I decided to grab a copy of this book because I’ve already missed two opportunities to meet Aprilynne Pike (at SDCC!) and I didn’t want to let it pass again. I decided that the 2014 Tucson Festival of Books was going to be the year!
I didn’t have the time to tackle her acclaimed Wings series and so I chose her stand-alone: Life After Theft. Here is the synopsis from its Goodreads page:
Kimberlee Schaffer may be drop-dead gorgeous . . . but she also dropped dead last year. Now she needs Jeff’s help with her unfinished business, and she’s not taking no for an answer. When she was alive, Kimberlee wasn’t just a mean girl; she was also a complete kleptomaniac. So if Jeff wants to avoid being haunted until graduation, he’ll have to help her return all of the stolen items. But Jeff soon discovers that it’s much easier to steal something than it is to bring it back.
Paying for your mistakes takes on a whole new meaning in this hauntingly clever twist on The Scarlet Pimpernel
Aprilynne Pike and others at the “World Building: Creating Imaginary Worlds” panel at TFOB.
Even though this isn’t my usual review style, for organization’s sake I decided to separate this out into Things I Liked and Things I Didn’t Like.
Things I Did Like:
- Aprilynne Pike’s male voice: Justine and I have a pretty short list of female authors who can write male characters really well. Definitely not on the list: Stephenie Meyer. Just okay: Veronica Roth (Four had the exact same voice as Tris!) and really great: Myra McEntire and now Aprilynne Pike. I don’t know why but writing a boy can be hard to do and, maybe it’s because I’m not one, but I can be a harsh critic of doing it well. And Aprilynne Pike does!
- That characters were more than who they appeared to be. That you didn’t know who to trust until the very end!
Things I Didn’t Like:
- The classic miscommunication situations. Sometimes there can be so much tragedy in a minute detail that affects so much (think that Buffy episode of season 2 where she can’t make it to save Kendra in time, Becoming Part 1) but it didn’t seem as deep for this novel for some reason.
- It was missing some “oomph”. Like it was what it was but didn’t feel like much more. And I like some meat I can chew on for my reviews
That last bullet point isn’t completely true. There were some take-to-heart messages that I can share. Not everyone is who they appear to be. Often times bullies have been bullied themselves. Compassion is an invaluable quality. These were all present but it just didn’t do more for me than 3 stars.
If I read Aprilynne Pike again what should I read next? Her new Earthbound series or Wings?
