M.I.A.: Missing in Atman

Atman City #2

by Michelle E. Reed

Dez is finally hitting her afterlife stride. She hasn’t missed a meeting or session in 42 days, and she’s put the adventures and danger of her first days at Atman behind her. Life after death is becoming tolerable, yet nothing is quite what she’d hoped. Confusion over her feelings for Charlie, residual resentment over losing Hannah, and a continuous stream of unwanted assignments leave Dez restless and argumentative. In a missed encounter with Crosby, her prying gaze lands upon a single entry in the datebook on his unoccupied desk. These few, hastily scribbled words reveal an enormous secret he’s keeping from her. Possessed by a painful sense of betrayal, she once again sneaks off to Atman City, determined to find answers to an unresolved piece of her life. It begins as all their adventures do, but as light falls into darkness, a stop in an unfamiliar neighborhood sets forth a chaotic series of events. Dez will have to fight for her very existence, and will face painful, irreparable loss in an afterlife teeming with demons wielding ancient powers.

Genres: Young Adult

359 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 16, 2014

About the author

Michelle was born in a small Midwestern town, to which she has returned to raise her own family. Her imagination and love of literature were fueled by a childhood of late nights, hidden under the covers and reading by flashlight. She is a passionate adoption advocate who lives in Wisconsin with her husband, son, and their yellow lab, Sully.

Reviews

[Chiara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A copy of this novel was provided by the author as part of a book tour.

M.I.A took a turn from Life, A.D. that I seriously never saw coming. I actually pegged Life, A.D. as sci-fi, but M.I.A was most definitely a paranormal novel. We’re introduced to demons and hell and magic and I was just kind of blown out of the water by the change in content of the novel. But it wasn’t a bad change – just a change.

Dez, for me, was still a somewhat unlikeable character. I could understand her anger and outrage in the first novel. I mean, I think any seventeen year old who suddenly finds themselves in limbo is going to be pretty pissed off and angry at the world. But M.I.A is set three months after her death and Dez is still a walking, talking ball of rage and fire. And I’m just a little tired of it. Every person in Atman is dead. Every person in the underage towers got their lives taken away from them way too quickly, and I think Dez needs to hurry up and realise this otherwise she’s going to lose the few friends she’s made in her afterlife.

Speaking of her friends. Charlie changed a bit and broke up with Dez early on in the book. I was so surprised by this! I mean, come on boy, if you care about the girl then you obviously have to live with her mood swings and pissiness. They’ve been there all along. Crosby was once again way too forgiving of everything that Dez does (which I think all of the characters in M.I.A were). And Bobby was sweet but then at the end I was kind of disappointed in him for just giving up.

The main premise of this novel takes place after Dez and Bobby are attacked by creepy criminals who turn out to be demons. After this, Dez finds out that one of them was trying to “bond” with her. I was slightly confused about this entire thing, if I’m being honest. Why are these demons just allowed to run rampant with damaged souls? What does being “bonded” to one of these douches mean? Why is this guy so obsessed with Dez? Why is this a part of the plot at all? I had a lot of questions about this storyline, because it seemed so far removed from the goings on in Life, A.D, and I think I struggled to bring the themes of the two books together.

M.I.A ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger, and I must say that I am interested in where it is going. I think what seems to be the king of hell is going to have a role to play and Dez is in some knee deep shite, and I want to see how she gets out of it. So I will almost definitely read the third book in the Atman City series, even if the plot has taken a turn that I never saw coming (which I suppose keeps the whole thing interesting, right?).

© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity . All rights reserved.

[Amphitrite · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked: This was a wonderful continuation to the Atman City series! Dez seems to have settled down into trying to transition between limbo and going where she may afterwards, but a missed encounter leads to her leaving the Towers (again) to learn what she must. We learn a lot more about the inner workings of Atman City and it builds upon what we learned about the city in book one. Following Dez through Atman was another interesting journey that was different from her first journey, and I was glad to see how the relationships that budded during book one grew during this one between Dez and some of the other characters. It was generally a book that I couldn’t predict what was going to happen, which made it all the more interesting as events unfolded for our main character.

What I didn’t like: Dez is still a bit frustrating in this book, and that leads to bad things. While not necessarily a bad thing in of itself, the frustration about Dez’s decisions was, well, frustrating.

Overall Review: I really enjoyed this sequel, and I’m happy that I got to read it. I loved delving a little deeper into Atman City and everything that comes with Dez being dead, and I found a lot of enjoyment in reading the second book. I’m happily awaiting to see what happens to Dez next!

Recommend?: If you liked the first book, you should definitely read the second!

[Roberta R. (Offbeat YA) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rated 2.5 really.

Excerpt from my joint review for Life, After Dez and Missing in Atman - originally published at Offbeat YA.

Pros: Fresh spin on the afterlife trope. Teen POC adopted by white parents and in an interracial relationship. A side character gets an imaginative, interesting story.
Cons: The lead has a pattern of repeating the same mistakes and is cut a lot of slack regardless. Also, in Book 2, love triangle rears its head...
Will appeal to: Those who love stubborn heroines, romance and adventures in an afterlife context.

First off...DISCLAIMER: I received these books from the author after approaching her on Twitter with a couple of questions about Book 3 and the series re-release (Reed put forth the new edition of Book 1 & 2 by herself, and is working on the final installment in the trilogy). She volunteered to send me Life After Dez and Missing in Atman in exchange for an honest review. That didn't affect my opinion and rating in any way. Please note: as a rule, I review all books in a series separately - except in particular instances. Since I got these two together, and most of what I had to say applied to both, I made an exception here. I hope it doesn't inconvenience you in any way.

Whole review of Life, After Dez and Missing in Atman here.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free ecopy of this book for an honest review.

I read Life A.D., the first book in this series, and I really liked it so I was excited to read M.I.A. This one picks up pretty much where Life A.D. left off, after a few uneventful weeks in which Dez has been compliant with the rules and seems to be getting along with everyone.

There’s a lot going on in this story partly because of Dez’s complicated relationships with the men in her life. It’s obvious that she is not in touch with her feelings and it’s starting to cause problems in her relationships.

While I understood what Dez was going through in the first book, I was disappointed in her in this book. She was unreasonable and lashed out at everyone, sometimes for little reason. She still had a lot of growing up to do by the end of the book. Hopefully, she’ll start to mature in the next book.

Even though I was disappointed in Dez, I still liked the book. It flowed well, was easy to read, and was suspenseful. The characters are interesting and easy to get attached to. M.I.A. had an interesting ending and I imagine there will be a third book in the series based on it. I look forward to reading it.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to win a copy of this book and in so far, didn't get a chance to read book one.

Despite the lack of background information, I had little trouble diving into Dez's story. There's a lot of action, enough descriptions to pull into the world and tension that kept me reading through to the end. Dez herself is a difficult character. . . frustrating. In general, she's nice and easy to like but her decisions aren't always the best. And it's obvious. But despite this, I enjoyed following her as she was pulled deeper and deeper into a dangerous situation.

I'll definitely be grabbing the next book in the series to see what happens next because despite Dez's flaws and a couple plot hiccups, I am hooked.

[Amy Tupper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put it down!!

Now I desperately await the next installment. I'm nowhere near the writer Michelle Reed is, so I won't bother trying. I'll simply say this book is a must read, following the first installment, "Life A.D."