The Wish List

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Dying isn't the end for Meg Finn: her soul is perfectly balanced between good and evil, so she is sent back to Ireland with one last chance to make it through the pearly gates.

Meg Finn was an ordinary Irish girl until an unfortunate accident with a shot gun, a propane tank, and a pitbull ended her life. She gets sent on to the afterlife and finds a few surprises: heaven and hell are real, and while blue auras go up, red goes down. But Meg's aura is....purple? Back she goes for one last chance to right some wrongs: Meg helps a crotchety and lonely old man rekindle his lost love, reclaim missed opportunities and settle old grudges, all while dodging Satan's minions.

This novel is quippy and light-hearted in spite of the fact that its heroine dies in the first few pages. Most of the fun is in the premise, and watching Satan's technologically challenged servants try to track down Meg before she gets away. Not brilliant, but certainly entertaining.

Fans of the Artemis Fowl series will find more of the Colfer's signature style here. Fans who have outgrown the teenage mastermind might try Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride or go a step further to the clever Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (which would appeal to anyone who liked the Beelzebub/St. Peter dynamic).

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When a sinister stranger recognizes fry cook Sam as a fellow necromancer, it may not be long before Sam ends up joining the dead people he can suddenly see.

Douglas Montgomery is a powerful necromancer, and he soon makes Sam an offer he can't refuse. (The Godfather's horse head in the bed has nothing on Douglas's idea of "sending a message".) Now Sam has to figure out the mystery of his own secret power before Douglas kills him.

Sam and his friends are full of quippy dialogue and pop-culture references that offset the frequent bloody violence and some by-the-numbers plotting. The paranormal creatures seem abundant in rainy Seattle, but they are all kept in check by a Council of their own kind - so there are plenty of critters aside from the usual werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and necromancers.

Will definitely appeal to fans of Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends and its sequels, or for Eoin Colfer's The Wish List. The sequel to Necromancer is Necromancing the Stone, and there's a third, untitled book in the works.

Also: it has an undead panda. Yeah, you heard me right.

Like this, only deader.