A very enjoyable middle grade read with excellent fall vibes! I loved the overall concept of the book, two brothers being unwilling apprentices-in-training to Death and Memory, while a suspicious death in the town sends a member of a rival family into an investigation to who, or what, is truly behind it. I really liked the softcore spooky feeling the book has, which is to be expected when Death is literally hanging over the shoulders of the characters. It did take a while for the action to pick up, but when it did it was flying straight through.

I did find Gretchen a little overbearing and entitled at times, though she became somewhat more likable towards the latter half of the book. The romance aspect was kind of shoehorned in, the focus was more on the families themselves and the dynamics within them, thereby making that plot somewhat tacked on just for the sack of "conventional kid's media trope." Still, I had fun reading it and would definitely recommend it as a worthwhile fall read.