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Title: Life Eternal
Author: Yvonne Woon
Position in Series: Sequel to Dead Beautiful
Review:
WARNING:
CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DEAD BEAUTIFUL!
Ok...Erm,
where to start? I’ve just finished reading this book, and I have to say I’m
more than a little flabbergasted. And not in a good way. Now, don’t get me
wrong, the book was brilliant, then ending? Not so much. I’m honestly not sure
what to make of it. But before I go into this, let me tell you about the rest
of the book.
By the end
of Dead Beautiful, main character Renee had discovered the existence of the
Undead, a race of creatures that had been reanimated without their souls after
dying as children. Unfortunately for Renee, the love of her life is Undead,
meaning he only has a limited amount of time left to live before his body
decays and he dies for good.
Following
the long run of "incidents” at her school, Gottfried Academy, where she was
sent in Dead Beautiful, the school has now been closed to all students but the
Undead. This means that Renee, who is actually a Monitor, someone who can sense
the dead and is to be trained on how to police the Undead, has to move to yet
another new school. Here, she begins her training to become a Monitor, much to
her dismay. Renee doesn’t agree with the views of the Monitors, or with killing
the Undead so readily, not to mention she’s dating one. She’s also had to be separated
from her best friend from Gottfried, who became an Undead in the last book.
This leaves Renee alone, again.
While at
her new school, Renee begins to search for an answer to her problems, a
solution that will allow her to be with Dante, her soulmate. As Renee digs
deeper, she finds herself in the midst of yet another mystery, searching for a
secret that’s more dangerous than anything she’s faced yet. And she’s not the
only one searching for it. The Undead want the secret, and they’ll use Renee to
get to it.
Once again,
the mystery is well written and compelling, and extremely hard to guess the
answer. The book keeps you wondering what’s around the corner, and like Renee,
you quickly start to wonder who you can trust.
With Dante
on the run, being blamed for the murder of Gottfried’s headmistress, he doesn’t
feature as a main character, only showing up every now and then. This leaves
Renee and Dante growing distant, and with Renee’s new visions, she begins to
suspect what Dante’s truly capable of, and whether or not she should trust him.
To make
things even more confusing, Renee’s slowly starting to develop feelings for
Noah, a fellow student at her new school, and one of her only two friends
there.
The story
is fast paced and exciting, never letting up for a moment. The clues and
secrets all coming together to form a spectacular and shocking ending. The
ending is, however, where I felt things fell apart. The book ended so abruptly,
it seemed to me like it was unfinished, yet I’m almost certain there isn’t a
sequel. There were so many questions left unanswered, and you are left guessing
at what happens in the end. Do Renee and Dante live happily ever after, all
their problems solved? Does Renee use the secret to immortality? What is the secret of immortality? Does Noah
survive? What happens to the Brotherhood of the Undead, who were chasing Renee
at the end of the book? This amount of unanswered questions and the abrupt
nature of the ending is what left me flabbergasted, and I can’t help but feel a
little bit disappointed. I want to know what happens! After two rather hefty
sized books, I feel like I’ve been cheated out of a good, happy ending.
And as I’ve
just discovered, there is a third book! So, the story wasn’t finished afterall.
I had no idea, I've not seen any mention of a third book until now. Sigh. I’m not sure if I’m happy about this, because it doesn’t change the fact the
ending happened so fast, and the questions won’t be answered until the last
book is released! Now I have to wait, argh! Though I can say I’m a little less
annoyed, knowing that my questions will be answered eventually, so apologise
for my little rant. Now I’m going to be desperately awaiting the release of the
next book, Love Reborn, so I can get my much needed happy ending!
Rating: 9/10
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