Review: The Death of Death

The Death of Death by K.N. Parker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Death of Death is an odd and very short story. First of all, I should explain. This does seem to be aimed at a younger age group, but it was that title that appealed to me - I had thought it might be slightly like a Pratchett work. I wasn't entirely wrong, but that doesn't mean I was entirely right either... It also appealed as it was Christmas Day, and I had a new Kindle Fire to download books on to, and this title was under the 'free' books. So, yes, free will get me reading a lot. This is the first of those ones that I chose to read and I'm glad I did.

So, The Death of Death. There's no real way to describe the content of this very short story without going too far into spoilers, but I'll give it a shot. We are introduced to a character who is about to die, as she well suspects, and as has confirmed by her Guide. Before she dies, she would like her Guide's story - the story of how the Guide died. Except that's something the Guide doesn't know. So she goes looking.

And yes, that's all I can give as a summary, and even then it spoils a bit. For as short a story as it is, there is a very strong emotional punch to it all. Parker's words - though in need of some editing in places - convey their view of various afterlives well. They also manage to convey gruesome murders in a sympathetic light as seen by the people who were murdered, an interesting turn of events. Yes, I did just give a spoiler of sorts there, but I suspect that you had already guessed you'd hear about other people's deaths having read the summary of the story that I gave.

When we get to the ending - and what a bittersweet ending - there's a sense of ... being deprived, I think is the best way to explain it. While I think having gone on any longer than they had would have ruined the story, I did find myself wanting to spend more time with this world. I wanted to know more about the Guides, and the people who become them. I'd be interested to see if there's any other in this world.

3 out of 5, because it was just a bit too short for my liking.

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