*I received a free copy of this ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Maybe 3.5 stars.

This was an interesting book, and I enjoyed reading from both Ward’s and Celia’s perspectives. They were opposites, but they kind of complemented each other. She killed people, and he brought them back (even if temporarily). She was bold, and he was timid. They were both likable in their own ways.

I found it strange that in the book’s world, surgery was illegal but necromancy was not. In that regard, I suppose Ward wasn’t that timid—he was not prevented from practicing surgery on corpses. It’s just interactions with living people that seemed to intimidate him.

Some aspects of the story confused me a little—like what exactly the Dominus was. I hope subsequent books explain things more.

I admit I was really disappointed when the book ended with 12% left (yes, 12%). It could have used at least one more chapter, just to really cement the ending. I suppose if I had a way to access the sequels, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But my library does not have them, so I’m stuck. Maybe someday I’ll get to continue. There are still plot points here and there that are open.

Note: Some swearing, some innuendos.

Ward de’Ath is a necromancer whose latest job is to bring the daughter of a nobleman back to life for fifteen minutes to be able to say goodbye to her since she had been taken quickly. However when Ward awakens Celia Carlyle she has plans of her own even after death giving Ward a bit more than he expected from this simple job.

Celia when awakening claims that she was murdered and immediately takes off on Ward in a quest to find her killer. All Ward really wanted was to become a surgeon but when he wasn’t able to do so he thought being a necromancer would be simple but now unable to abandoned Celia, Ward finds himself in danger as she takes on the quest to find her killer.

Ward Against Death is the first book in the Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer series by Melanie Card. I have to say that for me this would be one of those reads that sounded a lot better than it turned out being for me. The book started off rather well grabbing my attention but at some point it just seemed to start to drag and get a bit redundant maybe.

One of the things in here that I really didn’t care too much for is when the characters are attracted towards one another. It’s a book about raising the dead and a teenage assassin that had been murdered so I really didn’t find it necessary to toss in the young adult book needs a romance of some sort plot line. As far as the rest of the plot too it just seemed to stall out in the excitement department for me leaving me with rating this one at 2.5 stars.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was not what I was expecting, and I didn't enjoy reading it. I wasn't a fan of the writing. The world building was poor. And I didn't enjoy the characters. Nothing grabbed me while reading this book. Nothing jumped out and really made me feel anything. This was not a pleasant reading experience. All around, just not the book for me.

Ward Against Death (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer Book 1) Kindle Edition
by Melanie Card
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I fell in love with Ward immediately, let me start out that way. He was so wonderfully lost and bumbling and unsure, I couldn't help but love him. It is so unusual to meet a hero in a somewhat romantic fantasy who isn't all Alpha perfect and strong, yet perfectly damaged. But Ward, he truly is unaware of what a good man he is.
Ward is a necromancer, the descendant of many great necromancer, who never really wanted to be one. He wanted to be a physician, a surgeon in fact, in a world where surgery is outlawed. He is called into temporarily raise Celia from the dead. Celia, however, doesn't at first believe she is dead, then tells him she didn't die of a short illness. In fact, she was murdered, and worse, she believes her father may have been the one to kill her. She drags him with her on an adventure he never wanted, to solve a mystery he doesn't quite understand. All the time, he has his own secrets – ranging from crimes that he has committed to people he is also helping.
Rich and funny, Ms. Card's book had me doing something I rarely do – slow down to really get into the book. Normally, I devour a book, slamming it down like a shot. This time, I wanted to savor it. To, in carrying with the food metaphor, nibble at it like the richest of chocolates!
Celia is as unsure of herself as a woman as Ward is unsure of himself as a necromancer. Sure, she is an expert at what she does, but she is so adorably wobbly in the whole girl world!
All the of the side characters are well built an the world is consistent and layered. I was as captivated by the description of the sewers as I was by the cursed bay.
Wonderful writing that sizzles and bubbles at the same time
Melanie Card is a wonderful talent that I can't wait to read more of!
5 out of 5 stars
https://www.amazon.com/Against-Death-Chronicles-Reluctant-Necromancer-ebook/dp/B00LKS1CDK/

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for the opportunity to read and review Ward Against Death by Melanie Card! Ward, a necromancer, and Celia, an assassin meet and against all odds become teammates working together to find out who killed Celia. Ward is a physician who is not allowed by law to practice medicine, so he uses his skills to wake recently deceased people to talk to them for a short time and find answers about their deaths. He was performing a wake on Celia for her family. When she woke, she escaped because she was determined to find her killer. The wake should last only fifteen minutes but Celia stays awake longer! A broad mix of symbolism and magic create a dark sense and the humor lightens the story; 4 stars for an interesting mix of fantasy and supernatural fiction and fun characters!

2.5 “Necromancer & Assassins” Stars

ARC via NetGalley

Thank you, Entangled Teen.

I’m gonna keep this short because I’m guessing this is a serious case of “it isn’t you, it’s me”.

I tried to like this book. I really did, but something simply didn’t work for me, and when I say something, I mean… this weird thing that probably has everything to do with subjectivity.

Look, this is a book with an assassin as the main character. A teen girl assassin. You see where I’m going there, right? This should be enough to make me super interested, and for a little while I was, but then the story simply lost me. Add the fact that the other main character is a sweet guy with the power to bring the dead back and I should’ve devoured this, right? The worse thing is I can’t name a specific thing that happened that made me lose interest. I’m guessing it was more of a case of the story never really hooking me enough from the very start.

I partially blame this on the third person narrative. Sure I read a lot of 3rd POV books, especially since I’m such a huge fan of contemporary romance, but here it simply didn’t work for me. The voices were not strong enough to hook me.

This is where the generic “I didn’t connect with the characters” enter, I have to say. There wasn’t a specific problem with the character or the plot, but I simply didn’t connect with them enough. They didn’t move me, they didn’t make me root for them or ship them. I thought Ward’s infatuation with Celia was sort of cute, but that was about it. There was no obsessing over whether they’d be together or not, which is a bad sign when it comes to a romance plot or subplot where I’m concerned. I’m not even ashamed to admit this. LOL.

If the romance didn’t hook me, then I expected the plot to do that. I wanted to be interested in Ward’s role as a necromancer, or Celia’s assassin history, or even curious about the circumstances of her death and who was responsible for that, but it never happened. The feeling never came to me.

Judging from all the great reviews on Goodreads, this shouldn’t have happened at all, but here we are…

Look, sometimes this weird thing where a book doesn’t speak to you and you can’t figure out why happens, and it did with me and Ward Against Death. I wish it had been different, though, and I hope whoever is reading this next has a much better experience than I did.

The content of this book was too disturbing for me to finish it.

I actually requested this on a whim while I was feeling bored and when I finally got into it surprisingly I found myself enjoying this. I loved the concept of the book especially the necromancers and assassins aspect which is actually the first thing that grabbed my attention. The main characters Celia and Ward are pretty much enjoyable. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book about Necromancy and I’m glad that I gave this a try. It’s a refreshing take on necromancers and honestly, for a debut I think it’s quite impressive and I really want to know how the story goes further.

The story follows Twenty-year-old fledgling necromancer Ward de’Ath who dreams to become a surgeon which is kinda illegal and forbidden in his world. When he is expected to raise a noble woman named celia from the dead for fifteen minutes so that she could say her final goodbye’s to her family and friends, things get out of control when she doesn’t follows his orders and instead begs for him to make her stay alive until she finds her murderers and have her justice. Moved by Celia’s beautiful face and innocence, Ward agrees to help her and together they escape from there. While on the run from Celia’s enemies, Ward observes that Celia’s isn’t as innocent and weak as she seems to be and finally realizes that he’s been played by her innocent act. She drags him around nasty sewers and every dark corner in the town that almost makes him want to leave her on her own but he doesn’t have a heart to desert her. Bound by his own stupid Physician’s oath, Ward doesn’t have any choice but to help her. As their search for the Celia’s murderer gets more dangerous, Ward gets more attracted to Celia and he knows what he feels for her is very much wrong because it’s totally against the rules.

I liked Celia! She is definitely a strong female protagonist because she’s a freaking assassin who kicks butts and will not hesitate to kill. She’s a fearless person who possesses hard edged personality and doesn’t trust anyone easily. Ward is pretty adorable character and I absolutely loved him. He is pretty much different from your usual stereotype hero’s and is quite opposite to Celia’s personality. He’s naive, awkward, innocent, sweet, clumsy, and loyal. Though he’s not as much as strong as Celia, he’s got his own strength that makes him unique in his own way. The relationship between Celia and Ward is pretty much enjoyable. Though they don’t trust each other, they do make a perfect strong team. The romance between them is definitely slow burning. Despite hating Celia, Ward couldn’t help but get infatuated by her and tries hard to resist his attraction knowing it wouldn’t work out between them. They both deny their attraction towards each other until the end of the book so, I’ll definitely look forward to know how their relationship develops further.

The plot is very intriguing and mysterious. I was engaged to the story from the start and it was totally unputdownable. I loved the non-stop action and also the mystery surrounding the Celia’s murder. The pacing was good and the writing was captivating through out. I’m so glad to find that this book was told in dual POV’s because I actually thought it was told in only Ward’s POV and I enjoyed seeing the story from both perspectives. The world the author created is absolutely fantastic. I liked every aspect of this world especially the political intrigue, magic, necromancers, assassins and guilds. I can’t wait to explore more of this world.

Overall, I loved it! Though it wasn’t a total perfection, it was definitely an addictive read that many readers would love to devour. There isn’t any shocking cliffhangers at the end but it didn’t lessened my enthusiasm to read the next book in the series.

I really wanted to like this book but it just goes around and around and nothing ever really gets done. The "couple" are easily boring and at times truly unlikable (mainly our horribly jaded heroine).

I stuck with it until the 40% mark and decided I had many more books I would rather be reading, this is a good example of a great premise being beaten to death by an author. It could have been a great book with a bit more action and some better characters.

Did not finish.

This book just isn't for me. I can't get into it.