Mortal Danger (The Immortal Game, 1) Hardcover – August 5, 2014

I am the kind of reader who always longs to be surprised by a book, but seldom am. I am also the kind of reader who, on the rare occasions when I *am* surprised, find those surprises to be either manipulative or totally out of left field. "Mortal Danger" managed to surprise me in a good way, leaving me wanting more the second I finished the last sentence--a rare occurrence that would have been worthy of five stars but for the fact that I never give the first book in a series five stars.I'll skip the summary, since there are enough of those already. I will, however, echo the common sentiment that it is very hard to do this book justice in a review without spoilers, so if it seems on the vague side, that's the reason. Believe me, you do not want to be tempted into reading even minor spoilers about this book.This is a dark book, from beginning to end, and I can't help but think the story will grow even darker as the series progresses. That isn't a bad thing, though--because the subject matter and plot are so very dark, the light that shines from within the characters is that much brighter, and really enhanced the storytelling. Edie is incredibly relatable, and I rooted for her from the very first page. Most of us know what it's like to feel alienated within our own worlds, to be picked on and ridiculed. With bullying very much at the forefront of the news today, we know what catastrophes can occur as a result. The twists and turns in Edie's story as we try to figure out if she will ultimately be saved from an even darker fate are simply breathtaking--great writing on the part of Ms. Aguirre.The game of the immortals is truly fascinating in and of itself, scary and fascinating in equal turns--and ALWAYS leaving me wanting more. In some books, this can be a bad thing--if there's never any payoff, readers wind up disenchanted at best and feeling manipulated at worst. Ms. Aguirre strikes exactly the right balance here.The "be careful what you wish for" theme has been done so many times, but seldom as well as in "Mortal Danger." I could not stop turning pages--I read the book in one sitting, and was utterly ticked off that I couldn't move on to the next book immediately. This book has my highest recommendation for teens and adults alike. Don't be afraid to embrace its darkness.

In the beginning of this book, Edie is on a bridge, preparing to commit suicide. Kian stops her with an intriguing offer - three favors now in return for three favors later. She has the opportunity to ask for three things within 5 years and then the company will ask for three things in return. She is intrigued, yet frightened. He can't give her many details at first, until she agrees and even then he is fairly cryptic. All she knows for sure is there is magic involved and she has to decide right away. Edie is aware of the dangers of deals such as these (monkey's paw anyone?), but in the end, she agrees.I love Kian and Edie's relationship. It's great that he fell in love with her in her imperfect form, before the makeover (her first favor). She was teased mercilessly in school to the point where she felt worthless and unwilling to go on. He makes her realize that she is important. I loved watching Edie evolve into a more confident person and seeing how it changed her relationships with others, even her parents.I really enjoyed this book. The bullying/revenge angle combined with the immortal game is very cool. The way they explain the immortals is very interesting and something I have heard of, but I haven't seen it used like this.Recommended to:Young adults who enjoy school stories involving demons/immortals with a touch of romance. This book takes the high school clique experience and bullying to the next level.

Knowing this was Aguirre's book, I almost felt obligated to buy it. I'm a big fan of her other works, so I was eager to dive into this one. Yes, I was a little hesitant on account for the character's youth, but I don't regret my decision.But why four stars? Unfortunately, I felt the book was rushed. There's a lot going on in here, and I would have liked certain areas to slow down and emphasize on Edie's growth. Especially after the bag man and thin man. Her character development overall was good, but like I've said, a little rushed. That's why it was a little tough for me to swallow her relationship with Kian (who's adorable, btw). Not just because of their respective pasts but because Edie, despite all her claims otherwise, seems to accept her changes a little too quick. I expected a little more freaking out, maybe some more emotional connection to how she thinks everything is one big coma dream. But don't let me discourage anyone; Edie has some great moments, too. She clever, smart, and methodical. She doesn't have as much impulsiveness as we see in a lot of heroines, but I wish her smarts were reflected a bit more than with just good grades and Einstein quotes.But being as this is a series, I have a lot of hope for Edie's growth. I look forward to it, in fact.Bottom Line: This was a good book, and I'll read the sequel once it comes out.

I loved Ann Aguirre's Razorland Trilogy so this book has been sat waiting patiently for me on my to-read list for far too long. In some ways, Aguirre delivers her usual bite. But in others, not so much. I can't even tell you, after waiting so long for another Aguirre book to reach the top of my pile, how sad this makes me that I haven't fallen in love straight away with this new trilogy.Mortal Danger has THE most allusive blurb I think I've ever seen in YA fiction. So just to clear this up, Edie Kramer is a misfit. She's a little too chubby, a little too nerdy and not enough invisible to have an easy ride through school - at least that's what the bullies at her school lead her to believe. But as we all know, if you hear it often enough it starts to become true. For Edie, it's all too intense and she's ready to check out of her seemingly horrific life. Just as Edie is about to jump and end it all she is given a choice by a handsome stranger - join him in an unknown quest to make a difference and get some sweet revenge on the bullies. Or jump. Who could resist? So unfolds a series of mysterious twists and turns into a world where the things that go bump in the night, if you believe, become reality.There are a lot of things to love about this book. I really connected with Edie's story to begin with. I absolutely loathe bullying, and I often find books present it poorly and very superficially. So I probably wouldn't have read this book if the blurb had been clearer, Fortunately Aguirre really convinced me of Edie's suffering and I hated the secondary characters so much for what they'd done to her. What I didn't like so much was that Aguirre really focuses on superficial beauty and for the most part this is only skin deep. Edie is basically granted three wishes from Kian, her saviour, in exchange for helping him in his quest and wastes her first wish on being drop dead gorgeous. I do totally understand that being beautiful in a World where being "ugly" is all you've ever known must be amazing. But I didn't like how much Aguirre banged on about it - she almost convinced me being beautiful actually is more important!I really love Aguirre's writing. She spins beautiful tales with wonderful flow that even when I lost interest in the wider story arc, I couldn't put down. Her imagination equally seems to know no bounds. This book is entirely different in delivery and concept to the Razorland trilogy. Her writing is no longer fast paced and deadly, but rather takes on a more creative, paranormal edge. I really enjoyed this new look into her writing and I think fans and new readers to her stories will really fall in love with her world building - plus, how cool is it to have an infinite number of bad guys because they already all exist within our nightmares? I really love this plot.However, what I didn't like was the character relationships. Edie doesn't start off with any friends and once she has her transformation she begins to make some. One friend is a genuine, new friend she meets at a kind of summer school but she initially treats her almost as though she is superior to her friend - this bugged me; a bullied person wouldn't bully back. Later, as she returns to Blackbriar, the school where the bullies reside, some of the bullies start to befriend her because now she's pretty. For the most part, Edie is pretty kickass and doesn't take any prisoners. I loved this massive change in personality although it's a shame it's entirely due to a new face.Aguirre, to me, stands out in this genre for being incredible at creating wonderful, complex characters who don't reveal themselves initially and most of the fun I had from the Razorland trilogy was trying to work out what was going on in her characters heads. This book however, does not have this charm. As Edie's character develops, hell-bent on revenge, she becomes more interesting and a bit more fiery. This made for a fun read, although I would have liked to have seen some sort of internal struggle from her given that this is so opposite to how her character manifests. However, Aguirre gives everything away with Edie and hot-guy Kian who immediately lay their hearts on the table. They have a really boring, superficial relationship that I couldn't get invested in because it was all too much too soon - nothing mysterious or exciting to get me swooning over Kian and wishing I was Edie. Since this book largely focuses on the romance (Fair warning to those of you who hate that), I would have expected a bit more chemistry. As it happens, Kian is not swoon-worthy in the slightest. His character is full of dull one liners, unbelievable romantic remarks and he is just far too intense - he's basically been watching her his whole life. Creepy - NOT adorable - comes to mind for me but not for Edie. It was just too much.Overall, I do think this story is good despite my criticisms. The plot is creative, exciting and has loads of scope for the rest of the trilogy to exploit a fairly endless selection of bad guys. I'm exciting to see what Aguirre will do with some of her creepy creations and I loved how many featured in this book of which I haven't read about before. This book is therefore unique in it's concepts but sadly the characters, and romance, were not well-developed and were often hard to invest in. I hate instalove, but I could of got past it with awesome characters; no such luck. I do recommend this book, there's something new here to get excited about. But I really hope we see more of Aguirre's fantastic characterisation that seems to have been lost on the journey between Razorland and The Immortal Game.

I love this author, she manages to give you all the details without dragging it out as a big explanation each time. The razorland series is just too hard to beat though.