This is the first in a series of four Beautiful Dead books by UK author Eden Maguire. Each book will focus on one of the Beautiful Dead (Jonas, Phoenix, Arizona and Summer), whose mystery will be solved with the help of Darina, Phoenix’s girlfriend.
I liked this book. It had one element, which while it seems really small, made an impact on me. Each of the dead classmates was given wing tattoos in the spot that killed them. This was unique as I haven’t seen that in other books. Each time it’s mentioned it draws you closer to the characters as you are reminded each time just how horribly they died. Each character is there to bring justice to their very specific death, and it’s nice the author treats each of them as individuals.
I really like the plot for this series. The Beautiful Dead are brought back from limbo to solve their murders and gain some closure, and are neither living nor dead. This has the potentional of becoming a “Night of the Living Dead” type, but it really is written quite nice and with a purpose.
The one thing I do wish there was more involvement with was Darina. I wanted to study her a little more without her being attached to Phoenix. Although I must admit, without Phoenix there is really no point in her character.
The book cover is out of this world (ha! get it). It’s beautiful and relevant. Whomever designed the cover deserves praise.
Overall I would recommend this book to any YA reader. It was fun, sad, exciting, passionate. Plus it grabs you just right that you want to get your hands on the next installment as quickly as possible.
Product Description
Something strange is happening in Ellerton High. Phoenix is the fourth teenager to die within a year. His street fight stabbing follows the deaths of Jonas, Summer and Arizona in equally strange and sudden circumstances. Rumours of ghosts and strange happenings rip through the small community as it comes to terms with shock and loss. Darina, Phoenix’s grief-stricken girlfriend, is on the verge. She can’t escape her intense heartache, or the impossible apparitions of those that are meant to be dead. And all the while the sound of beating wings echo inside her head…And then one day Phoenix appears to Darina. Ecstatic to be reunited, he tells her about the Beautiful Dead. Souls in limbo, they have been chosen to return to the world to set right a wrong linked to their deaths and bring about justice. Beautiful, superhuman and powerful, they are marked by a ‘death mark’ — a small tattoo of angel’s wings. Phoenix tells her that the sound of invisible wings beating are the millions of souls in limbo, desperate to return to earth. Darina’s mission is clear: she must help Jonas, Summer, Arizona, and impossibly, her beloved Phoenix, right the wrong linked to their deaths to set them free from limbo so that they can finally rest in peace. Will love conquer death? And if it does, can Darina set it free?
