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6.08.2011

PJ Review: Die for Me by Amy Plum



Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance
Paranormal Element: Revenants
Series: Revenants #1
Order Online:  Amazon.com

Audiobook review, copy purchased from audible.com

PJ's QUICKIE POV:
To say I didn’t like this book is an understatement – but I finished it. Yep, I trudged through it, hoping beyond hope that at one point it would redeem itself and turn into this brilliant piece of fiction instead of a French spin on Twilight. It never did. So, I’ll do a quick summation of why I didn’t like this book and follow it up with a Die For Me vs. Twilight break down to show just how alike these books really are.

REVIEW:
After the tragic deaths of her parents, Kate Mercier is dragged to Paris by her older, “party girl” sister to reside under the care of her French grandparents. Horribly depressed Kate finds solace in books and museums, rarely socializing with her peers at school. Until she meets über hot, Parisian, Vincent – and Kate’s depression is long forgotten as she slowly falls in love with him. But, as their relationship grows, Kate suspects something isn’t normal about Vincent and in a daring move she forces her way into his “family” and finds out the truth – Vincent is a revenant. An undead being forced to save people as a compulsion. And to make matters worse, like all universal truths every thing must have it’s opposite –Kate is faced with the evil revenants - those whose compulsion it is to kill.

This just drips with yawn worthy material. But, I was struck by the hype. I should have paid attention to more reviews…because the people that are saying it is just like Twilight. Well, they are right – but it came nowhere near being as good as Twilight. Between the hokey dialogue and lovey-dovey phrasing, the semi-formed plot, the silliness of the whole revenant mythology and then the sudden wrap-up at the end, Die For Me was just dead in the water. Don’t waste your money or your time.

To expound on my silliness theory let’s go over the finer points of what is a revenant. A revenant is a person that dies in the act of saving someone’s lives. No one knows why not everyone comes back as a revenant just some do. It takes three days (vampire like) to come back, but then you are “undead” and have to live the rest of your existence with a crazy compulsion to save other people. But, the thing is you “die” when you save other people and each time you “die” you age. You can’t help it, you have to save these people you have to go looking to save people. Then there are the evil revenants who die in pursuit of heinous death crimes. They come back as the opposite – with a compulsion for depravity. So, they buy nightclubs and live in catacombs – so they can kill people. Right.

Now, I know the revenant theory sounds like nothing Twilight-esque so here I will expound on the similarities of the two books. Brace yourself for the snark and spoilers – so if you want to read this book don’t go any further.


KATE Alike Not Alike, but still on the same lines Similar BELLA
Kate is human X Bella is human
Kate moves to Paris after the death of her parents. X Moves to Forks after her mom remarries
Kate is severely depressed with her new surroundings. X Bella hates Forks and is depressed.
Kate uses books to escape her pain. X Bella reads books to get away from her depression
Kate is kind of akward and doesn't think she looks good but is really the hottest thing to hit Paris in a long time. X Bella is socially akward and thinks she is ugly, but all the guys think she is hot.
Kate has an older sister who is a party girl and is constantly trying to get Kate out of her shell. X Bella has a father that is socially akward also but tries to get Bella to open up.
When Kate sees Vincent her whole world changes and she is suddenly not depressed. X When Bella sees Edward she is instantly drawn to him and suddenly Forks isn't so bad.
Kate sees Vincent perform a death-defying feat that makes her question his normality. X Bella is rescued by Edward and he performs a death defying feat which proves that he isn't normal.
Kate has no problem when Vincent reveals his non-humanness X Bella has no problem when Edward reveals his non-humanness.
Kate breaks up with Vincent because she can't deal with his non-humaness. X Edward breaks up with Bella because he can't deal with her humanness.
Kate parties without Vincent but finds life is empty without him. X Bella does stupid things like jump off cliffs when they are apart.
Kate tries to sacrafice herself for her love X Bella tries to sacrafice herself for her love
Kate posseses talents that no human has ever possessed before when dealing with the revenants. X Bella posseses talents that no human has ever possessed before when dealing with the vampires.
VINCENT Alike Not Alike, but still on the same lines Similar EDWARD
Vincent is a Revenant X Edward is a vampire.
Vincent is undead X Edward is undead
Vincent is immortal X Edward is immortal
Vincent doesn't sleep X Edward doesn't sleep
Vincent is plagued by the compulsion to save people's lives X Edward is plauged by the compulsion to eat people
Vincent is in-love with a girl that is decades younger than him X Edward is in-love with a girl that is decades younger than him
Vincent lives with his "family" a group of pepole that are just like him that he treats like siblings X Edward lives with his "family" a group of pepole that are just like him that he treats like siblings
Vincent lives in a big old mansion with lots of rooms where his whole family lives X Edward lives in a big old mansion with lots of rooms where his whole family lives
Vincent was just a shell of a man, living his immortal existence with no "joie de vivre" before he met Kate X Edward was just a shell of a man, living his immortal existence with no "joie de vivre" before he met Kate



This one did get a 1.5 because the narrator rocked (Julia Whelan)...and I would hate to spoil her craft with a funky 1 skull. Her French accent was perfect with all the French phrasing that Plum shoved in there and French locales and she transitioned the male roles wonderfully even with the French accents.





Audiobooks Young Adult Fiction title Hot Mess











4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nother book that doesn't live up to its cover

Unknown said...

Wow... hahahaha, sorry, it's just that, a few minutes ago I was thinking : "Uh, a review of this book, I want to read it... with this cover it has to be a great book!"
And now... well, after seeing your chart I'm not so sure it's a great book xD We'll see, if one day I see it in the bookshop and there's nothing else to read maybe I'll buy it.
Maybe not ^^U

Anyway, it was a really sincere and, actually, funny review :D

BTW, new follower here, ehem... feel free to go and have a look around my brand-new blog: www.librarianmouse.com :D

Hugs!

wildlower said...

I'm so glad I didn't buy this book now. It would kill me having so many things being similar to another book. I'd be thinking "haven't I read this before?"

<3 your reviews!

ChMax said...

"Edward was just a shell of a man, living his immortal existence with no "joie de vivre" before he met Kate"

OMG Edward and Kate... I tried to imagine what Bella would have done xD. Mary Sue fight, a whole new book. You cheered up my day.

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