I loved, loved, loved Ward Against Death. This book is deliberate and detailed and at the same time it is fast paced. It is the strangest mixture but it totally worked for me. The characters were on the run trying to solve a mystery and they were always doing something, but all the while it was also very descriptive and thorough in it's writing. Melanie Card did a really great job with Ward Against Death, and I basically need the second book right now. 
 Ward and Celia are so totally different but yet they work so well together. And honestly there wasn't a ton of romance in the book but what romance there was completely brought the book to life. I loved the scenes between Ward and Celia. The two of them have some crazy trust issues though. Holy cow! I really liked Ward. He is reserved but you can tell he has all this untapped potential if he would just open up a little. And he does as the story goes on. I can't wait to learn even more about him in the next book. I hope the two of them can finally just trust each other now because I really love the two of them. 
 The story in Ward Against Death was wonderful as well. I really enjoyed the complexity of the mystery. There was a lot going on, it was basically a whole new world being created. I'll admit that I sometimes got the names for people or things confused but it didn't detract from the overall story. 
 Ward Against Death is like a young adult historical urban fantasy. I don't read enough YA urban fantasy. Ward Against Death reminded me why I love the genre so much.