Silence ~ Michelle Sagara review

Silence (The Queen of the Dead #1)
DAW
May 1, 2012
256+ pages
add to Goodreads/buy on Book Depository/or Amazon

Emma Hall has been visiting the graveyard - and more specifically, one particular grave - during her nightly walks of her Rottweiler Petal since her boyfriend, Nathan's death over the summer. Usually, the graveyard is a quiet place, but on one of their nightly walks, not only does Petal run off and cause a bit of a disruption, but Emma sees the new guy from school, Eric.

Only, it wasn't just Eric that Emma saw. She also saw a woman, who looked more than ancient, standing beside him. A woman Eric claimed not to be able to see and who set Petal on edge.

That night - and that encounter - start something for Emma that she never could have even imagined. A new life fraught with danger, things usually only read about in ghost stories . . . and people that might want to kill her.


Silence is the first book in a new YA trilogy. Not a lot of books deal with necromancy - and even fewer young adult novels it seems. Silence has a strong and unique paranormal story line that unfolds over the length of the book while still supporting a great non-paranormal/contemporary plot involving the characters and their lives.

Emma and her friends really make this a great story. As she's discovering things about these 'ghosts' and why she can see things others can't, her friends are right there alongside her. Her friends are not just throw in characters who are there when it's convenient and forgotten about for most of the rest of the book; they're integral to the plot.

As this is the first book in a trilogy, it's great that Emma's friends are a part of things and have scenes that Emma is not a part of. It allows the reader to find out more about Emma - and her past - than they would if it were told either in first person or did not integrate the secondary characters as fully or as well.

Readers are also discovering just what is happening to/going on with Emma as she does. It can make things a bit confusing at times - if she doesn't understand something, chances are the reader doesn't, either - and there are a few instances where the characters seemed to have one up on the reader. Overall, however, it was nice not to know more than Emma - and the other characters. As she figured things out, so did I. As she questioned things, so did I. It left for a bit of tension, some uncertainty and great fun in reading.

This first book absolutely sets up the next book in the series incredibly well. Not only do we have a basis for who the characters are and how things operate in Emma's world, there's also a killer ending and enough things left open that make me incredibly anxious for Book Two's release.

(And may I just mention that I kind of love Chase?)


Rating: 8/10

(I only say 256+ pages because sites are listing that but my text ends at 289, so...)


received from the publisher for review