Silence

by Michelle Sagara

Overview

The haunting beginning to Michelle Sagara's young adult paranormal trilogy, Queen of the Dead.

It began in the graveyard…

Ever since her boyfriend Nathan had died in a tragic accident, Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night. During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was. For Emma, life had stopped with Nathan’s death. But tonight was different. Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery. There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags. And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death....

Emma was not quite like other girls. It was true that other girls had experienced grief. Other girls had also lost their fathers, or had their boyfriends die in senseless accidents. But though she hadn’t known it till that night in the graveyard, unlike those other girls, she could see, touch, and speak with the dead....

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101642450
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	05/01/2012
Series:	Queen of the Dead Series , #1
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Michelle Sagara has published numerous short stories and fantasy novels, including the successful Cast (The Chronicles of Elantra) novels and her Queen of the Dead series. Michelle Sagara lives in Toronto with her husband and her two sons, the oldest of whom has finished high school. She started working in bookstores at the age of sixteen, and never stopped, although she also held full-time summer jobs at IBM. She reads, reviews the occasional book for the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and works at a bookstore, part-time. She can contacted via her website, michellesagara.com.
 

What People are Saying About This

Sarah Rees Brennan

“It's rare to find a book as smart and sweet as this one.”

Tanya Huff

“The strength of SILENCE lies not only in the way Sagara seamlessly integrates the paranormal into the lives of her characters, but in how very real those lives are. Sagara captures the way teenagers feel everything more intensely—love, hate, fear, wonder—and uses that to capture the hearts of her readers.”

Janni Lee Simner

"I've been a fan of Michelle Sagara West's writing for years, so I was thrilled when I heard she was writing YA. An evocative and thoroughly compelling story."

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Michelle Sagara’s Queen of the Dead series:

“It's rare to find a book as smart and sweet as this one.”
—Sarah Rees Brennan, author of The Demon's Lexicon 

“In Touch, Sagara paints an eerie and original picture of the afterlife.... Beautifully written, with characters so real—even the dead ones—they could be any of us, Touch is an exceptional addition to a powerful series. Don’t miss this.”
—Julie Czerneda, author of A Turn of Light

"Brilliant storyteller Sagara heads in a new direction with her Queen of the Dead series. She does an excellent job of breathing life into not only her reluctant heroine, but also the supporting players in this dramatic and spellbinding series starter. There is a haunting beauty to this story of love, loss, and a teenager’s determination to do the right thing. Do not miss out!"
—RT Reviews (top pick!)

“For all that this is a novel deeply concerned with loyalty, with healthy friendships, and with human decency, it doesn’t hesitate to wrap cold fingers around your spine and yank when the moment calls for it. Sagara’s characters are believable, flawed, and very human, and make for compelling reading.” —Tor.com

From the Publisher

"I've been a fan of Michelle Sagara West's writing for years, so I was thrilled when I heard she was writing YA. An evocative and thoroughly compelling story."

Janni Lee Simner

The strength of SILENCE lies not only in the way Sagara seamlessly integrates the paranormal into the lives of her characters, but in how very real those lives are. Sagara captures the way teenagers feel everything more intensely—love, hate, fear, wonder—and uses that to capture the hearts of her readers.

Tanya Huff

It's rare to find a book as smart and sweet as this one.

Sarah Rees Brennan

"Brilliant storyteller Sagara heads in a new direction with her Queen of the Dead series. She does an excellent job of breathing life into not only her reluctant heroine, but also the supporting players in this dramatic and spellbinding series starter. There is a haunting beauty to this story of love, loss and a teenager’s determination to do the right thing. Do not miss out!"

RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)

"Brilliant storyteller Sagara heads in a new direction with her Queen of the Dead series. She does an excellent job of breathing life into not only her reluctant heroine, but also the supporting players in this dramatic and spellbinding series starter. There is a haunting beauty to this story of love, loss and a teenager’s determination to do the right thing. Do not miss out!"

Romantic Times Book Reviews

"Brilliant storyteller Sagara heads in a new direction with her Queen of the Dead series. She does an excellent job of breathing life into not only her reluctant heroine, but also the supporting players in this dramatic and spellbinding series starter. There is a haunting beauty to this story of love, loss and a teenager’s determination to do the right thing. Do not miss out!"

RT Book Reviews

A girl in mourning for her dead boyfriend learns that she has a power over the dead that may endanger her own life. Emma visits her boyfriend's grave in the cemetery often. While walking her dog one night, she meets Eric there and has a terrifying encounter with a ghostly crone who kisses her. Thereafter Emma can see the dead, and if she touches them, others can see them too. Eric and his friend Chase work for an agency that tracks such beings, and they believe she has become a necromancer, one who can steal power from ghosts. Chase elects to kill Emma, but Eric, although he agrees, opts to wait. Meanwhile, Emma has sensed the ghost of a little boy who died in a fire, and she insists on rescuing his spirit from that ongoing hell. Sagara concocts an interesting and original premise but seems most concerned with explaining precisely how Emma's paranormal powers work. She tends to philosophize or to indulge in such extensive detail during the suspense scenes that she creates diversions from the action. Thus, the suspense often takes a back seat to exposition. Nevertheless, a few tension-filled scenes involving ghosts and an evil necromancer hit their target. She inserts an effective chick-lit element with Emma's friends, broadening her novel's appeal. Promising if not yet fully realized. (Paranormal suspense. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews