ALMOST DEAD | Kaz Delaney

ALMOST DEAD

Kaz Delaney

(source: own paperback)

♠.♠.♠.♠

Almost Dead is the story of Macey Pentecost, a teenage girl in the suburbs of Sydney with a turbulent home life and a recently acquired ability to see ghosts. When the ghost of a boy who claims not to be a ghost appears in her room and tells her that she is in danger, she is catapulted into a fast paced adventure involved a stalker, a new sister, and a very attractive Surfer Boy.


I bought this book a couple of months ago having read Delaney's previous book Dead, Actually (which is a companion to this one though they function well enough independently) with the understanding that I had very few light-hearted books on my to-read pile. When I did pick it up it was in the hope that it would be a quick, easy read, and I can confidently say that Almost Dead served the exact purpose that I hoped it would.


There were times while reading that I found myself a little irritated by Macey as a heroine, but this was no because of the way she was written, it was because she was a teenager and having very natural teenage responses to things. That's the thing about YA fiction, many teenagers in YA fiction come across a little more as adults, or they come across as an exaggerated stereotype written by an adult who has no concept of what the modern teenager is like. Macey Pentecost fits into neither of these categories.


The things I liked about this book were;

• the love interest
  
• the writing style
  
• the plot (which had moments in which it seemed a little far fetched but the whole premise of this book is that a boy in a coma astral-projects into her room so the element of far-fetched-ness is established from the get-go)
  

the things I disliked about this book were;

• typos, there were repeated instances in my copy of the word 'focused' being spelled 'focussed'... and it was quite jarring from a reader's perspective
  
• lack of foreshadowing, while I understand that the book was told from the perspective of Macey the final twist came out of the blue a little bit, most of the book indicated the stalker's motives in one direction but then it turned out to be something else entirely
  
• too many characters not enough development... this is primarily because when we found out the identity of the stalker I had to go back and see where they had turned up in the book before... I had no idea who they were.

Ultimately, I did enjoy Almost Dead, it was exactly the book I wanted exactly when I needed it, and I definitely recommend it for people who like humourous teen lit with an element of the unbelievable.



EDIT: I've been informed that 'focussed' is the accepted spelling in the UK and is supposedly the standard spelling in Australia... apparently my education has failed me.