When high school junior Jana Webster dies suddenly, she finds herself in Dead School, where she faces choices that will determine when, she, a Riser, will move on, but she strives to become a Slider instead, for the chance to be with the love of her life--even if it means killing him.

When high school junior Jana Webster dies suddenly, she finds herself in Dead School, where she faces choices that will determine when, she, a Riser, will move on, but she strives to become a Slider instead, for the chance to be with the love of her life--even if it means killing him.

Reading Dead Rules, I found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. Although the book has some major flaws, mostly in terms of consistently and plotting, I had a great time reading it.

Liked:

Fun, quirky and above all, unusual story, which is great to find in YA UF.
Funny and addictive writing.
Great characters and compelling, fresh story.

Disliked:

So much whining! Yes, it was unfair. No, killing your boyfriend won't make it better. Sheesh.
Jana is so dependent! Seriously icks me out when a character defines themselves by their relationship status.
PLOT HOLES the size of JUPITER all around.
Too much left unexplained.
Too open ending, unless this was the first book in a series. Which I hope is the case.
Lots of showing in exposition - could've been handled better.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Readers who appreciate dark humour, macabre themes and over-the-top kind of "love". ( )

RATING: another 3.5-ish.

And... here's yet another book that turned out to be a bit different than what I was expecting (I really should start paying more attention to book synopsis'). You know, with the whole 'dead school' business, I thought the main character was going to be learning to control supernatural powers and all.

Well, I was wrong. "Dead Rules" is more of a creepy, horror-ish story about how love can be obsessive and destructive. The whole setting reminded me of "Angel Beats" which was nice since I loved the whole "school-for-dead-teenagers" idea that was presented in the anime.

This book explores the same concept; Jana Webster died in a freak bowling accident and ended up in "dead school". Why, it's unclear but apparently dying doesn't exempt one from finishing high school. Of course "dead school" is not like regular school... or at least the classes aren't; the social division seems to be pretty similar.

But Jana isn't interested in any of that. She only wants Michael, her perfect boyfriend to join her... in death. And she'll do whatever it takes to make sure she gets her wish.

So... good concept, yes? A strange school where the teachers teach weird things and people are almost literally divided into "most and less likely to succeed" groups. What they must achieve, however, is a mystery - although it's not difficult to guess.

Pity the author decided to focus the story on Jana's love life. Don't get me wrong, he does it a lot better than most YA authors. The romance is certainly believable and Jana's unhealthy obsession is portrayed in a chillingly realistic manner. But... the world is so interesting I almost resented the author's choice of plot. I think he could have done a lot more with the story if Jana had tried to understand her new life and the purpose of the school instead of spending the entire book trying to contact her boyfriend.

Even if the book doesn't tell the story I most wanted to read about I still liked it. Russell created brilliant, original main characters - Jana and Mars - who are very different from your usual protagonists. This book is very character-driven and it works mainly because although Jana is creepy and slightly off her rocker we still empathize with her a bit as she is inherently nice even if she's... well, crazy.
Mars is another surprise. He seems like your typical "bad boy" character but is so much more.

Overall, "Dead Rules" was a fun, almost compulsive read; I liked the idea behind the book but the execution could have been better. ( )

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: This was a surprising and interesting take on death from a dead teen’s point of view.

Opening Sentence: Jana had the jitters.

The Review:

Dead Rules starts with Jana on her first day of school. The problem is that Jana is dead, and the school is for dead kids to help acclimate them to their new state of being. Jana doesn’t remember dying, but it eventually comes to her. Her strongest memory is of her boyfriend that she is still hopelessly in love with. The book is from a third person perspective, so we have a chance to see what her boyfriend is doing on earth, and we find out that he and his two friends are not innocent in relation to her death. Jana gets a hint on her first day that she might have been murdered from a notorious Slider, Mars Dreamcote. There are two main classifications of dead in Dead Rules: Riser and Slider. Sliders are kids who died doing something bad, or don’t follow the rules while at Dead School. There is not much known about what happens to Sliders after Dead School. Risers are kids who would rise after Dead School to the rest of the afterlife. Virgins were used as messengers, and anyone who committed suicide were basically watchmen at Dead School. I found this whole set up of the afterlife very interesting.

Each of the characters show signs of what they died of. There are kids missing limbs, stuck on stretchers, or with large arrows sticking out their heads. Each of the characters that Jana interacts with gets their own section that explains how they died, and little more about the characters themselves. I really loved seeing how their death affected the personalities and daily lives of the teens. There is a lot for Jana to learn and get used to, but she is a fast learner. Her only interest is being with her boyfriend, Michael again. That is her sole determination that drives the whole book. She would kill to have her boyfriend with her again. I can’t say much more about the plot without giving it away.

Jana sees herself as half of a whole. Without Michael by her side, she doesn’t know who she is. Her whole life has been full of those around her, like her mother, ignoring her. She doesn’t have any friends besides Michael, and she has their whole future planned out. When all of that is taken away from her with her death, she doesn’t know what to do with herself besides do all she can to be with Michael again, even if that means killing him too.

There are rules for everything, and there are consequences if those rules are broken. Jana tries to use the system to her advantage, but finds out that some things are just not meant to be. She tries to cheat death, but she can’t thwart the Dead Rules to have the life she left behind with Michael. Those around her like her roommate Arva, or the attractive, but dangerous Slider Mars Dreamcote try to help her learn the rules, but Jana makes her own choices. What else is there left to do for newly dead teen? I would recommend this novel for anyone interested in a fresh, funny take on death.

Notable Scene:

There was onlyone way Jana could be happy again. And that was to be with Michael.

“If Darcee does wake up, she’ll be out of here. Just like that, back to the Planet she goes.”

“The Planet is real life, then?”

“I shouldn’t call it that, I suppose. But everyone does.”

“Where’s the Planet?”

“Oh, it’s all around us,” Arva croaked cheerfully. “We’re right in the middle of it. There’s a boundary between us and the real world. The fences around the dorm and around the school. But it’s more than fences. When they let you leave the campus, you become a spirit. You’ll think you have your body just like you do here, but you don’t. It’s pretty scary.”

“So we’re right here on Earth?”

“Yeah, that’s the cool part. Dead School is in a real school building and the dorm is a real building on the Planet too. They have Dead Schools all over. Around the world, I imagine. They’re vacant buildings. But we get to use them. When a new student shows up, they try to find you a vacancy near to where you live. Your town could be very near, you see. Or maybe we’re right in it.”

“Who are they? You said ‘they’ try to find a Dead School near to where you live.”

“The regents,” Arva said. “There’s a Council of Regents. They oversee everything. They’re like a board of education. I have to find you the student guidebook, don’t I?

Jana realized Arva didn’t really want to show her a copy of the student guidebook. In fact, Jana decided, Arva was probably keeping it from her on purpose. She enjoyed getting to explain her version of things to Jana.

FTC Advisory: Harper Teen provided me with a copy of Dead Rules. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )