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Author: Jaimie Admans
My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Even being dead isn’t enough to get you out of maths class.
Dying wasn't on sixteen-year-old Riley Richardson's to-do list. And now, not only is she dead, but she's stuck in a perpetual high school nightmare. Worse still, she's stuck there with the geekiest, most annoying boy in the history of the world, ever.
In a school where the geeks are popular and just about everything is wrong, Riley has become an outcast. She begins a desperate quest to get back home, but her once-perfect life starts to unravel into something not nearly as great as she thought it was. And maybe death isn’t really that bad after all...
Welcome to Afterlife Academy, where horns are the norm, the microwave is more intelligent than the teachers, and the pumpkins have a taste for blood.
Review:
“You can't go back to where you came from. You just have to keep moving forward.”
When the Jaimie asked me if I want to review her book, I immediately said yes because of two things. One, the unique afterlife school plot; two, the beautiful cover. Then I started reading this book without any expectation and not knowing how things would play out. I didn't not expect this to be fun to read or that I'd be annoyed to death (no pun intended) with Riley.
Yays
The plot. At first, I expected it to be sort of like The Ghost and the Goth since that's the only book I've read that has ghost but Afterlife Academy was different. The idea of going to school after dying is totally new to me and I was instantly curious about this book.
Funny and enjoyable to read. Riley's humor and remarks got me snickering while reading. Not to mention some scenes with her classmates and Narcissa, the cook.
Anthony. Though he might not shined much in this book, him being a sort of underdog appealed to me. He was a good guy, obviously but he's really enjoyable to read and interesting. I wish he was given more emphasis and made his character more well-rounded.
The way it was written. I might have complained on some parts but the way this book was written made it easier to carry on and read till the end. The scenes felt tangible at some parts and made it feel like you're actually observing these characters nearer than usual.
Nyays
Riley. She managed to annoy me half of the time and the other half makes me wish she doesn't annoy me on her next move. All she kept talking about was her boyfriend, who is actually a jerk and the reason why she's dead. But instead of feeling bad against him, she actually felt bad for him, for going through it alone and for the pain that was caused by her death. All she thought was the pain her friends and boyfriend felt when she died and actually puts his parents on the bottom of the list. Could she be more self-centered? I was expecting her character development but there were parts when I thought that she'd finally change, she'll mention Wade again. I was thinking that maybe at the first few parts of the character development process, she'll have to wallow over this guy and the pace was actually good, except that she kept on wanting to get out of the Academy for Wade until the last few pages.
Nonexistent antagonist. With the rumor of the vortex and how it was hushed, I expected someone working in the school to be really sketchy at have reasons as to why they're keeping these quiet. Maybe there's something in that vortex. Too bad, there wasn't a bad guy or a proper explanation about the vortex.
Rushed ending. The ending felt super rushed that made me go back a few pages and read it again. I wasn't able to process it yet and now it's over. There was something lacking in the part where Riley changed her mind and I wasn't just convinced. The last scene with her and Anthony was common to other books, but the buildup towards that scene didn't worked for me. I was looking for something else. Something that would suck me into the scene itself like the other parts prior to that.
This would be another book on my list of 2-star reviews that are not bad books at all. It's just that, as what Sab said, the cons outweighted the pros. As what 2 stars mean, literally it was okay.
This copy was received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Funny and enjoyable to read. Riley's humor and remarks got me snickering while reading. Not to mention some scenes with her classmates and Narcissa, the cook.
Anthony. Though he might not shined much in this book, him being a sort of underdog appealed to me. He was a good guy, obviously but he's really enjoyable to read and interesting. I wish he was given more emphasis and made his character more well-rounded.
The way it was written. I might have complained on some parts but the way this book was written made it easier to carry on and read till the end. The scenes felt tangible at some parts and made it feel like you're actually observing these characters nearer than usual.
Nyays
Riley. She managed to annoy me half of the time and the other half makes me wish she doesn't annoy me on her next move. All she kept talking about was her boyfriend, who is actually a jerk and the reason why she's dead. But instead of feeling bad against him, she actually felt bad for him, for going through it alone and for the pain that was caused by her death. All she thought was the pain her friends and boyfriend felt when she died and actually puts his parents on the bottom of the list. Could she be more self-centered? I was expecting her character development but there were parts when I thought that she'd finally change, she'll mention Wade again. I was thinking that maybe at the first few parts of the character development process, she'll have to wallow over this guy and the pace was actually good, except that she kept on wanting to get out of the Academy for Wade until the last few pages.
Nonexistent antagonist. With the rumor of the vortex and how it was hushed, I expected someone working in the school to be really sketchy at have reasons as to why they're keeping these quiet. Maybe there's something in that vortex. Too bad, there wasn't a bad guy or a proper explanation about the vortex.
Rushed ending. The ending felt super rushed that made me go back a few pages and read it again. I wasn't able to process it yet and now it's over. There was something lacking in the part where Riley changed her mind and I wasn't just convinced. The last scene with her and Anthony was common to other books, but the buildup towards that scene didn't worked for me. I was looking for something else. Something that would suck me into the scene itself like the other parts prior to that.
This would be another book on my list of 2-star reviews that are not bad books at all. It's just that, as what Sab said, the cons outweighted the pros. As what 2 stars mean, literally it was okay.
This copy was received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
