Review: She Waits for You Beyond the Dark (Death Games #2) by Kristen Simmons

Title: She Waits for You Beyond the Dark

Series: Death Games #2

Previous book in this series: Find Him Where You Left Him Dead

Author: Kristen Simmons

Genre: YA, horror, Japanese mythology

Publication date: March 11th 2025

Published by: Tor Teen

Source: eARC for review from publishers via Netgalley

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Synopsis: "Death is not an ending, it’s simply the next chapter. Do not be afraid to turn the page..."

It’s been one month since Ian’s reunited friends escaped the hellish game of Meido and saved him. The survivors may have sealed the gate to the world of the dead shut and destroyed Empress Izanami, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still reeling over the challenges they endured. Trying to relax back in the world of the living, they take solace in the fact that they rescued Ian from the nightmare that tried to steal him away. But there’s just one problem—Ian didn’t come home alone.

The empress—now possessing Ian's heart—hitched a ride into their world and the only way to free Ian from her grasp is to find three artifacts for her, sacred objects which have been hidden across many realms. Unwilling to leave Ian behind a second time, his friends dive into a new deadly game, with terrifying challenges that not only test their mettle, but demand sacrifices—including their very lives.

If they don’t retrieve the empress’s artifacts, Ian will be lost forever, but if they do, it could be the end of their world as they know it.

My rating: ★★★★☆

I have been looking forward to reading this book since I finished the previous book (that cliffhanger!), but my mood was not cooperating. Hence why we are here now, almost a year after I got this book 😅 But I enjoyed it... once I got to it. Lol.

Review: Find Him Where You Left Him Dead (Death Games #1) by Kristen Simmons

Title: Find Him Where You Left Him Dead

Series: Death Games #1

Author: Kristen Simmons

Genre: YA, horror, Japanese mythology

Publication date: September 2023

Published by: Tor Teen

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis: Four years ago, five kids started a game. Only four survived.

Now, at the end of their senior year of high school, the survivors—Dax, Maddy, Emerson, and Owen—have reunited for one strange and terrible reason: they’ve been summoned by the ghost of Ian, the friend they left for dead.

Together they return to the tunnel where their friendship ended with one goal: find Ian and bring him home. So they restart the deadly game they never finished—an innocent card-matching challenge called Meido. A game without instructions.

As soon as they begin, they're dragged out of their reality and into an eerie hellscape of Japanese underworlds, more horrifying than even the darkest folktales that Owen's grandmother told him. There, they meet Shinigami, an old wise woman who explains the rules:

They have one night to complete seven challenges or all of them, Ian included, will be stuck in this world forever.

Once inseparable, the survivors now can’t stand each other, but the challenges demand they work together, think quickly, and make sacrifices—blood, clothes, secrets, memories, and worse.

And once again, not everyone will make it out of Meido alive.

My rating: ★★★★☆

I enjoyed this book more than I was anticipating! Listen, horror books can be hit or miss, but this one was definitely a hit!