Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up with the cartoon Beetlejuice, fascinated by the composed Lydia running around a bright and insane afterlife. Any cheerfully gothic story I would latch on with glee. Perhaps this is why fantasy has always been my favourite genre, and why I cannot help but mix dark and light, and why my first novel naturally took place in the afterlife. I wrote my first book for my brother, because he was as interested as me in all the weird in the world, but unlike me, he had dyslexia and hated reading. He received the story in instalments and to my amazement and pride, he just gobbled them up. 


I wrote

Voice from the Dead: A Young Adult Portal Fantasy in the Afterlife

By Aster Shock,

Book cover of Voice from the Dead: A Young Adult Portal Fantasy in the Afterlife

What is my book about?

After being killed by bullies at 16, Tosho collides with a mind-bending afterlife that's gripped in a battle for leadership…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Half World

Opal Edgar Why did I love this book?

This novel is a wonderful East meets West tumble into the afterlife that will leave an impression on you long after you close the book. The main character is nothing like the usual hero, but an overweight 10-year-old, taciturn, lonely, but most of all, fiercely determined to save her mother. 

We follow Melanie into a creepy and harsh underworld heavily influenced by Buddhist beliefs and discover the terrible truth about monsters and how they are created. This book is like a Japanese Alice in Wonderland where no punches are held back, celebrating courage, family, and tenacity.  

By Hiromi Goto,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Half World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

Melanie Tamaki is human?but her parents aren?t. They are from Half World, a Limbo between our world and the afterlife, and her father is still there. When her mother disappears, Melanie must follow her to Half World?and neither of them may return alive. Imagine Coraline as filmed by the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki (Howl?s Moving Castle), or Neil Gaiman collaborating with Charles de Lint. Half World is vivid, visceral, unforgettable, a combination of prose and images that will haunt you.


Book cover of Sabriel

Opal Edgar Why did I love this book?

In this story we follow an apprentice necromancer, Sabriel, in her search for her disappeared father. Regularly, she has to step into the afterlife, and each time it is a more desperate and dangerous journey, hard to get back from. 

There are many worlds within worlds in that one, between a kingdom set in science versus the old kingdom seeped in magic, between the living struggling in a perpetual winter, and the afterlife, dark and void, between the present lost in a broken post-war era versus the past desperate to repair what was lost. This is an adventure that starts a wonderful journey on the shoulders of many heroic young women and many shaped dangers.

By Garth Nix,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked Sabriel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

A stunning anniversary gift edition of the second in the bestselling Old Kingdom fantasy series.

Sabriel has spent most of her young life far away from the magical realm of the Old Kingdom, and the Dead that roam it. But then a creature from across the Wall arrives at her all-girls boarding school with a message from her father, the Abhorsen - the magical protector of the realm whose task it is to bind and send back to Death those that won't stay Dead. Sabriel's father has been trapped in Death by a dangerous Free Magic creature.

Armed with her…


Book cover of Underworld

Opal Edgar Why did I love this book?

This must be one of the strangest works I have read in a long while, and I admire it deeply. It surfs on the documentary graphic novel trend. It exists to teach people about the disastrous impact of intensive farming on the environment, and more particularly on dirt. Not a very attractive topic, despite how serious it is – but, and that’s where this comic is so innovative, it twists all this knowledge around a suspenseful battle royal orchestrated by Hades in the Underworld. Unlikely, isn’t it? I loved discovering the facts while cheering on my main characters, two lost 16 years old, who struggle to survive in the underground. While it is directed at teens, I would recommend it to the above 16 only, as there is gore (this book follows the Hunger Games pattern of only one survivor) and nudity. 

By Mathieu Burniat,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Underworld as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hades, God of the Underworld, is seeking a successor. The prize? His fabled horn of plenty, source of boundless wealth. But to winnow down the applicant pool, Hades has devised a series of challenges as deadly to hopefuls as they are enlightening to readers, taking us all on a tour of the soil: its uses and abuses, riches and resources. Beneath our feet lies a world teeming with life, whose fate is intimately tied with our own. In this fantasy adventure Mathieu Burniat deftly blends pop science and mythology to educate and enthrall on a topic vital to our troubled…


Book cover of Passage

Opal Edgar Why did I love this book?

Technically this might be an adult book, but I read it as a teen and it gripped me completely. It was my first encounter with Connie Willis and I became an unconditional fan. This one is different from the other books on my list as it is a SciFi novel, starting with a medical deep dive into near-death experiences, or, more accurately, the replication of safe near-death experiences in labs… or are they? 

Willis is the queen of urgency, and throughout this unusual novel we are wrenched and rushed and held to the edge of our seat in suspense. The afterlife looms into every corner, every thought, every event, like another character – and best of all, it mostly looks like the sinking Titanic. It’s a wonderful blend of SciFi and historical novel, written like a thriller. I highly recommend it, though, I warn you, this is a monument of a book with 700 pages of tension.

By Connie Willis,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Passage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of those rare, unforgettable novels that are as chilling as they are insightful, as thought-provoking as they are terrifying, award-winning author Connie Willis's Passage is an astonishing blend of relentless suspense and cutting-edge science unlike anything you've ever read before.

It is the electrifying story of a psychologist who has devoted her life to tracking death. But when she volunteers for a research project that simulates the near-death experience, she will either solve life's greatest mystery -- or fall victim to its greatest terror.

At Mercy General Hospital, Dr. Joanna Lander will soon be paged -- not to save…


Book cover of The Books of Magic

Opal Edgar Why did I love this book?

Like all of Neil Gaiman’s works, this comic book is haunting and meaningful. Laced with DC references, philosophy, and nightmares, we lose ourselves in its strange world, or should I say, worlds? We follow Tim, a 13-year-old on the brink of becoming one of the greatest magic wielders of all time. But magic comes at a cost, and perhaps he should know that, or at least that’s what the four unlikely guides of our hero believe. And here starts the trip into magic and its many worlds, including a great meeting with Death herself in the afterlife.

This must be my favourite personification of Death ever, managing to be both fun and kind. This is a great meaty adventure comic that really makes you travel and gives you an experience like no other. Don’t expect childishness here, and don’t put it in the hands of too young an audience as it tackles many serious or dark topics. The illustrations are a real bonus too, beautiful, and express so many more things than what is in the words.

By Neil Gaiman, John Bolton (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Books of Magic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What do two dead boys and a normal 13-year-old have in common? The ability to save the world. Charles and Edwin are dead. They re also detectives. Tim Hunter is alive. He could be the world s greatest mage once he masters magic. And that s just the beginning. Readers can now enjoy The Books of Magic #1-32, The Children s Crusade #1-2, Vertigo Gallery: Dreams and Nightmares #1, Vertigo Preview #1, Vertigo Visions - Doctor Occult #1, Who s Who #15, Arcana Annual #1, Mister E #1-4, and The Books of Faerie: Auberon s Tale #1-3 all in one…


Explore my book 😀

Voice from the Dead: A Young Adult Portal Fantasy in the Afterlife

By Aster Shock,

Book cover of Voice from the Dead: A Young Adult Portal Fantasy in the Afterlife

What is my book about?

After being killed by bullies at 16, Tosho collides with a mind-bending afterlife that's gripped in a battle for leadership of the dead. But while a vibrant resistance group of teens welcomes him with open arms, someone in the afterworld wants him gone. Not only is Tosho carrying a heinous family legacy, but he had a gift for angering the powerful in his past life. Now, someone with a monster of a grudge is set on taking their revenge and devouring him down to utter oblivion. Pursued from one end of the afterworld to the other, the trap closes in. Barely escaping the gnashing jaws of the nightmares hunting him, Tosho must figure out who wants him gone, or his new friends will become victims once again.

You might also like...

Curiosity and the Cat

By Martin Treanor,

Book cover of Curiosity and the Cat

Martin Treanor Author Of The Logos Prophecy

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Illustrator Reader Jester Quantum physics buff

Martin's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know . . . they saw her first.

Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine, unleashing strange and frightening happenings around her home, which, in turn, reveals a disturbing family history. 

An ominous tale of faerie folk.

Curiosity and the Cat

By Martin Treanor,

What is this book about?

Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know . . . they saw her first.

Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine, unleashing strange and frightening happenings around her home, which, in turn, reveals a disturbing family history.

An ominous tale of faerie folk.



5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the afterlife, spirits, and near death experiences?

The Afterlife 107 books
Spirits 19 books