Review: Death of the Body by Rick Chiantaretto

Title: Death of the Body

Author: Rick Chiantaretto 

Series: Crossing Death #1

Genre: Paranormal/Demons/YA

Publisher: Orenda Press

Publication Date: December 13th, 2013

Edition: ebook

Source: Received from author for review

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Book Depository | Powell's

Synopsis:

I grew up in a world of magic. By the time I was ten I understood nature, talked to the trees, and listened to the wind. When the kingdom of men conquered my town, I was murdered by one of my own—the betrayer of my kind. But I didn't stay dead.

I woke to find myself in a strange new world called Los Angeles. The only keys to the life I remembered were my father’s ring, my unique abilities, and the onslaught of demons that seemed hell-bent on finding me. Now I must find out who I really am, protect my friends, and get back to my beloved hometown of Orenda.

I was given the opportunity to receive and review an ARC of this book. I am still a little on the fence about this book, to be honest. I finished it a couple days ago, and I have spent that time mulling over what I just read, and how I feel about it.

It was in no way a "bad" book, it just flows differently than most books. It starts with our main character, Edmund, as a ten-year-old and ends with him being 21. The thing that is odd about this is, that he remains just as mature at the end as he is at the beginning. Not to say that he behaves like a 10-year-old when he's 21, but more the other way around. I am also trying to grasp what genre this book is. It falls in the Paranormal/fantasy genre, but there is also a good dose of darkness in this book. Not something for young teens that's for sure, at least in my opinion. There's a bit of gore.

Another thing that I think some people might not like about this book is how it rips on religion as a whole. It's not just the Christian religions that are mocked, but almost all of them. If someone is easily offended at having their beliefs mocked, then this book really isn't for you.

One small thing that I really didn't catch onto, until it was flat out said, was that one of the supporting characters is gay. I didn't know the character is gay until the part in the book when he flat out says he was having sex with a dude, it was established that he was a horn dog but I just assumed that he was a straight horn dog.  It's not that the character being gay bothers me, its just that it was never really even hinted at in the first place, or maybe it was and I just didn't catch it.

Another thing that I am hoping/assuming will have importance in future books is the romance that was set up between the main character, Edmund, and Xia (the cousin of his Japanese Dorm-mate). The way it was set up, and the way that it progresses and "ends" makes me assume that their love is supposed to be important on some level. Men who write romances into their books generally don't unless it's going to be important on some level. Especially in a book like this one where love is not the focus of the story in any way. I will be reading the next book, the way this one ended makes it impossible for me to not want to know what's going to happen.  It's so damn confusing and interesting it has made me curious, and now I need to know where this story is going.