Dude has more than nine lives!
Genre: Y/A, Urban Fantasy
No. of pages: 327
From Goodreads:
It’s not easy being Death. For starters, people keep dying. And then, they keep getting up again.
Steven de Selby got promoted. This makes the increasing number of stirrers (and the disturbing rumors of a zombie god rising sometime soon) his problem. That time management seminar he keeps meaning to take would also remind him that he’s got a Death Moot to plan, a Christmas party to organize, and an end-of-the-world thing to avert.
Steven must start managing Death, before Death starts managing him, or this time the Apocalypse will be more than Regional.
After being so excited over the debut of this series, I picked up the next in the franchise with eager hands… Trent Jamieson’s novel approach to the Grim Reaper with this urban fantasy set in the streets of Brisbane, Australia; saw Steven De Selby once again face enemies gunning to knock him off his throne as a General Manager in the Death Business.
While ‘Managing Death’ wasn’t as good as the first book, it maintained all the elements I enjoyed in ‘Death Most Definite’ except for the romance between Steven and Lissa. Their relationship is still in the forefront of the story line, but had lack-luster shine in comparison to the first book in the series. I liked the edgy, snarky thing they had going with an undercurrent of true passion – it didn’t have that same feel in this novel. I guess because there was just so much going on. Talk about action and politics… we had it in spades. I’m not alluding world politics, I’m talking Death politics… and that’s a whole other ballgame; and it has to be read to be believed.
With Jamieson’s writing style, it was graphically and gloriously colorful as always, however the exposition dragged in parts. Also it felt like there was a lot of repetition in the narrative in rehashing history or facts… once is enough! (But many sequels suffer this fate, but it was a little too much for me.)
The build-up felt slower, despite there being a lot of action (I blame the unnecessary rehashing). I nearly got fed up with it, but the story managed to keep my interest with its twists and turns.
Still loving the mythology, as I did with the first novel. You get more in ‘Managing Death,’ and deeper into the story behind Death and its origins, plus heaps more of the fantasy aspect. Totally enrapturing.
The climax nearly blew me away, and it’s certainly a compelling reading. I was twitching and tense (and one scene with a razor left me green to the gills – look out for that one).
I have mixed feelings about the next book, I am pining for the tone set out in the first book. Initially the Deathworks series was meant to be a trilogy, but have since found out number 4 is already published and Trent is hard at work on installments 5 & 6… so let’s see where it leads us. I’ve yet to get copies of the next book(s) but will read and review as soon as I do.
Not the outstanding follow-up I was hoping for, but one Hell of a story! (Pun intended) And I can see it’s setting things up for a much more interesting plot… dun, dun, duuuuuuhh!
Overall feeling: Sensory overload!
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Casey Carlisle 