Book Review: ‘When I Was Death’ by Alexis Henderson

We both loved Alexis Henderson’s ‘An Academy for Liars’ when we read it for the podcast last year so I’ve been on the look out for new releases from Henderson. I was so curious to learn that she was following up ‘An Academy for Liars’ with a YA horror novel.

It’s been a year since Roslyn lost her sister, Adeline, and she cant’t escape the grief and emptiness of the answered questions around Adeline’s death. When a group of unusual girls arrive in her small town, Roslyn can’t help but be drawn to them, especially when she learns that these were the girls that Adeline had spent the summer before she died with. These girls might have the answers she's looking for.

Roslyn quickly finds herself on a road trip with them, but soon finds out they share a dark secret: Death had saved them all from his clutches with a bargain to help him harvest the souls of the dying. To get answers to the mysteries behind Adeline’s death and stay travelling with the girls, Roslyn must make her own deal.

I already knew I loved Henderson’s writing and story telling so I wasn’t at all worried, but I was curious to see how they adapted to YA fiction. It worked: it’s dark, unsettling, and emotional, and there were some strong horror moments and a lot of a big conversations and issues tackled throughout the novel making it pitch perfect for a YA audience. Henderson is so adept at making the horror elements so tangible and human, even when they’re supernatural in nature.

The depiction of Death was particularly captivating: an immortal entity who experiences time all at once, can change their borrowed face, and the accidental affection for the girls that have been saved. While Death was unsettling and terrifying in the power he wields, and the brutal ways he shows it, there’s a few moments of unexpected kindness and humanity that really reflect the ideas of death as a part of being human, and the bargain for a life.

This is carried through with the temporary immortality held by Shiloh, Skye, Naomi, Iona, Chloe, and Riley. There’s a sense of immortality in teenagehood anyway, but these girls are literally granted a slice of it from their deal with Death. It makes them free. From social expectations, from rules about what to wear and how to act, what to do and where to be, and while they takes risks a mortal person wouldn’t, they’re not free of fear. It’s such a fascinating dichotomy to follow in a group with such different backgrounds, deaths and personalities.

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘When I Was Death’ and I’m already looking forward to Alexis Henderson’s next novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the review copy.