Review: Early to Death, Early to Rise by Kim Harrison

Early to Death, Early to Rise (Madison Avery #2) by Kim Harrison
Synopsis (Goodreads):

Seventeen, dead, and in charge of heaven's dark angels —all itching to kill someone.

Madison Avery's dreams of ever fitting in at her new school died when she did. Especially since she was able to maintain the illusion of a body, deal with a pesky guardian angel, and oh yeah, bring the reaper who killed her to his untimely end. Not exactly in-crowd material. It's amazing that her crush, Josh, doesn't think she's totally nuts.

Now Madison has learned that she's the dark timekeeper, in charge of angels who follow the murky guidelines of fate. Never one to abide by the rules, she decides it's time for a major change to the system. With the help of some unlikely allies, Madison forms a rogue group of reapers who definitely don't adhere to the rules of the heavens.

But as she grapples with the terrifying new skills that come with being a timekeeper, Madison realizes she may not be prepared for what lies ahead— unless she gets some seriously divine intervention.

My Thoughts: I had a tough time when I was reading book 1 a while back. I felt like I was stepping into the middle of the story without being given any direction. The beginning of this book hit me the same way but... less so. I should probably add that I read book 1 somewhere in the vicinity of 3 years ago and I didn't really remember who any of the main players were (with the exception of Madison because she's, you know, the main character and stuff) were when I started this book. So, it was a matter or dredging the old memory and letting things spark. I still don't remember everything that happened. Maybe I should have reread book 1 again. Huh.

Anyway. I *like* this world and the things that are happening but I'm still a little fuzzy on why some of the people who are working against Madison are... working against her. They're angling for the same goal, why is she getting such push back? Is it just because the person in question is a power-hungry jackass? I think this may be the case but I'm... I don't know what I am! I'm confused.

One thing I keep coming back to is that I like the fighting between the Dark and Light angels on Madison's team more than anything else. Those two are putting off forest-fire sized sparks, in my opinion. Madison and her dude are kinda meh next to Barnabas and Nakita. I have no clue if things are heading in a relationshippy direction for those two angels, but they have more chemistry when they're throwing barbs at one another than any other two people in the book.

I'm going to finish the series (because I own book 3), but I still feel like I'm missing something vital in the overall plot. Really, I think I should have reread book 1 before reading this one.

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Books in this series
1. Once Dead, Twice Shy
2. Early to Death, Early to Rise - Paperback | Kindle
3. Something Deadly This Way Comes

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