{Review} Ward Against Death by Melanie Card

Ward Against Death by Melanie Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE:  Paranormal Fantasy
THEME: Undead/Necromancy
RECEIVED: Received for Review from Entangled Publishing
AUTHORS SITE: Melanie Cards Site

PURCHASE Ward Against Death:

BLURB:

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:
I was very excited to win an ARC copy of Ward Against Death from Entangled Publishing. Not only did I love the cover, I liked the idea of the main character being a Necromancer.

Ward Against Death is exactly what the title says, Ward a young Necromancer deals with death for a living. Bring back those who have past back for a few minutes for their families to say good-bye.  But unfortunately for Ward when he goes to help a noble family do just that, the young woman he raises asks for help when she claims she’s been murdered. Not wanting to go against his Oath he decides to help her, which means trouble for both of them.

Ward isn’t your average hero, he’s clumsy, sensitive, and always wants to do the right thing. He luck never seems to go the right was especially when he raises Celia from the dead.  He also has a great gift of being a physician that helps out along the way. The reader learns about Ward a great deal more since most of the time its from Celina’s POV. I felt bad most of the time for him because Celia is one tough cookie. Ward has a major crush on Celia and half the time is trying to fight his attraction because his oath as a necromancer prohibits him from that kind of connection.

Celia, well…she has a load of secrets and most of the time is jerking around Ward like he’s a lost puppy. It’s both hilarious and sad because I just loved Ward and wished Celia would be a little nicer to him. But alas she has the “don’t mess with me” attitude give her a scary and kick butt vibe. I really enjoyed watching her personality fight her sometimes concern for Ward, their relationship developed really interestingly. It was also great to see that the male in the story be the weaker of the two.

Overall I really enjoyed Ward Against Death. The mystery behind who murdered Celia and why, was a fantastic mystery to solve along with the two leads. The secondary characters were mysterious as well, one known as the Master I can’t wait to see what else becomes of him because I felt he’ll pull Celia and Ward into another mess of trouble.  This was an enjoyable read full of adventure, mystery, romance, the undead and magic. I couldn’t of asked for anything better.


RECOMMENDATION:
This is an older teens/adult book with violence and lots of fight scenes. I highly recommend this book to fans of Nancy Holder will love Ward Against Death.

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