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Die for Me by Amy Plum
- Publisher: HarperTeen < HarperCollins
- Genre: Fantasy < Urban Fantasy
- Audience: Young Adult
- Pages: 341 (hardcover)
When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life–and memories–behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent. Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant–an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.
Well, spit on my empty grave–if it ain’t the attack of the Disney princesses!“
die for me
Oh, my God. That was quite the ride, and not even a fun one, either.
Before I get too far ahead of myself and brutally pick apart this book, I want to preface this review by saying that I originally read this when I was a pre-teen. At the time, this was my sh*t, I rated it a 5 stars. I loved it. Reading it for a second time, now in my twenties, I had hoped that it would be just as good as I remembered it, made even more satisfying by the nostalgia I would no doubt feel.
But this was an absolute train wreck from start to finish. And I couldn’t even enjoy it because I spent most of my time reading it trying to wipe the pained grimace from my face. So while I absolutely hated it this time through, I just wanted to be transparent about the fact that while I don’t think anyone above the age of 14 would enjoy this, I think upper middle graders and pre-teens still might.
The first point of contention: The writing is very, very much in the realm of early-YA.
This writing is soooo bad. Usually when I think in terms of writing style, it’s more about their tone of voice, their storytelling technique, the POVs they use, the tense, etc. With Die for Me, I cannot even focus on those aspects because the fundamentals aren’t even present. These fundamentals I usually take for granted, as with most published authors, it’s evident that they know how to write at least to some extent. But for this, every aspect of Plum’s writing just came off as bad.
To put it in present terms, it reads like the quality of the Wattpad fanfics saturating the website in the 2010s. The melodramatics of it all, from the plot to the characters, to the romance between Vincent and Kate… it was overwhelming to say the least.
Because I’m nothing if not thorough, here’s an example of her writing: ‘”Looks like you’re wrong there,’ Vincent said through me. ‘You never were the brightest zombie in the graveyard.'”
The second point of contention: The plot was a gruesome mess.
It’s with cases such as these, where the fundamentals of writing a novel aren’t necessarily there, that plot and writing go hand in hand. Given that Plum’s writing didn’t have redeeming qualities that I could parse out, it’s not entirely surprising that her plot was all over the place and the reasoning behind her characters and the plot digression or pace made little sense.
With the writing style, it was nearly impossible to take anything seriously.
If anything remotely risky happened, you could rest easy knowing nothing bad was going to result from it. Amy Plum didn’t take risks, which made for an incredibly boring story with no tension or intrigue. No one died, not even the one person who literally went out of their way to put themselves in the enemy’s hands to make sure of it.
Even the ultimate confrontation with the enemy near the end of the novel was so downright comical that it physically hurt to read. The quote I listed above, right under the synopsis: “Well, spit on my empty grave–if it ain’t the attack of the Disney princesses!” Yeah… that was literally said by the VILLAIN, mid-scene, mid-fight-to-the-death. At that point, it’s not even humorous, it’s embarrassing to witness. Oh, and another cringeworthy gem is when Vincent literally calls the villain “the bad guy in my story.” Like, out loud. For people to hear.
Ugh, let’s not even get into the villain monologue at the end.
You know the one. The one that conveniently explains everything the villain was planning behind the scenes, answers every single question the main character or the reader has about what was happening on the other side of things. And of course, it all happened in the middle of the “epic” confrontation, and gives the heroes enough time to save the day. Oh, and as if that wasn’t a lazy enough info-dump, of course Plum thought we, as readers, had to know what the other characters were up to during this showdown, as only three of the entire cast were present in the main debacle.
So what brilliant masterplan did Plum come up with? She really said: “Let’s have the leader of Vincent’s clan of zombies call a pointless meeting and have everyone tell what they were doing while the villain tried to kill two of our group.” For what reason? I have no idea, because absolutely nothing of value came from that, other than Plum apparently feeling pretty damn proud of herself for filling in gaps that no one even cares about her filling.
Third point of contention: The romance suffers from a severe case of Insta-love that not even the rest of the trilogy can begin to revive.
Sorry, not even many valiant, well-meaning attempts at resuscitation can even begin to save this sunken ship. From the moment they meet, Kate and Vincent are obsessed with one another.
Seriously, there’s a point where Vincent even admits to waiting around outside Kate’s house for DAYS, watching her, even though they were broken up at the time.
(That leads to a whole other aspect of creepiness, in which the revenants, which are literally more than half the cast, are all glorified stalkers. They may devote their existence to saving the lives of others, but then become unnaturally obsessed with their victories but even more so with their failures, following their rescues or their families for literal decades. Not just the occasional check in, but literally taking pictures and documenting them on the wall in their homes).
But back to Vincent and Kate, and his obsessive stalking of her during their incredibly brief but very melodramatic break from each other… another aspect of that scenario, which I find utterly ridiculous, is they were separated for such a short time and for lord knows what reason. Obviously, there was a reason they’d chosen to be apart in the first place, and considering how codependent they were on one another, to them it had to have been a pretty important reason. Yet days later (or was it a week?), they revisit it and decide it was “too much” for them and “let’s get back together, okay?” *ROLLING MY EYES*
Fourth point of contention: The side characters are only present to (1) reinforce how “pretty” our MC Kate is by continuously hitting on her, or (2) serve as convenient cannon-fodder or star in a scene or plot point that only exists to provide shock-value.
As if it didn’t already read like a Wattpad fanfic, Plum had to make sure we knew that the main character, Kate, was pretty and desirable. What better way to do this than having two of Vincent’s friends constantly hit on her? Like, for heaven’s sake, Plum, why not just choose a boyband (most popular options include 5SOS or 1D) and change all their names to the various bandmates?
While Die for Me might work for kids aged 10-13, it quickly turns into a nightmare of a read for anyone older. If you’re looking for something similar (but leagues better), I would suggest Angel Burn, Crave, or Darkness Becomes Her.
TROPES AND TRIGGER WARNINGS FEATURED
- Awful writing
- Insta-love
- Melodramatics
- Angel-like supernatural beings
- France aesthetics
OFFICIAL rating
Die for Me
Die for Mesimilar titles to die for me
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Let’s Chat in the Comments!
Die for Me is a unique in that it includes human-like supernaturals named revenants. These supernaturals are a cross between angels and vampires, sharing many aspects to both species. What are some vampire or angel books that you’ve read and loved in the past?
