Olivie Blake is the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, Alone with You in the Ether, and One for My Enemy. As Alexene Farol Follmuth, she is also the author of the young adult rom-com My Mechanical Romance. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, goblin prince/toddler, and rescue pit bull. You can find her online at olivieblake.com.
Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently Is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on. Fox D'Mora is a medium, and though he is also most definitely a shameless fraud, he isn't entirely without his uses—seeing as he's actually the godson of Death. When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with the ghost-infested mansion, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few mindfulness-practicing creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover that the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn't nearly as distinct as they thought.
I was excited to read this one because two of my friends rated it so highly! I could definitely see what they meant about how the story is woven around you, and I did enjoy the nonlinear nature of the narrative. The large cast of characters was a huge plus, as were the complicated (yet a little underdeveloped for my taste) dynamics/relationships between them. The voice of the novel was strong—especially in the earlier chapters, I very much felt like each word was deliberate, and helped craft an energy to this book that is not found in a lot of other media. I think if you don't get too caught up in the details the way that I did (and I'll go into detail here next), you might really have a lot of fun with this book—it's clear to me that so many people have!
At the end of the day, I believe my lower rating for this book stems from my lack of understanding about the immortal game. It is frustrating as a reader to not understand this thing that the entire plot hinges on, even if I'm, as a mortal, not supposed to understand (which is something Death mentions in his endnotes). While the coyness at the beginning was fine, and gave the sense that the author understood the story and that we should trust that they would reveal all, all was not, in fact, revealed. As a reader, I need to understand what is happening, even if it's complicated—probably especially then. If it's the case that I'm not supposed to understand, then I feel that there needs to be a character on the page just as confused as I am, whose knowledge base should reflect my own, so that I can follow their thread of understanding to lead me through. As it is, I felt incredibly lost, and condescended to because of my inability to follow. I couldn't enjoy the fun power plays, I couldn't enjoy the stakes, I couldn't enjoy the battles of the tournament because I had no idea what the stakes were, I had no idea who had power or why, I had no idea what the point of the tournament even was or why it was happening. Every explanation was vague instead of explicit, which led to further frustration and confusion over what the point was.
Because of this, I also found that the ending did not hit as powerfully as it could. The overall message of the novel is impactful, and I really enjoyed those last two pages before the outcome of the game is decided. However, because I did not understand the logistics of the game, I wasn't able to understand what was sacrificed in order to get to that ending point. In fact, I felt like there wasn't anything sacrificed or lost to begin with. In books where the enemy and the fight is clear, it's also clear to see what the losses are, and easier to reflect on how far the MCs had come by the end. I didn't feel like any of that was very clear, especially which such a happy ending (to be clear, I'm not complaining about the happy ending—I am disappointed that it's difficult to track throughout the novel how happy the ending is because of what was sacrificed throughout the middle).
I'm not sure that I'll check out more Olivie Blake anytime soon, but if I do, you know where to find me! And you can find Olivie Blake online at olivieblake.com.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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