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- Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
- Source: Review Copy
- Format: Ebook
- Pages: 327
- Publication Date: October 2018
- My Rating: 4 stars
The Die of Death is the second installment in The Great Devil War series by Kenneth B. Andersen. Check out my review of the first book The Devil’s Apprentice! This series follows a middle-grade boy Phillip, who finds himself in hell after being accidentally killed. He doesn’t belong in hell since he is inherently very good-natured. The first book narrates his dilemma of whether he should to be good person or embrace his bad side which is brought out by staying in Hell. He meets some very interesting people in hell including Lucifer, a talking cat Lucifax, Hell’s gatekeeper Grumblebeard and a devil-girl Satina with whom he forms a growing friendship. Laced with humor and having undertones of deeper themes, this series has all the components of a good YA fantasy series.
At the start of the book, Phillip has returned to normal life at school. However, his time in Hell has changed him. He has become good at lying to people, which was impossible for him a few months ago. He plays pranks on people and doesn’t do his homework. Strangely, he also keeps having near-death experiences. Then suddenly, he finds himself in the Other-world again.
Death is a major part as well as a character in this book. I liked that the plot was not similar to the first book and more like the start of something bigger. The hourglass concept was very interesting. The writing was more developed than the first book and I enjoyed it in this part more. Phillip’s emotional struggle was shown very clearly. Satina’s character felt a bit different in this book. I still can’t quite figure her out, and I’m hoping to know her better in the upcoming books. I liked how Phillips and Satina’s relationship slowly developed. There was a focus on characters other than Phillip as well in this book such as Grumblebeard and Ravine. The characters did come off as a bit ridiculous at times instead of funny. Also, I feel that at the beginning of the book, it took too much time to explain why Phillip was sent to Hell.
In terms of originality, this series does follow the trope of a regular boy being special and destined for something bigger. But the way that the author has created the world and executes the plot, it doesn’t feel the same as other YA fantasy series.
The enjoyed the ending and it was well-done. It was unexpected, and I could see that the story isn’t over.
