Death’s Door by April White

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Title: Death's Door
Author: April White
Series: Immortal Descendants: Baltimore Mysteries #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: May 26, 2020
Format: Kobo Book
Pages: 156
Genres: Mystery, Paranormal
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 2, Lenoreo's 2023 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

In the fall of 1849, Edgar Allan Poe disappeared. He was missing for five days, and was then found wandering near Gunnar's Hall in Baltimore, delirious and possibly drunk, wearing strange clothes and carrying a cane. Poe died four days later in a Baltimore hospital, never having regained proper consciousness except to call out for a mysterious person by the name of “Reynolds.”

Of course Poe was a Clocker, and I knew I would write that story someday. What I hadn't expected was who would find Poe when he stumbled into the 21st Century.

Her name is Alexandra "Ren" Reynolds, and she has a secret too.

My Review:

4 stars — I just love how Ms. White packs so much into her books.  I honestly feel like my favourite part is reading the Author’s Note at the end and finding out which elements were based in fact and where she took liberties to make it work in this world.

I have read the original Immortal Descendants series, and so I was familiar with the world and could see hints and cameos here and there.  It’s hard to know for sure, but I honestly feel like you could read this as a standalone just fine, it’s just that you will see more and know more if you have read the other series.  So while I definitely recommend the original, this spin off has so much going for it so don’t be afraid to just dive in!  It’s just that you won’t quite understand the intricacies of what Ren is, but I have a feeling you’d know more if the series continued.

Back to the packs a punch bit: the author weaves in smaller bits of history and gives them a personal touch that really makes them even more impactful.  Through Ren we get to see issues she faced in her past from slavery to the underground railroad.  And we got to learn about some things happening in Poe’s time that I’d never heard about before (cooping).  And seeing Poe and Ren initially interact, you got a visceral sense of the injustices in race and gender of his time.

I appreciated the mystery around how he ended up in her bar, and how to get him back.

On the other side, we got to see how Ren had isolated herself over the many long years, and I loved how Poe helped her to start to see how that wasn’t good for her.  I appreciated what had made her build her walls, but I also loved seeing those walls crack here and there with both George and Nick.

I really hope Ms. White will be writing more with Ren, b/c I think she has an interesting voice and perspective.

COYER Community: I buddy read this one with Berls yet again, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it!  She also rated it 4 stars (her review coming soon).