How to Save an Undead Life (Beginner's Guide to Necromancy, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Apr 19, 2018 Steph rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: series-book1, favorites-all-years, series-completed, author-웃, series-i-love, author-first-time-read, year-read-2018, favorites-2018, sos-games-bsb-r16

How to Save an Undead Life was a surprisingly intriguing read. By that I mean there is so much more to the story than I expected. So much that I'm not sure how to compose a review that won't be either a duplication of the offered blurb or a spoiler. Much is left to either the reader's imagination or to be learned later, which would normally frustrate me however, in this case, it only made me more ravenous for details.

"Make no apologies for surviving."

When we meet Grier Woolworth she's scre ...more

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Mar 24, 2019 Katyana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, uf

This is one of my favorite series, but it took me a long time to reread only because Grier's process of recovery from the hellhole they threw her in as a child ... It makes me so angry that I had to be sure I had the emotional fortitude to get through.

Oh reread, this first book is maybe a little clunky, but it is worth the ride because the overall arc it is setting up for the series is a wonderful, detailed journey.

It is fun seeing Grier create her found family again from scratch. Though I will This is one of my favorite series, but it took me a long time to reread only because Grier's process of recovery from the hellhole they threw her in as a child ... It makes me so angry that I had to be sure I had the emotional fortitude to get through.

Oh reread, this first book is maybe a little clunky, but it is worth the ride because the overall arc it is setting up for the series is a wonderful, detailed journey.

It is fun seeing Grier create her found family again from scratch. Though I will never understand how she doesn't ally with enemies of the Society to burn that whole thing to the ground and hurl every scumbag responsible for throwing her - at 16 - into a hellish dungeon with NO TRIAL straight into that same hellhole themselves. It is honestly a miracle that she's still sane. But I'll be honest, I would like to see about 1000% more rage from her. In this first book, though, she's only been out of that dungeon for 3 weeks, so she's probably not feeling confident that she's truly free yet, and so keeping the rage bottled is justifiable. Still, grr.

Re-read June 2025
This first book is hard to read. We are so embedded in Grier's experience, and she's so damaged and betrayed, it is rough. I always end up raging, because she's too beaten down to be angry so I'm angry on her behalf.

My only real point of criticism of this series is that Grier doesn't wipe out High Society. Not kill them - she's not a mass murderer - but deconstruct them. They are so monstrous and corrupt, there's simply no acceptable universe in which they should get to remain in power. And to be clear, I'm including Linus's mom in this statement. She's a monster who threatens Grier repeatedly, and when Grier finally comes into her power in this series, my single regret is that she doesn't leave that bitch on the curb like roadkill. She pains herself with this facade of family, but she doesn't think of Grier as family. She left that child rotting in a hole until Grier demonstrated power, and the bitch grabbed Grier with both hands so she could use her.

Linus deserves better for a mom. And Grier deserves vengeance against all of them. ...more

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Nov 11, 2018 Sandra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pnr-uf, own, kindle, witch-magic-fae, vampires, hailey-edwards

Grier Woolworth, 21, an assistant Necromancer, has just been released from supernatural prison after 5 years, having been accused of murdering her mentor Maud Woolworth. Grier has been pardoned and is hoping there won't be a shoe dropping, but she isn't betting on it. She had been sentenced to life and was drugged & tortured in prison, so she is broken and trying desperately to get her life back.

She is assisted by her haunted house Woolly, her zombie parakeet Keet & her best friend Amelie & Boaz ...more

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