Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

Formats - Print, digital, audio

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Monster, Myth and Folklore

Audience: Y/A

Diversity: Māori characters, Black character, Chinese New Zealander character, asexual character, mentally ill character

Takes Place in: New Zealand

Content Warnings: Homophobia, Racism, Incest, Gore, Violence, Death, Sexual Assault, Rape (nothing graphic or "on screen"), Gaslighting, Body Shaming, Cannibalism, Sexism, Abelism, Mental Illness, Illness, Physical Abuse, Natural Disaster (Highlight to view)


Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Ellie Spencer is just like any other teenager at her boarding school. She hangs out with her best friend, Kevin; she obsesses over Mark, a cute and mysterious bad boy; and her biggest worry is her paper deadline. But then everything changes. The news headlines are all abuzz about a local string of killings that share the same morbid trademark: the victims were discovered with their eyes missing. Then a beautiful yet eerie woman enters Ellie's circle of friends and develops an unhealthy fascination with Kevin, and a crazed old man grabs Ellie in a public square and shoves a tattered Bible into her hands, exclaiming, "You need it. It will save your soul." Soon, Ellie finds herself plunged into a haunting world of vengeful fairies in an epic battle for immortality. Debut author Karen Healey introduces a savvy and spirited heroine with a fresh, strong voice. Full of deliciously creepy details, this incredible adventure is a deftly crafted story of Māori mythology, romance, and betrayal.

Reading any Y/A adult book with romance and a female lead is always a crapshoot; you get Hunger Games, or you could end up with a literary trash heap of sexism and poorly written teenagers (*cough* Twilight *cough*). There are SO many awful young adult books out there, and even the better written ones can still fall into the all-too-common trap of making the otherwise badass heroine a lovesick damsel with bad judgment. Even if the female lead manages not to turn into a teen stereotype, the other female characters may still turn into one-dimensional romantic rivals. Plus, I just hate romantic books.

So you can imagine my concern when I first picked up Guardian of the Dead, a horror story about myths, magic, and saving New Zealand. I was prepared for another crappy, hackneyed YA adult novel, and instead I found myself falling in love with this magical book before I finished the first chapter. Healy's characters are amazingly written, they're relatable and realistic, strong, flawed, and super diverse. In fact, this is the first horror story I've ever read with an asexual character. I actually squealed out loud at the early reveal and ran to tell all my friends that "holy shit there's a well written ace character in this book!!!" Healy also does an amazing job of describing her diverse cast without fetishizing them (or comparing skin color to food), while making sure her characters either get called out or they acknowledge their error when any of them say something sexist, racist, or homophobic.

Ellie, the protagonist and narrator, is flat out awesome, flaws and all. She isn't the conventionally gorgeous female lead that plagues most young adults novels. She's a tall, chubby girl with a flat chest, pasty skin, and zits, beautifully average and relatable, who isn't relegated to the position of the dieting, un-dateable, fat friend. She's a badass who doesn't take crap from anyone, has no problem being confrontational, and can hold her own in a fight. Ellie may be self-conscious about her height and belly rolls in the beginning, comparing herself to, and getting jealous of other women, but over the course of the story we get to watch her go from an insecure girl, to a confident woman. Plus, speaking as a chubby person of average appearance, it's so refreshing to have a heroine who doesn't look like a supermodel.

There's nothing wrong with being conventionally attractive, but PLEASE don't act like the average woman looks like a super model, or imply that being confident in your appearance is a bad thing.  

The other characters are pretty great too. Mark, Ellie's major crush, is an awkward outcast, with his own set of crippling insecurities that make it difficult for him to socialize, a far cry from the other cool, calm, bland Y/A love interests. Kevin, Ellie's best (and only) friend at school is also handled well. Instead of being an unrequited love interest, or the gay (or in this case asexual) best friend, Kevin gets to play the role of the damsel, or in this case “dude”, in distress. Instead of being a prop who exists only to aid Ellie, Kevin truly is her best friend, and she worries about his happiness and safety without expecting anything in return. In turn, Kevin trusts her with his deepest secrets, and provides emotional support and aid when she's at her lowest. The two share a close and meaningful relationship of mutual support and respect.

 Though, honestly, I found the relationship between Ellie and Iris to be the most interesting one in the book, much more so than any of the romantic ones. Initially Ellie strongly dislikes Iris because she's jealous of Iris' appearance and her close relationship with Kevin, but Iris is no one-dimensional mean girl out to steal herself a man. Instead, Iris is portrayed as an incredibly kind, caring and loyal person. Ellie openly admits, even in the beginning, that any hostility she feels towards Iris is due solely to her own insecurity, and she actively tries to work on that throughout the course of the book. As she makes an effort to be less judgmental, a friendship blossoms between the two young women, and Iris proves herself to be an invaluable ally, offering Ellie advice, trust, and unwavering support throughout the story. Instead of competing over Kevin's friendship, they join forces to protect him.

This book is wonderfully devoid of one of my biggest pet peeves in young adult fiction, the rival "mean girl". Why are women so often forced to become romantic rivals, with one in the role of the "good girl", while the other is portrayed as the "bitch" who uses sex to "steal" men? But in Guardian of the Dead, there's no fighting over a male love interest. At one point in the story Ellie leaves in disgust when she finds out one of her crushes is still in a relationship. She's horrified that he would treat women with such disregard, and turns the asshole down then and there. Hell, Iris even encourages Ellie when she notices she has a crush. Friendship and loyalty are always placed above romance, and selfishness is a major character flaw.

Iris may not have any martial arts training like Ellie, but she will totally put an eye out with that high heel if she has to.

The book manages to avoid the whole annoying virgin/whore thing altogether. There's no slut shaming, and a character's interest in sex (or lack thereof in Kevin's case) has no relation to their morality. For example, one of the side characters, Samia, chooses to wear a hijab around men, but prefers to walk around the girl's dorm in her underwear. Her behavior doesn't feel like a contradiction, prudishness, or exhibitionism, Samia just wears whatever makes her comfortable. The only character who comes close to a stereotypical, evil seductress, is the actual villain - a literal monster. And she, at least, has an actual reason to behave the way she does, as opposed to just being horrible for the fun of it. She might be the antagonist, but her actions and overall attitude towards humans is understandable in light of the history of her species. She is still pretty evil, but she's not seen as a "seductress" so much as a sexual predator who uses magic to bewitch men, whom she sees as little more than disposable possessions.


Which brings me to my next point, the emphasis put on consent in this book is amazing. Consent is a HUGE deal, and victims of assault are believed and supported by the other characters. Healy makes it clear that any type of coercion, whether it's by force, trickery, or magic, used to obtain sex is rape. Why is this so exciting for me? Because so many Y/A books seem to glorify abusive relationships and coercion. Edward and Bella's relationship in Twilight meets all the criteria of an abusive relationship, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and Women's Aid. Hush, Hush perpetuates rape culture by constantly dismissing the female lead's fear of her stalker "love interest". One of her teacher's literally tells her the creepy "hero" is only sexually harassing her because he "likes" her and it's not a big deal. Bookshop goes into all the ways Hush Hush, and other crappy Y/A novels promote rape culture, so I won't go off on a tangent about it here, but suffice it to say, Guardian of the Dead not only rejects all of those gross tropes, but calls them out. The aforementioned villainess' first victim is shown to be completely broken and traumatized from his experience, and Iris calls her a rapist. That's right, female on male sexual assault is acknowledged and treated seriously. The goddess, Hine-nui-te-pō (who is also an incest survivor) angrily points out that Māui sexually assaulted her when he tried to crawl in her vagina as she slept, but he's still considered a hero because history only focuses on Māui. A seemingly charming boy is revealed as a manipulative asshole when he tries to kiss and grope Ellie after she's changed her mind, and she's understandably pissed. Even Ellie, when given the opportunity to use magic to force someone to love her back, briefly contemplates the idea. However, she quickly realizes what she's actually considering, and regrets even entertaining such a horrible notion.



I imagined Ellie punching Edward from Twilight while drawing this, and it was so satisfying.

I could go on forever about all the reasons I loved this book; the themes from Greek and Māori myths, the nerdy comic books mentions, the humorously realistic depiction of boarding school life, the understanding of everyday racism, the beautiful descriptions of New Zealand, the lack of trite love triangles and abusive "bad boys", the whole world Healey has created, etc., but this review is already pretty long, so I'm going to summarize it as this: Healy takes what could have been another bland, generic Y/A novel and turned it into something beautiful, unique, and diverse. Here's hoping for a sequel from Healey!