this one.

I loved this book. I will admit that the MC could be a bit annoying in her bias towards wraith but then I just had to remind myself that she never knew any better. When she started to learn the truth and change for the better I really found myself loving it more and more. I'm ready for the next.

Loved the first 20% or so, but couldn't keep reading. Though I realized going into a book dealing with wraiths and necromancers that death would be a recurring topic, I did not know that one of the characters is a knowledgeable lady named Lucia. My mother, Lucia, passed away a few years ago and I just couldn't read her name on the same page as death so many times. Sorry.

I received this book pre-release from Netgalley.

This book was somehow both exactly what I thought it would be, and yet, not. The story is about a girl called Naya who dies and is resurrected whilst completing an errand for her father. Naya is enlisted by an influential politician working with her father to spy on the citizens of Ceramor for Talmir (her home country).

Talmir doesn’t like Celamor because they practice necromancy and they had a mad king who tried to raise an undead army. Naya agrees to spy on them but quickly finds the tables turning against her as those she thought she could trust are not as sincere as she believed.

Overall, I found that there were a lot of predictable elements within this book. For example, as soon as Corten was introduced I knew he would be the love interest and as soon as he was described as throwing a weak punch during the battle, I knew what his fate was going to be.

However, I did think the story was a very original concept and put an interesting spin on necromancy that I hadn’t read before. I think Seal successfully created her own little world and believable characters, and I definitely squealed inwardly during Corten and Naya’s first kiss!

The writing wasn’t overly complicated and I’d say this book is probably suitable for about 13+, though it does have some mature themes at times. I did feel the writing was a little clunky, but this wasn’t frequent enough to make the book much less enjoyable.

I didn’t particularly like the ending, though I can see that it has been left in such a way that the writer can continue the series; and I did like the final line. I just wish it were less predictable because I instantly now know what the next book will be about - which is fine, but a little mystery and intrigue really works up readers.

I don’t know if I’d read the sequel as I’m pretty sure I could tell you what will probably happen, but who knows, I didn’t expect Lucia and Naya’s plan at the end so I could be pleasantly surprised.

This was such a unique read. I couldn't put it down at all.

I unfortunately cannot get in to this book, mainly the fact that I'm not a fan of the main character, but I do like the premise and the ideology behind the story, Truly unfortunate as I was looking forward to this book,

**2.5 but rounding up**

This is probably one of the more unique books I’ve read recently in terms of world building and the concept of necromancers using this particular ideology, but other than that this book is pretty predictable making it somewhat fall flat as it works it’s way through the plot.

“Twice Dead” tells the story of Naya a young girl who is sent on a mission by her father in a city where the dead walk among the living and if that wasn’t bad enough her simple task goes awry when she is murdered in the street by an unknown assailant and resurrected as a wraith and forced to play the part of a spy in order to help her people but things aren’t always what they seem and soon she must make a decision that could cost her her life and this time for good.

The entire necromancer and resurrection idea was pretty interesting but once they get down the mechanics of how the process works things start to get a little fuzzy and once I thought I understood the process something would happen and I would have to start all over in order to keep up with the action.

Sadly there wasn’t any real connection to any of the characters and I honestly couldn’t tell you why other than the plot having the bare bone structure of something we’ve all read a dozen times with more likable or at least memorable characters moving things forward and in this case not one of them in this book even came close to holding their own amongst them.

This book is just kind of alright in that it’s neither good or bad and could work as a filler if you’re between novels and want to give it a try.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**