Shinigami By Django Wexler

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At age fourteen, Sylph Walker died in a car accident. That turned out to be only the beginning of her problems. She and her sister Lina awake to an afterlife, of sorts — the world of Omega, ruled by cruel, squabbling, and nearly all-powerful Archmagi. When Lina finds a magical sword of immense power, she becomes the unwilling epicenter of the conflict. The sisters are forced to join the Circle Breakers, rebels sworn to prevent the tyrants from expanding their rule. Lina, bearing the ancient artifact, is hailed as the Liberator — the latest in a long line of heroes expected to destroy the Archmagi. Sylph finds herself at the head of the rebel armies fighting to take back the land and the lives of its people. But what kind of a land is it? Is Omega really the world that lies beyond death? And who is the legendary Lightbringer, a being greater even than the Archmagi? Shinigami

This book changed the way I perceive teens and females as protagonists in fantasy novels. I never liked them. They never really struck a chord with me, I guess. But in this book, they did. The action and the pacing of the story really moves this one along quickly. I had a lot of fun reading it. Django Wexler Ok Django Wexler I got this at a garage sale and if I hadn't stumbled on it, there's no way I'd have ever known it existed. Anyway, the title made me think of Bleach and the synopsis sounded interesting, so I took a shot.

Two teenage sisters die in a car accident and wake up alive in another world. Before they can even get their bearings, they stumble upon a confrontation between 2 other girls and a group of soldiers. Events escalate from there (a cool magic sword is involved) and before they know it, the sisters find themselves at the forefront of a rebellion in a strange land that they barely understand.

I barely understood anything either for a large portion of this book. The world-building was weird. Even when things were explained, I still didn't get it. It was frustrating at times, but I stuck with it because there was definitely a good sense of the build-up -- you just knew it was all leading up to something, and that something was gonna be HUGE.

And the climax was pretty cool, but not particularly satisfying. The ending was a combination of wow, awesome! and hmph, that sure was convenient along with a healthy dose of I have no fucking clue what just happened.

This book was pretty damn long and at times, I really REALLY felt it. But there was always the steady, mysterious build-up throughout, as well as little subplots that I enjoyed and kept me interested (my favorite being everything involving Vhaal). It took me awhile to connect to Slyph and Lina, but by the end of the book I felt like they were decent heroines and appreciated the overall growth in both their characters. (Although I really don't get why the author chose to make Slyph only 14 years old. It didn't make sense and she certainly never sounded or acted that young.) Anyway, overall I liked it, but I'd be hesitant to recommend this to just anyone.

Django Wexler Very nice world building, and Wexler meets C.S. Lewis' definition of true fantasy. I did not feel the main character was 14, as is stated in the book. I think it would have worked a little better (for me) if she had been a year or two older. The story line requires her to be brilliant, and have a knowledge of chemistry that I think unlikely of a 14 year old. Her maturity level is years beyond what most kids that age could muster or be able to implement around the turmoil and angst of mid adolescence. Django Wexler