Review: Die for Me, by Amy Plum

Author: Amy Plum

Title: Die for Me

Series: Revenants (#1)

ISBN: 9780062004017

Publisher: Harper Teen( May 5th 2011)

Buy your copy: Kindle |  Hardcover

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.

When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again." GoodReads’ blurb

Die for me brings a new brand of paranormal creature to the game, and I loved that. Even without Jules lovable character, I’d have fallen for this universe for that if nothing else.

The fact is that as a hardcore gamer I had come across revenants before. The good old D&D version involved undead who died tragically (check) and are nearly impossible to kill (check). But those other revenants are loosing their skin by the minuted (yuk and NOT check) and are obsessed with finding vengeance (bad karma and NOT check) so that made discovering Vincent and his folks here all the more pleasing and interesting.

This people are charming, beautiful, and died tragic deaths because they were good. And they do grow old... except that then they go and revert. It’s complicated and I don’t want to spoil it, so read the book if you want to know more about how they work—I just wanted to explain why they are such an original addition.

The characters were likeable and quite well developed. I have to admit that I didn’t fall in love with them (well, except Jules. How can I not love his smart mouth and womanizing ways?), and I had to smirk at some point, but all in all Kate and Vincent manage to navigate the issues that most often afflict paranormal YA (like stupid decisions based on lack of information, insta-love, loss of personality once they become a couple...)

There is a group of Bad Guys that are eerily similar to the Good Guys, and I liked the conflict. As usual, it made me think about stuff that most people probably won’t pay attention to (balance and duality, and eternal life with all the implications of being alive—pain, human frailty, loneliness...) but it also a sweet love story, better executed than most.

To be honest, the book felt short. It wasn’t, it just felt that way because I became engrossed and wanted to know more. I will definitely read book two, and I look forward to finding out more about Vincent and Kate, to see them gain depth and be more fleshed out, and to follow them along in their discovery of this new, fascinating world.

If you like YA paranormal romance at all, I’m pretty sure you should do the same, and hurry up and discover the revenant life.