Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Del Rey Books

Pages: 496pgs

The Story

Can the living coexist with the living dead?

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, reasons, 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 grown 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-cammando 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.

Lia Habel's spellbinding, suspenseful sequel to Dearly, Departed takes her imaginative mash-up of period romance, futuristic thriller, and zombie drama to a whole new level of innovative and irresistible storytelling.

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher on netGalley for accepting my request in reading this book early!

In Lia Habel's debut novel, Dearly Departed, it was an interesting read for me. It wasn't exactly a fantastic book but it was an enjoyable one at the very least. Now I think what had drawn me into this world of Habel's in the first place was the way she handled zombies and how she represented in the book - not as mindless and flesh-eating creatures (okay there are some like that), but rather they were quite intelligent, interesting and surprisingly so very human, with even some that were pretty, handsome and charming too, which was a great take on the zombie genre. It added something unique. But as much as I hate giving an average 'Yeah, it was okay . . .' review for what I expected to be a very great read, unfortunately the sequel just didn't cut it for me and it didn't even convince me to love this series more and I kind of knew this would happen yet again.

Much like what I'd read from the first book, DEARLY, BELOVED followed exactly the same pacing as the previous book - slow and steady - and it was told through several perspectives once more. Argh! Like I said before . . . I knew this would happen again. I can handle two or three perspectives at one time, heck even the third perspective which I have come to favour over the years rather than the common first person perspective view, but with this book it had at least five POVs under its belt and it was god awful. I'm not kidding. Just awful. While I favoured only two character perspectives, both of which were the main characters of the story and whom I only wanted to read about - that being Nora and Bram, but as for the others I just felt like they added nothing really special to the story and I found them completely pointless to be honest with you. The only redemption that the book earned was with myself enjoying Nora and Bram's view of this bleak world and having some tension arising throughout the book between them until the tension blew everything into utter chaos. I like me some chaos, okay?

Character-wise and as I mentioned with the perspectives aspect, the only characters I really grew attached to and the only characters I really cared about were Nora and Bram. They are the ones who'd kept me going with this book. Together they grew closer and built on each other's strange worlds, not to mention they have some sizzling chemistry sparking between them, but even when they are in angst over certain things or even when they are apart, Nora and Bram somehow turn out to be two very great individuals. So I'm really thankful for their character growth in that. And that ending . . . god it was so out of the blue and so mushy mushy, but I still ended up really digging it so all of you romantic fans out there . . . you'll totally love it!

Overall, DEARLY, BELOVED may have failed to impress me but it was still a nice little follow up to the first book of the series and it'll interesting where the author takes us with the final installment of this YA series. Really interesting . . . especially when you consider how everything ended and all. Quite surprising!

The Rating

3/5 stars

Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

Release Date: 18th October, 2011

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 480pgs

The Story

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid's arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead - or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria - a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country's political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune, and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible - until she's nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she's suddenly gunning down . . .

The Review

I enjoyed this book. Really, I did. DEARLY DEPARTED has everything you want in a steampunk and a Victorian-like world filled with plenty of action, adventure, zombies and some good old-fashion blood and gore to steer the story in the right direction. And you will love it for those elements that I wholeheartedly mentioned.

However, you'd think having a fantastic set of characters would persuade you further to love the story for more than it is and you would begin to see the clearer picture - why so many readers loved this book and had such high praises for it. Now here's the thing . . . I love the book cover. It's a girl dressed in Victorian clothing. Win. It's a girl holding a parasol. Win win. And it's pretty in its pinkness. Yet another win. Like I said, I loved it! Initially that's what drew me in. But despite its pretty-as-a-picture cover, while I liked the zombies and the steampunk genre woven with the undead, but for me the book was quite disappointing. Especially when it came to the slow-pacing of the book.

The major MAJOR problem was the amount of perspectives. I could handle Nora and Bram's perspectives - the two main protagonists of the story - because I actually liked their characters and they served some purpose, but I couldn't at all handle the rest of the perspectives presented to me. First of all, there were way too many to remember and secondly I found myself skipping chapters and glancing over words without too much thought because some of the chapters were completely pointless and added no real depth to the storyline. And not to mention when you add so many perspectives to try and be creative, it tends to slow down the book's momentum which is a no-no through my eyes. Other than that critical factor, this book would've been much more enjoyable for me if the editor or even the author herself cut out a few of those chapters.

Now let's get talking about the characters . . . starting with Nora Dearly. Here's the thing: she's a great heroine to have in a story like this one. She's the complete opposite to what a young lady should act like and she doesn't care for the society of balls and marriages, but rather be passionate in the political and miltary history. Plus she's quite brash, has a sassy attitude and she can definitely have a fiery temper if something doesn't go her way or if people are hiding secrets from her. Even though she was 'sometimes' disagreeable (what with her making some decisions I didn't necessarily agree with and with her being a little over dramatic in her behaviour), but moving past that she was still a great girl you will come to love as the story progresses. Bram on the other hand, the undead soldier who unexpectedly ends up being a love interest to Nora, was probably my favourite character of them all. The moment you meet Bram and witness him rescuing Nora from a crowd of blood-thirsty and quite surprisingly energetic zombies . . . you know you have a definite keeper in the works. He's strong and fiercely brave, noble and affectionate, and had the right amount of zombie in him. Sure, he does comes across as a little too perfect for an undead zombie and a little TOO romantic to be real, but who cares because we all love a man in uniform, right?

The secondary characters were great as well. Nora's best friend. Bram's fine soldier crew. Even the villains of the story were really interesting to read about, too. While I couldn't connect with them as much as I did with Nora and Bram's characters, but it's just something that happens in books. You always have a tug of war of a love and hate relationship with them. Now apart from some flaws in the characters and the amount of POVs, the only real let down was the ending itself. I was a tiny bit disappointed in how things ended and I wanted a blow-me-away kind of ending to make me want and crave for the sequel. But I guess you can't have it all.

Look . . . on a whole I absolutely enjoyed the book. It may not have met my high expectations but there was still enough enjoyment to continue with the series. With an interesting world and an interesting concept of the 'new' breed of zombies, I'm sure a lot of young adult readers will devour this book in a second and will actually appreciate the much-love of the zombie gore inside it. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what Lia Habel offers up next for our heroes and heroines! I'm sure it will be wicked!

The Rating 3 1/2 / 5 stars