Review ~ Silence by Michelle Sagara

TITLE: Silence (The Queen of the Dead #1)

AUTHOR: Michelle Sagara
COPYRIGHT: 2012
TYPE: young adult
PAGES: 289
SERIES:  Yes

1. Silence

2. Touch

3. Grave

REASON FOR READ:

It has been sitting on my TBR pile since 2012 and I thought it might be time to dust it off.

SUMMARY (from Goodreads):

It began in the graveyard…  

Ever since her boyfriend Nathan had died in a tragic accident, Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night.  During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was.  For Emma, life had stopped with Nathan’s death.  But tonight was different.  Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery.  There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags.  And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death….

Emma was not quite like others teenagers. It was true that other girls had experienced grief.  Other girls had also lost their fathers, or had their boyfriends die in a senseless accident. But though she hadn’t known it till that night in the graveyard, unlike those other girls, she could see, touch, and speak with the dead.  In fact, Emma could draw upon the essence of the dead to work magic.  That was what Necromancers did. But Emma had no desire to be a Necromancer. She just wanted to help the ghosts who walked the streets of Toronto, unable to escape from the land of the living.  And that was just as well, because had she chosen the path of the Necromancer, Eric would have had to kill her.

Instead, Eric and his fellow Necromancer hunter Chase found themselves violating every rule they were sworn to follow, becoming part of Emma’s group, helping her to stand against those who preyed upon the dead.  But whether Emma and her friends could survive such a battle was anyone’s guess.  And whether Emma could learn to use the magic of the dead against her enemies without herself falling victim to the lure of such power remained to be seen.  Eric seemed to think she could, and her living friends would never abandon her.  But only time would tell what Emma’s true destiny was….

THOUGHTS/OPINION:

I have to admit that this book took me for a surprise. I really found that I enjoyed it and really enjoyed the accurate portrayal of an autistic kid in a story. Emma was an interesting character that was almost too Mary Sue ish for me there were times when I wanted to shake her and other times I totally got what she was doing and thinking. My favorite was Chase and Eric and I loved their interactions. This book had a great storyline and premise with just enough mystery to keep it moving forward. I found myself wanting to read it just to see where it was actually going. I did not know when I started that it was a series so it was a little alarming as I was getting to the end wondering just how in the world all my questions were going to be answered and yet when I got the end I felt like I still had questions but also had a satisfied ending.

THINGS I LIKED

I enjoyed Emma and her growth throughout the story

I enjoyed Chase and Eric’s relationship and really liked their banter back and forth

I liked Eric I thought he was very clever

I also enjoyed the friendships throughout the entire book and how they interacted with each other and strangers.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE

I thought at time Emma was too Mary Sueish for my taste she could do nothing wrong, she never thought of anything wrong, she was fine, she was pretty (not too pretty) but she was besties with the prettiest girl in school etc…

There got to be too many characters and at times I couldn’t remember who was what ghost and picked them up where and why and crap now I can’t remember what I was talking about

FINAL GRADE: 4 out of 5 stars

Would you recommend this story? Yes

Is this a part of a reading challenge? New Author Challenge