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Game's End
Maggie Johnson is dealing with too much — the rising distrust and hate of the townspeople, her growing (and unpredictable) supernatural powers, and the dead, waiting to be transitioned from this side to the next. Right now, they’re her saving grace. But when a soul-eater steals the ghost she’s transitioning, things don’t just take a turn for the worse, they take a turn for the personal. This thing has a connection to her and to her family, and it’s coming for revenge.
As Maggie races to stop the entity, the body count ticks up, and the soul-eater’s touch reaches close to home. The answers Maggie seeks are coming to a head, but will she survive the revelation?
Game's End concludes Natasha Deen's Guardian Trilogy!
Praise for Gatekeeper:
SELECTION, Best Books For Kids & Teens, Winter 2017
SELECTION, The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, Fall 2016
“Deen is able to make this mixture of the paranormal and mystery genres work beautifully … Natasha Deen has left some tantalizing clues at the end of the book, suggesting that there may well be a sequel to Guardian and Gatekeeper. Readers can only hope this will happen and that there will be more novels to challenge and interest so many fans – whether of horror, paranormal or mystery – and keep them happily reading” – Highly Recommended, CM Magazine
“I’ve always thought Norah McClintock was the queen of YA crime fiction but I think Natasha Deen has developed into a princess of YA paranormal murder mysteries. With her multifaceted plotlines and great, great characters who are neither perfect nor surreal (though they may be otherworldly), Natasha Deen has become one of my go-to YACanLit authors for spooky whodunits with a smidgen of romance. Consider them the young adult equivalent of Scooby-Doo: fun sleuthing with the ever-helpful Maggie and Serge and the gang.”
— CanLit for Little Canadians
Praise for Guardian:
SELECTION, Best Books for Kids & Teens, Spring 2015
SELECTION, The Sunburst Award, Spring 2015
SELECTION, The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, Spring 2015
“a great hybrid of horror and mystery (think Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Veronica Mars), with oodles of potential for humour and terror – and Deen gets the most out of both.” — Quill & Quire
“Any novel which has what appears to be a dead body in the trunk of the protagonist’s car on the very first page is bound to be a page-turner … this mix of mystery and fantasy in Guardian is unusual, perhaps, but effective. Highly recommended.” — CM Magazine
“Guardian is at its heart a murder mystery, albeit a paranormal one, and a superb one at that” — CanLit For Little Canadians
“certainly a recommended read for those interesting in young adult/paranormal fictions.” — Asian American Literature Fans
As Maggie races to stop the entity, the body count ticks up, and the soul-eater’s touch reaches close to home. The answers Maggie seeks are coming to a head, but will she survive the revelation?
Game's End concludes Natasha Deen's Guardian Trilogy!
Praise for Gatekeeper:
SELECTION, Best Books For Kids & Teens, Winter 2017
SELECTION, The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, Fall 2016
“Deen is able to make this mixture of the paranormal and mystery genres work beautifully … Natasha Deen has left some tantalizing clues at the end of the book, suggesting that there may well be a sequel to Guardian and Gatekeeper. Readers can only hope this will happen and that there will be more novels to challenge and interest so many fans – whether of horror, paranormal or mystery – and keep them happily reading” – Highly Recommended, CM Magazine
“I’ve always thought Norah McClintock was the queen of YA crime fiction but I think Natasha Deen has developed into a princess of YA paranormal murder mysteries. With her multifaceted plotlines and great, great characters who are neither perfect nor surreal (though they may be otherworldly), Natasha Deen has become one of my go-to YACanLit authors for spooky whodunits with a smidgen of romance. Consider them the young adult equivalent of Scooby-Doo: fun sleuthing with the ever-helpful Maggie and Serge and the gang.”
— CanLit for Little Canadians
Praise for Guardian:
SELECTION, Best Books for Kids & Teens, Spring 2015
SELECTION, The Sunburst Award, Spring 2015
SELECTION, The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, Spring 2015
“a great hybrid of horror and mystery (think Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Veronica Mars), with oodles of potential for humour and terror – and Deen gets the most out of both.” — Quill & Quire
“Any novel which has what appears to be a dead body in the trunk of the protagonist’s car on the very first page is bound to be a page-turner … this mix of mystery and fantasy in Guardian is unusual, perhaps, but effective. Highly recommended.” — CM Magazine
“Guardian is at its heart a murder mystery, albeit a paranormal one, and a superb one at that” — CanLit For Little Canadians
“certainly a recommended read for those interesting in young adult/paranormal fictions.” — Asian American Literature Fans
248 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2017
About the author
Natasha Deen
56 books182 followersNatasha Deen's family moved from Guyana, South America to Canada to escape the country's political & racial violence. She loved growing up in a country of snow & flannel, but often felt out of place. Thank goodness for books that showed her being different could also mean being awesome. Natasha lives in Edmonton, Alberta with her family where she spends A LOT of time arguing with her cats and dogs about who’s the boss of the house. Visit her at www.natashadeen.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 17, 2022
Wow. That was A LOT. For the first three quarters it was like the rest of the series and I really enjoyed it. The ending then crammed a ton of new information, plot lines, new characters, and wrap up the series all at once. It was a lot and took away from the story. It would have been nice to conclude the story without all the extras.
January 19, 2018
About the book: The third novel in a trilogy. I received a copy through the Goodreads giveaway program.
First impressions: It took me time to get into the story’s world. I haven’t read the first two books, so I didn’t know what happened previously. But once I got caught up and had a better sense of the world, I enjoyed the plot more.
Summary: Maggie Jackson has a lot on her plate. She’s a guardian helping people transition from one plane of existence to another. But when more people start dying, Magge finds herself at the center of it all.
Characters: I like the cast of characters because they’re different and flawed in their own way. They also develop over the course of the novel. Maggie is the female protagonist. Like the author, she’s a person of colour. I liked the banter between the group of friends: Maggie, Nell, Craig, and Serge. The varying relationship dynamics work well together.
“Sometimes trying to avoid your destiny brings you to it.”
Conflict: In hinsight, I probably should’ve read the first two books before this one. I still understood the plot about soul-eaters, but having more backstory might have helped me better appreciate the book as a whole.
Writing: The language is simple and straightforward. Deen does a good job on the dialogue. I wouldn’t have minded more description or worldbuilding. Even though I spotted a couple of formatting errors and missing punctuation marks, there aren’t any major errors.
Final thoughts: The ending answers some questions, yet poses new ones. If you’re looking for a quick read with supernatural elements, give Game’s End a try.
First impressions: It took me time to get into the story’s world. I haven’t read the first two books, so I didn’t know what happened previously. But once I got caught up and had a better sense of the world, I enjoyed the plot more.
Summary: Maggie Jackson has a lot on her plate. She’s a guardian helping people transition from one plane of existence to another. But when more people start dying, Magge finds herself at the center of it all.
Characters: I like the cast of characters because they’re different and flawed in their own way. They also develop over the course of the novel. Maggie is the female protagonist. Like the author, she’s a person of colour. I liked the banter between the group of friends: Maggie, Nell, Craig, and Serge. The varying relationship dynamics work well together.
“Sometimes trying to avoid your destiny brings you to it.”
Conflict: In hinsight, I probably should’ve read the first two books before this one. I still understood the plot about soul-eaters, but having more backstory might have helped me better appreciate the book as a whole.
Writing: The language is simple and straightforward. Deen does a good job on the dialogue. I wouldn’t have minded more description or worldbuilding. Even though I spotted a couple of formatting errors and missing punctuation marks, there aren’t any major errors.
Final thoughts: The ending answers some questions, yet poses new ones. If you’re looking for a quick read with supernatural elements, give Game’s End a try.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews