A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death by Maxie Dara, narrated by Jaime Lamchick, is the story of the Bird twins. Nora Bird is an administrator who assigns soul collections at Secure Collection, Yielding, and Transportation of Human Essences (S.C.Y.T.H.E.), but rather than being a calm and business-like person, she’s a ball of anxiety and fear, much of which stems from the sudden death of her parents. Charlie, her twin brother, is the opposite – carefree and oblivious most of the time. When the file of the next soul to be collected crosses her desk, she has little choice but to act to save the only family she has left.
How do you cheat death when you work for S.C.Y.T.H.E.?
These are different characters from the first book, and I was okay with seeing more of this world and a new story line. However, what seemed to hold this novel back was the repetitive nature of the narrative. The unraveling of the mystery took far too long for no good reason, just contrived reasons. Some of the narrative was also duplicative but just differently worded.
Nora is hampered by anxiety, and who wouldn’t be after their parents die when you’re young? Charlie, on the other hand, has no problem coasting through life. If anything, this little adventure teaches both of them to embrace the unpredictability of life with just a little bit of structure.
A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death by Maxie Dara has some good moments between the siblings and their relatives, but there’s also a bit too much repetition. The character development of Nora was good, and Charlie might have learned a couple lessons. Overall, this was a solid second book in the series, but I wanted more about death’s blind spots.
RATING: Tercet
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