Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (2010) Lish McBride

Sam can’t decide what to do with himself, which means that by default he has fallen to the painful default of food service. His life is going nowhere, he’s job is crap, but he has friends, and friends can make anything easier. Even drawing the attention of a very scary man and his even scarier minions.

This is a fabulous young adult book. There is boinking, but it’s off screen (so to speak) and shouldn’t keep this book from young adult users.

The story is very good, but what I liked best was Sam’s relationship with his friends, and his recognition that friends are there to help you when you need it. It’s nice to read about teens/young adults with strong friendships. Sure, there’s angst, but it’s hard to be too angsty if you have a best friend to kick you in the butt when you get too full of yourself.

I read this because I had downloaded and read Necromancer: A Novella (free! it was free!) and enjoyed the writing and characters. (Let that be a lesson to you, publishers. I most likely would never have bought this book if I hadn’t read the free novella. But I enjoyed the novella so much I wanted to read more books by the author.)

There is, quite obviously, going to be a sequel, but for the most part the story arc was resolved, and I want to read the next book not because of any unresolved bits, but because I enjoyed the characters and writing.

If you think a story about a boy becoming a necromancer might be at all interesting to you, I highly recommend reading “Necromancer: A Novella” because if you enjoy that, you’ll certainly enjoy Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Henry Holt and Co

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