This first book in the Afterlife Incorporated series is a blend of humor, urban fantasy, and supernatural intrigue. If you are fans of Christopher Moore's work, especially his Grim Reaper books, you might enjoy this series. Ember Munro was a Toronot life coach, now dead...or almost. Her life was terminated through a medically-assisted death because of termnial metastisized cancer. However, a bureaucratic error took her six months early and finds herself in that liminal space between life and death as a ghost unable to pass on into the afterlife. She bounces from one reaper to another seeking help but no one seems to be able to help her until she latches on to a fired reaper and medium. She hopes that they can help her pass over because if she can't her soul might deteriorate and she will become a wraith, supernatural creatures who feed on the recently deceased. However, she soon finds that the afterlife is not all it's crack up to be.
Only Mostly Dead is a an enjoyable read for fans of paranormal satire who are looking for something that feels fresh yet familiar. I found the protagonist to be quirky but resilient as she interacts with the denizens of life, afterlife, and the in-between. One of the author's most creative skill is developing a paranormal world with its own bureaucratic rules reminding me of Beetlejuice's similarly structured purgatory. The humor offsets the more dramatic moments indicating another skill of the author. The next book in the series won't be released until July. I will just have to wait until then to get my hands on it.
Only Mostly Dead is a an enjoyable read for fans of paranormal satire who are looking for something that feels fresh yet familiar. I found the protagonist to be quirky but resilient as she interacts with the denizens of life, afterlife, and the in-between. One of the author's most creative skill is developing a paranormal world with its own bureaucratic rules reminding me of Beetlejuice's similarly structured purgatory. The humor offsets the more dramatic moments indicating another skill of the author. The next book in the series won't be released until July. I will just have to wait until then to get my hands on it.