Friday, September 14, 2012

Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel

Genre: YA Fantasy, Steampunk
Series: Gone With the Respiration #2
Publication Date: 25th September 2012
Pages: 496
Book Source: Random House & NetGalley


Synopsis: That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites.

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . of the dead variety.

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target.

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.

My Thoughts:
Arggh I'm so disappointed!

I was captivated by Dearly, Departed; loved Lia Habel's writing style, her use of multiple narrators, the unique futuristic Victorian world building and I fell for zombies, big time so I had high expectations for Dearly, Beloved. I wanted to love it, I tried, I really did ... I persevered, I forced myself to the finish line but I'm gutted it wasn't what I'd hoped for.   

It's not that I can't find anything good to say about Dearly, Beloved but it was such hard work; it didn't hold my attention, despite the chaotic goings-on it moved sooo slowly, quite frankly ... I was bored.

In this installment the multiple POV's seem to contribute to the tedium rather than bring anything positive to the story. I still enjoyed Bram's character and Dr Samedi was entertaining but I can't say the same for Nora, Pammie and poor Coalhouse; he really got the rough end of the pineapple and I missed Z company's comraderie and banter. 

3/4 of the way through the pace picked up, action outweighed zombie/human politics and I got a taste of what this book could have been. If the first 400 pages had of been like the last 100 this would have been a completely different story. Sadly, the reward was too late coming :(
  



9 comments:

  1. Bummer that it didn't turn out to well....

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  2. It's always a disappointment when the sequel to a terrific novel is a let down.

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    1. For sure, I had such high expectations, I'll have to see if other people felt the same way

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  3. I haven't read the first book yet, but I'm bummed out that the sequel isn't all that Jazz... Dissapointing!

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    1. check out other reviews on goodreads Nina, maybe it was just me but I did expect to love it!

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  4. I like to read zombie books, but steampunk is not for me, so I wasn't planning to read this series, but now I won't for sure.
    Thanks for the honest review!

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