Title:  Mortal Danger
Author: Ann Aguirre
Publisher/Year: Square Fish 8/4/15
Length:  400 pages
Series:  Immortal Games #1

Overview

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

In Ann Aguirre’s Mortal Danger, Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn’t imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She’s not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he’s impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly . . . bad things are happening. It’s a head rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil’s bargains, she isn’t sure who–or what–she can trust. Not even her own mind.

My Thoughts

Well, when i saw this new series from Ann Aguirre, i figured that it had to be good since her Razorland series was rather creative and thought out.  We’re not let down with this one, and i think that it’s rather impressive that she’s able to come up with yet another really well detailed and thought out series.

In this introduction to the series, we find ourselves thrown into this ‘game’ of sorts, yet we don’t know what the point of it is, just that there are two sides, one that’s bad and one that’s worse.  all trying to control the future and destinies of people.  The pawns that are used in the game are people who are so far gone down the path of self hate that they are about to kill themselves, and that’s when one of the sides swoops in to save them and grant them 3 wishes of sorts, in return for their indentured servitude.

We meet Edie on the night that she’s planned to jump off a bridge, and just when she’s about to step off, she’s saved by the most beautiful looking boy that she’s ever seen.  Turns out that he’s been sent to save her and offer her this deal to be on his boss’s side.  Edie’s desire to be beautiful and then to seek revenge is exactly what is needed, and the path that her story takes is quite interesting.

Of course, what she learns along the way is that the people that were so awful to her had their own issues as well which is something that she was never aware of and it makes the idea of revenge against some of them not so sweet.  The issue though is that because she’s wanted this revenge, horrible things start happening.  People are dying, and Edie quickly learns that there are others that are out to get her and that’s where we spend much of this story.

Kian, the guy that’s sent to save her, grant her wishes and protect her finds himself in an interesting position as well.  He’s far more invested in her than was ever expected and while that’s a good thing for the couple, it puts him in a tough place where he barters things away in order to keep Edie safe.  That’s where we’re left off in this first installment, he’s given away his freedom, and while we know that there’s going to be more to his story since he’s supposed to be killed by his boss and that’s just not going to happen, we don’t know what it’ll mean for Edie and the game since there’s still so much to be determined.

Personally, some of the most interesting things to me here are that while i expected others in the story to be ‘non human’ – i think that learning that some of the characters that are ultimately involved is a surprise.  We’re given hints throughout that there are some that are on the wrong side, but there were a few surprises which makes me wonder who else is going to show a dark side.

The other questions though are around what Edie’s destiny really is supposed to be and will she be able to fulfill it.  I think that before she became ‘beautiful’ – there was a chance, but her paths changed a bit and i think that it’s going to be tough.

The final bit too that i’m curious about is who else is going to die before the game is won (or lost) and what is that going to mean?  i still can’t figure out who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy – but i think that we’ll get more answers in the next installment .  so – on that note, have a great day all!