Book Review: Ward Against Death by Melanie Card

Ward Against Death by Melanie Card
Release Date: August 2, 2011
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Pages: 306
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley 
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

Summary

From Goodreads:

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

Best couple ever!

Ok, here's the thing you need to know about Celia: She's an assassin. I was a little afraid that based on that blurb, she'd be a whining damsel. But she TOTALLY isn't. Not even close. I also wasn't expecting her narration, but when chapter two rolled around and her voice was the one telling the story, I practically crowed with joy. I loved seeing the story through her perspective. This really helped give depth to her character and she scores highly on the WWMCD test. 

Though her constantly changing feelings about Ward got a little wearing after a while (make up your mind already, Celia!), I liked that there wasn't a hint of insta-love at all and instead their relationship was of the hate-love-hate-love-hate-love variety. Maybe there was a little too much back and forth, but I'll take that any day over the dreaded insta-love.

Ward is a different story. He is the second narrator and while I was expecting this to be more his story, he is often overshadowed by Celia's larger than life personality. I felt like I only truly got to know Ward when he was alone. Also, where Celia scores highly on the WWMCD test, Ward ranks a bit lower. He still rates well, but sometimes it seemed like Melanie Card was trying to make him too many things at once. He felt a little less consistent than Celia--but only a little. I did very much like what I saw though. Ward is a quiet scholar, but he's also not afraid to take risks in the pursuit of greater knowledge and doing what is right.

So why the "Best couple ever!" title? Because the strength of these two is when they're together. Though Celia does have a tendency to overshadow Ward, they both bring out qualities in the other that are better than when they're alone. In a lot of ways they remind me of Will and Alona from The Ghost and the Goth series by Stacey Kade. They're opposites, they bicker, and they're not afraid to call one another out. But they also care and it's so sweet. I get the feeling their relationship will be even more fun to read about in the sequel and I can't wait to find out. 

What a wonderful world

Oh world building! One of my favorite things about the fantasy genre is the opportunities for world building, and Melanie Card does a fantastic job at creating a world that is both inventive and plausible. She weaves in so much--politics, magic, religion, history, professions, guilds--and then she ties it all together to create a world with incredible depth and possibilities. I really liked learning about the world and this held my attention just as much as the mystery and characters.

Except she doesn't nail it. She almost nails it. I get the sense that this world is fantastically formed in her head, but she's only transcribed 80% of it here. Now sure, I know some of it we'll learn about as the series unfolds and that is natural and fine, but it sometimes felt like I was on a movie set where everything seems very real until you realize that everything is just a thin plywood facade. If there was just a little more explanation about the world--just a tiny bit more time spent on "stage setting" and fully fleshing everything out--then it would have been amazing.

Well, who killed her?

This question is the driving force of the book and kept me turning the pages. Each chapter sees Ward and Celia come a little closer to the answer. Though this isn't quest fantasy, things almost read like a quest story with Celia and Ward sent in first one direction, and then another and another, in search of the truth. I was never white-knuckling it, but the pacing was brisk and steady and never suffered any lulls.

But this brings me to another "almost." The plot was almost perfect...until the info-dump at the end followed by the easy-peasy resolution. Things were cooking up to Something Big...and then wrapped up like a 30-minute sitcom. It was still fun, but I was a little disappointed with how easily everything was resolved.

Bottom line

Though plagued by "almosts" (Ward, the world building, the resolution), even "almost" was good enough to keep me entertained and make me anxious to read the sequel. There's so much potential, and I have faith that Melanie Card will take those "almosts" and do her ideas justice in the future. I think it's all in her head and it must be brilliant. I just hope she lets us in on all the details in the next book.

With the way Ward Against Death ends I imagine it will have a sequel, though I don't yet know when it will be published It will be published in December 2011! The ending is open enough to lead smoothly into the next book with the next "mission" set up, but the main story is wrapped up nicely. No killer cliffhangers!

One final caution: this is much more of an adult/YA crossover than straight up YA. The characters mention sex in a much more mature manner and the overall vibe is more like an adult book.  

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Ward Against Death that I haven't addressed? 
Feel free to ask in the comments!

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