Beautiful Death – A Review

“Luck is a four letter word.”

But oh, how lucky I am to have had the opurtunity to read the ARC for this story. And now I get to share all the lovely details with you fine people!

You all know by now (or atleast, you may have guessed) that my love knows no bounds for Joely Sue Burkhart’s work. If I didn’t know it before, reading Beautiful Death proved it.

This story is nothing like The Rose of Shanhasson. No, this story has a beauty all it’s own. No carbon copies set in a different time here. Joely weaves her worlds, characters, and creatures with such mastry you’re left in a state of complete awe as the tale unfolds.

And this one was a doozey!

Review Below:

New Olympia stands as a becon of hope to it’s citzens after a mutating alien virus nearly caused the end of the world as they knew it. Regular vaccinations may keep the people from contamination, but only the First Marshall of Athens, Isabella Thanatos, keeps them from rebellion against the politicians and outright panic when the monsters, spwaned from the outbreak of the virus, come to town. The contaminants know her only as Beautiful Death. For she’s killed hundreds of their kind to keep her city and it’s poeple safe. 

When the Monster’s come to play, you can bet Beautiful Death stands at the ready to slay.

Only, she’s turnning into a monster herself. In the final stages of mutation, forced to flee the city she’s long standed to protect, Isabella finds herself having to rely on the monster she hates most of all.

 Hades.

Lord of the Underworld. Underworld of contaminents that is.

And what better place for Death to be than in the Underworld?

Chilling, no?

I believe Joely described it as “Science Fiction Post-Apocolyptic Romance”.

Me? I’m just calling it “EPIC”!

Where do I begin?

Greek Mythology? Yes yes yes! Of course I don’t need to explain the Hades references, that’s pretty clear. Ohoho, but I haven’t even mentioned any of the other key players in this tale of betrayal, politics, love, hate, and of course the darkness and light that resides in us all. Let me just say that the story reeks with Mythology.  It’s a very delightful stench though. One Joely seems to work well with in a lot of her stories, which is a big part of it’s appeal.

I was also toroughly impressed with the way she handled the Marshalls. (I’m a big lover of the military.) *g* The banter and comraderie between them was great. Some of my favorite scenes was just listenning to them talk trash with one another. I absolutely LOVED Herakles! He had the best lines in terms of comic relief. And he was full of the very thing you’d want in a brother in arms; unwavering loyalty.

 I’m actually torn between who I liked better, him, or Charon, Hades’ drakon Enforcer.

(Joely, your sister has great taste in characters. Then again, as I said before, you make it insanely difficult to dislike any.)

Ok, I think I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m interested in fashion? One of the characters, Icarus, Isabella’s best friend, owns On Death’s Wings, a highly admired a sought after clothing line. I know this is mostly just geek-ary for me that noone else will find very fascinating but I was so enthralled in the magnificient descriptions of the designs! Of course, everything’s objective, and what she had in mind could be totally different from my visualizations, but in my mind they’re gorgeous! But more to the point, they play a crucial role in the story, which is always a plus.

The romance between Hades and Isabella was scorching hot and bitterly cold. Complex and Beautiful. And with each interaction between them it just got more and more interesting.

 But you don’t have to take my word for it.

You may read an exceprt here,  win a free download at Joely’s giveaway, details here, or wait until it’s release date (June 20th, 2008) to purchase it from Drollerie Press.

 Either way, Happy reading!