Book Review- Ward against Death by Melanie Card

Title: Ward against Death

 Author: Melanie Card

Series:  Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer #1

Published:  August 2011 by Entangled Publishing

Length: 306 pages

Warnings: kissing, fantasy violence, 13+

Source: Library

Summary : Twenty-year-old Ward de’Ath expected this to be a simple job—bring a nobleman’s daughter back from the dead for fifteen minutes, let her family say good-bye, and launch his fledgling career as a necromancer. Goddess knows he can’t be a surgeon—the Quayestri already branded him a criminal for trying—so bringing people back from the dead it is.
 But when Ward wakes the beautiful Celia Carlyle, he gets more than he bargained for. Insistent that she’s been murdered, Celia begs Ward to keep her alive and help her find justice. By the time she drags him out her bedroom window and into the sewers, Ward can’t bring himself to break his damned physician’s Oath and desert her.
 However, nothing is as it seems—including Celia. One second, she’s treating Ward like sewage, the next she’s kissing him. And for a nobleman’s daughter, she sure has a lot of enemies. If he could just convince his heart to give up on the infuriating beauty, he might get out of this alive…

Review: Edward “Ward” de’Ath (I love the name so much) is trying to start his career as a necromancer. This fails when his relatively easy task goes wrong and the dead girl (who he’s just risen) is dragging him out to the sewers, demanding they find justice for her murder. Celia (the girl) is insistant she's been murdered, and they go on an adventure through sewers and towns and all sorts. One thing's certain for Ward-something that should be simple, won't be, and something that should not be deadly, will be.

The fantasy setting of The Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer is amazing. It's easy to imagine, and get the feel of the place as everything from the layout of the sewers to the social hierarchy to the religion of the place is described. The only downside to this historical/fantastical new world is the fact that some names of things are long and hard to remember.

Ward and Celia are two strong characters. I think Ward developed most thoughout the novel, from being an unexperienced necromance semi-experienced necromancer who is a lot more confident than when we first find him.

The side characters were nice additions to the story too, but I never really cared about them throughout. They gave a good idea of possible characters to appear in later books though.

The romance was done nicely. It was interesting that Ward obviously felt for Celia in a romantic way, but (unlike most teenagers in YA fiction of today) also managed to remember that his love interest is dead.

I loved the plot. Completely original and very fun, it was paced well and had a few subplots not focussing on Celia, which was nice. I wasn't expecting the narration to be in the third person, but it flowed well with the occasional parts  that made me really laugh out loud.

Overall:  Strength  4 tea to a fun adventure/mystery with a great setting.

Links:  Goodreads | Author website |