Review: Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre

Title: Mortal Danger
Author: Ann Aguirre
Series: Immortal Game
Book #: 1
Pages: 384
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating: 
Goodreads Rating: 3.76
Published: Aug. 5th, 2014

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...

Taschima's POV:

"Imagine a world where, if enough people believe in them, the nightmares come true."

...and with that single quote the whole intention of the book changes. I thought it was about revenge, but clearly it seems I was mistaken because there are other things that take precedence; like everything else. Let's just say that summary is a bit misleading.

There are so many interesting facets to Mortal Danger; the smart girl who was put down and rose from the ashes to take revenge on her enemies, the guy who comes out of the shadows to help her in her quest, the possibility of time travel, faustian favors, intrigue, forbidden love… Mortal Danger has it all. But then it continues adding facets and more facets to the story, monsters, Bloody Mary, weird firms that deal with the devil (which remind me of Wolfram & Hart from the Angel series), an overall game, obscure gods... It reaches too far. It tries to be so much it falls short in every category and ends up being this convoluted mess.

Mortal Danger is a mix of Mean Girls with Supernatural with Faustian favors with time traveling with... Basically it is a lot of things in one, so many things that it kind of loses perspective after a little bit. Set in a private high school while not solely basing all its intrigue in said high school social dynamic. Mortal Danger deals with supernatural forces that seemingly “help” those who have given up on life (and who have the brightest futures ahead of them); for a price. Which reminds me of crossroads demons from Supernatural, only in Mortal Danger you get three wishes in the span of 5 years and the business people find you.

"Some people might think this was a superficial request, but they wouldn't understand why I wanted it. Not just so I'd know-for once-what it was like to be one of the beautiful people. No, once I got inside the golden circle, I' dismantle it brick by brick. A sharp, angry smile cut free, and I didn't care what Kian thought. From this point forward, I had a goal-and planning was my forte."

The thing about Mortal Danger is that in the beginning it held much promise, which is why I stuck around. This broken girl was push to her inner edge and she was about to give up on life someone offers her the deal of a lifetime, to get revenge on those who have wronged her. It was intriguing and already the author had me hooked. But then it tried to incorporate too much too quickly. I was into it for the revenge factor, this girl, this smart girl who has a grudge that is justified, was going to make them pay. Only, she loses sight of her goals as soon as she is included in the inner club. Kind of reminds you of Mean Girls, don't it? She is still nice and all but she definitely steals the queen bee place from the ruling girl.

Edie is a smart cookie. She impresses me in that she pays close attention to details. But after a while she becomes extremely paranoid about everything and everyone around her. I love a little skepticism in my YA heroines, but she took it to the limit. The guy couldn’t say ANYTHING without her being like “Oh, look you can put three words together and say something charming, YOU MUST BE EVILS.” It got a little old too fast, which made me slow down my reading because I was annoyed with her.

It is kind of sad when less than half way in you already know the ending. It was too damn obvious. Some deaths I didn't see coming, but the ending? I nailed it. So it was a little, eh, boring.

The romance was neither here nor there. Edie for the most part  didn't trust her romantic interest, though she REALLY wanted to. She wouldn't even call him for help because she didn't want to become codependent. Am, if I am stuck in a supernatural world of trouble you bet your ass I am going to call the only person who might hold some information that may save me! And not just, make out with him and waste his brain full of information.

So, Mortal Danger main problem is that it tried to bite more than it could chew. What I thought was going to be one thing turned out to be something completely different, and slightly creepy. It would have been fine if I knew form the start what I was getting myself into... but I didn't know. I still sort of don't know. It felt like it was two different stories trying to merge together but they didn't manage to do this in harmony.