Eighteen Lives by Dove Calderwood

Eighteen Lives—Dove Calderwood

Way back in the eighteenth century, a girl begs Death to take her own life in exchange for her dying sister’s. But unfortunately for her, it’s not so straightforward as a death for a life. Death doesn’t tell her that she will have to keep giving her life over and over. Throughout the ages, the poor girl makes it to her eighteenth birthday, only to die and be reborn again with all her previous memories.

In her eighteenth life as Heather, though, Death comes to her door once more, this time with proposition for her. Death’s realm is fraught with civil unrest, and he needs her help to restore balance. Some wayward souls refuse to move on: there’s talk of a prophecy, of a girl who can defy the natural order, of a girl alive in the land of Death, one who can help them cross back over.

The premise of Eighteen Lives is fantastic. I love that poor Heather has lived so many lives through time, with so many different names and faces, and brings those experiences into each new life. It’s an interesting twist on the concept of reincarnation. Props to Calderwood for a great idea.

And Calderwood’s writing style is pretty solid. Heather’s first-person perspective allows readers to be at the front and center of the action. Whether she’s in a high school classroom, dealing directly with Death, or running from his minions, we are always right there with her. That first-person perspective is not always an easy thing to manage, but Calderwood succeeds in staying with Heather throughout; I didn’t feel like I was outside of Heather’s head, nor that I had too much information that Heather wouldn’t know.

I can’t say that I liked Heather all that much as a protagonist, though. She had an odd sense of priority when it came to the others around her. She was more focused on her love interest and those around her than on her own well-being, and not in a healthy way. And she acted like Death was a complete savage for his actions (which, granted, he was), but then she duped and double-crossed him multiple times, only to make use of his apparent kindness when it suited her. She never even asked about his side of the situation. Though she is understandably bitter about the deal she made with him long ago, I would think that eighteen lifetimes would mature a person a bit. 

I wish this book had been split into several, a trilogy at least. It would have given readers more time to get to know the characters better and given the characters more opportunities to unfold naturally. As it was, a lot of valuable time was spent on characters who ultimately didn’t add much to the story and not enough on those who did. I want to know more about Calderwood’s Death: why he is who he is, why the balance matters so much, and what happens if it gets out of whack. That stuff falls by the wayside, though, in lieu of the soggy and unconvincing arcs of the love story and the frenemy battle. It’s possible that with an extended story more interesting details could have come forward, but at times I just felt like I was slogging through loads of back-and-forth gunk to get to the good stuff.

But I’m not sorry I read Eighteen Lives. There’s work that could be done, but it is a debut novel, to be fair. If it becomes a series, I’ll consider reading more.