Review: Life Eternal by Yvonne Woon

Life Eternal by Yvonne Woon


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Renée Winters has changed. When she looks in the mirror, a beautiful girl with an older, sadder face stares back. Her condition has doctors mystified, but Renée can never reveal the truth: she died last May, and was brought back to life by the kiss of her Undead soul mate, Dante Berlin.

Now, her separation from Dante becomes almost unbearable. His second life is close to an end, and each passing day means one less that she will spend with the boy who shares her soul.

Just when Renée has almost given up hope, she learns of the Nine Sisters—brilliant scholars who, according to legend, found a way to cheat death. She can’t shake the feeling that they are somehow connected to her dreams, strange visions that hint at a discovery so powerful, and so dangerous, that some will stop at nothing to protect it.

Renée thought she knew the truth about life and death. But there is a secret woven through history that holds the only hope for Dante and Renée. Unless they find answers soon, their time together is doomed to be cut short.

Book 2 in the Dead Beautiful series
I really liked this book- it was gripping, mysterious and heartfelt, however, this definitely felt like a middle book, in that the story didn't move much further along and nothing was resolved by the end. But I did feel like this book was a lot clearer than the first one. This is because in Dead Beautiful the explanation about the Undead was so long in coming there were times during book 1 where I wasn't sure what was going on and it took me a long time for the rules of the legends and mythology to sink in. I understood this book a lot better, because the foundations were already there.


In Dead Beautiful Renee and Dante found each other and fell in love, but they struggle to be together in this book. Renee's grandfather has threatened to kill Dante if he ever sees him again, and makes plans to send Renee to an alternative school. The two of them do manage to communicate a little through Renee's former roommate, and even sneak a meeting once or twice, but it is increasingly dangerous for them to be near each other.


There is also a love triangle thrown into the story. At her new school normal, dependable Noah is very interested in Renee, and eager to spend time with her. And even though Renee tells him she has a boyfriend, as Dante's mysterious whereabouts, secrets and lies throw everything she thinks she knows into question, it is Noah that Renee turns to to help her solve the mystery of the Nine Sisters. So this book becomes a mystery as Renee and Noah set out to solve a puzzle based on Renee's visions of the past and present, and an exciting adventure across Canada with battles against the Undead, and plenty of mysterious clues and riddles.


This is a strong series with a creepy, eerie undertone to it that makes it very cool. I'm liking the story so far for the love story, the characters and it's unique take on the well-used genre of teen paranormal romance. I will be reading the next in the series when it is published.



Life Eternal is due to be published in February 2012
Thanks to Disney Hyperion publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy of the book.



Rest of the series:

(US Cover)



Book 1 is Dead Beautiful. Read my review of it here.