It’s a common trope in fantasy literature, but one that’s utilized very well here. Characters that help the recently deceased learn how to move on. Hugo easily fits in amongst the Reapers in Dead Like Me or alongside Ned in Pushing Daisies. If you’ve ever seen Dead Like Me or Pushing Daisies, you’ll have a pretty good hint as to what kind of a story this is. It’s not a book about ghosts, it’s a book about a specific ghost and the relationships he forms in his afterlife. Under the Whispering Door is less of a story about death and more of a story about what it means to live. Lucky for him, though, he’s got plenty of time to come to terms with his death – and maybe, just maybe, the chance to make up for the life he didn’t live. And not only that, he can’t even accept that he’s dead.

The problem is that Wallace isn’t ready to move on. After being led to a mysterious tea shop by Mei, a self-described Reaper, Wallace meets Hugo – a ferryman tasked with ushering the recently deceased to their afterlife. And it took him dying to finally figure it out. But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead. When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. NOTE: I received a review copy of Under the Whispering Door from Macmillan/Tor and NetGalley. It’s a thrilling fantasy, a sweet romance, and an emotional exploration of grief. Perfectly balancing humor, melancholy, and deep sadness, Under the Whispering Door dives deep into what it means to be a good person.

Under the Whispering Door is a gorgeously written, expertly plotted, and deeply emotional read. But for some, like Wallace Price, it’s quite a difficult affair.

For most, this transition happens without a problem. And in TJ Klune’s Under the Whispering Door, Reapers and Ferrymen usher the recently deceased from the world of the living to whatever form their afterlife takes. What happens after you die? Is there a Heaven? A Hell? A whole lot of nothing? It’s a question that we’ve been asking ourselves for as long as we’ve known what death was.

The whispering door book