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Gone With the Respiration #2
Dearly, Beloved
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, 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.
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.
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.
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.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published September 25, 2012
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October 11, 2012
The dead are now out to the living and it seemed like things were going rather well. Until it came out that the Laz has mutated into a new strain that the vaccine does not protect against. The zombie infected with the new strain has been caught but that hasn't eased any minds. New fights and riots break out including a secret society of masked killers. Nora and Bram continue to help zombies while Nora's father continues with his research.
There are several, six to be exact, POVs in this book which seems to be the big thing that makes this a hit or miss with readers. I personally love multiple POVs. It's true that I would probably be happier with just Bram and Nora because I love them so much, but I think all the POVs are an important part of the story. We have Bram, Nora, and Pamela again, and new POVs Vespertine, Laura, and Michael. Michael is obsessed with Nora and finding a way to get Bram out of the picture. Clearly the villain POV but at the same time I kind of had a soft spot for him. An evil dad and no real understanding of how to express his love of Nora. Laura is a freaky new zombie who grows plants right into her body. The story of her family is heartbreaking. Vespertine probably is the one that made the smallest impression on me. She mostly hangs out with Michael talking about his plans. Pam is having a difficult time adjusting but has found someone who is willing to take their family away for a fresh start.
Bram you sweet, sexy, sexy, burning hunk of deadmeat. I would necroslut it up with you any day ;-) lol But seriously he is such a great guy/zombie. I like that Nora and Bram's relationship progresses very nicely. There have been so many series I read where in the second book all this unnecessary drama is always added to the relationship. The couple usually starts questioning each other and if they should be together. Since we know Bram's time is limited I was really afraid that would happen but happy to report it doesn't. They address it but realize that they should just appreciate the time they have together. Bram and Nora trust and love each other and they have become one of my favorite couples. I was majorly swooning!
The new strain of Laz was an interesting development. I am curious to see where it goes from here. The zombie infected with the strain was kind of heartbreaking and had some really shocking twists in what the strain means for the person infected. It kept me turning the pages. I loved the action and plot developments. I felt like I got to know each character more thoroughly. The ending was amazing! No dreaded second book cliffhanger. The ending is actually very sweet and left me wanting more but not hanging. Major kudos to a well wrapped up second book.
---
"You think you would know by now that when you run form me, every instinct I have wants to chase you."
"I didn't die just so I could be your pillow, you know."
Nora. I loved her. I'd yet to say the words, because I didn't want to freak her out-it'd only been a few months, after all. But I knew I loved her. Needed her. I didn't need food, or water, or even oxygen, but I needed her. I'd never me a more spirited, accepting, drop-dead-again beautiful girl in my life.
"Nora, you're the only person I'll ever bite. And you know it." A smile ghosted across is lips. "You think I'd cheat on you with common criminals?"
"How messed up is it that I find that really romantic?"
"You're perfect the way you are, Nora. Don't ever think I want you to change, to be something you're not."
"Welcome to my world. Oh, and this is why you've ruined me for all other boys."
"I love you, Nora. I will think you beautiful when I have no eyes left to see. I will remember your voice when my ears go. You can't hold onto me forever, but I will hold onto you until I am nothing but dirt."
---
From Lia Habel!
Here, because I like you all so much - the first 70 words of Dearly, Beloved.
When I got to the top of the hill, the zombie caught me. I dropped my parasol and leather-bound digital diary in shock. He pulled me to his body from behind, imprisoned my tiny hands in his so I couldn’t fight back, and parted his cold lips at the nape of my neck.
I squealed with delight, even as I drummed my boot heel on his shin. “Bram, let go!”
To celebrate the 50% hump, a paragraph!
Then he insulted her and her father. In a funny way, that offered me some reassurance. I’d heard the words, and they occasioned a wave of nearly debilitating anger, but I hadn’t ripped his tongue out. Progress. I’d become a regular New Victorian gentleman.
*I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
There are several, six to be exact, POVs in this book which seems to be the big thing that makes this a hit or miss with readers. I personally love multiple POVs. It's true that I would probably be happier with just Bram and Nora because I love them so much, but I think all the POVs are an important part of the story. We have Bram, Nora, and Pamela again, and new POVs Vespertine, Laura, and Michael. Michael is obsessed with Nora and finding a way to get Bram out of the picture. Clearly the villain POV but at the same time I kind of had a soft spot for him. An evil dad and no real understanding of how to express his love of Nora. Laura is a freaky new zombie who grows plants right into her body. The story of her family is heartbreaking. Vespertine probably is the one that made the smallest impression on me. She mostly hangs out with Michael talking about his plans. Pam is having a difficult time adjusting but has found someone who is willing to take their family away for a fresh start.
Bram you sweet, sexy, sexy, burning hunk of deadmeat. I would necroslut it up with you any day ;-) lol But seriously he is such a great guy/zombie. I like that Nora and Bram's relationship progresses very nicely. There have been so many series I read where in the second book all this unnecessary drama is always added to the relationship. The couple usually starts questioning each other and if they should be together. Since we know Bram's time is limited I was really afraid that would happen but happy to report it doesn't. They address it but realize that they should just appreciate the time they have together. Bram and Nora trust and love each other and they have become one of my favorite couples. I was majorly swooning!
The new strain of Laz was an interesting development. I am curious to see where it goes from here. The zombie infected with the strain was kind of heartbreaking and had some really shocking twists in what the strain means for the person infected. It kept me turning the pages. I loved the action and plot developments. I felt like I got to know each character more thoroughly. The ending was amazing! No dreaded second book cliffhanger. The ending is actually very sweet and left me wanting more but not hanging. Major kudos to a well wrapped up second book.
---
"You think you would know by now that when you run form me, every instinct I have wants to chase you."
"I didn't die just so I could be your pillow, you know."
Nora. I loved her. I'd yet to say the words, because I didn't want to freak her out-it'd only been a few months, after all. But I knew I loved her. Needed her. I didn't need food, or water, or even oxygen, but I needed her. I'd never me a more spirited, accepting, drop-dead-again beautiful girl in my life.
"Nora, you're the only person I'll ever bite. And you know it." A smile ghosted across is lips. "You think I'd cheat on you with common criminals?"
"How messed up is it that I find that really romantic?"
"You're perfect the way you are, Nora. Don't ever think I want you to change, to be something you're not."
"Welcome to my world. Oh, and this is why you've ruined me for all other boys."
"I love you, Nora. I will think you beautiful when I have no eyes left to see. I will remember your voice when my ears go. You can't hold onto me forever, but I will hold onto you until I am nothing but dirt."
---
From Lia Habel!
Here, because I like you all so much - the first 70 words of Dearly, Beloved.
When I got to the top of the hill, the zombie caught me. I dropped my parasol and leather-bound digital diary in shock. He pulled me to his body from behind, imprisoned my tiny hands in his so I couldn’t fight back, and parted his cold lips at the nape of my neck.
I squealed with delight, even as I drummed my boot heel on his shin. “Bram, let go!”
To celebrate the 50% hump, a paragraph!
Then he insulted her and her father. In a funny way, that offered me some reassurance. I’d heard the words, and they occasioned a wave of nearly debilitating anger, but I hadn’t ripped his tongue out. Progress. I’d become a regular New Victorian gentleman.
*I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
September 14, 2012
This summer has been full sequels that outshined their predecessors. Dearly, Beloved is one of them. Not only is it funnier, better thought-out and better written than Dearly, Departed, it also affected me more strongly. The plot is well-planned and well-executed and it finally gave this series a much needed direction it lacked in the first book.
Strangely enough, I originally gave Dearly, Beloved three starts, but, upon further consideration, I decided it deserved more. Lia Habel has enormous talent for worldbuilding, and she is quite good at creating vivid imagery and leaving a strong impression on her readers. The secondary and even tertiary characters she introduced aren’t lacking in detail or in color – from the zombie girl who grows flowers in her rotting body to our dear, headless doctor Samedi, they are all both interesting and entirely unforgettable. As for the main characters, they all changed significantly, some for the better, and some (like Pamma) not. Once again, Habel doesn’t shy away from gory details. Some of the descriptions in Dearly, Beloved are utterly disgusting (and infinitely thrilling, of course). It is through blood and rotten body parts that she breathed life into her world and made it stand apart.
The only thing I can’t seem to get used to is the number of perspectives. There are even more this time: Nora and Bram of course, Pamela, but also Michael, Vespertine, Coalhouse and a newly introduced character, Laura (the zombie flower girl). All of them undoubtedly contributed something significant and as hard as I try, I honestly can’t come up with another way to tell the same story, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t feel disjointed at times.
Romance, however, is what really brought me to my knees. I expected it to be lovely after Dearly, Departed, but I didn’t expect such sweetness and maturity. Nora and Bram face everything together, they understand each other perfectly. Nothing can keep these two apart, they love each other as openly and honestly as they can, aware that time is quickly running out for Bram. And yet, even with time in mind, they (mostly) uphold the rules of propriety, they are both bold and respectful at the same time and this balance they constantly maintain is quite beautiful.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Dearly, Departed, but everything changed with this book. I can’t wait to read more.
Strangely enough, I originally gave Dearly, Beloved three starts, but, upon further consideration, I decided it deserved more. Lia Habel has enormous talent for worldbuilding, and she is quite good at creating vivid imagery and leaving a strong impression on her readers. The secondary and even tertiary characters she introduced aren’t lacking in detail or in color – from the zombie girl who grows flowers in her rotting body to our dear, headless doctor Samedi, they are all both interesting and entirely unforgettable. As for the main characters, they all changed significantly, some for the better, and some (like Pamma) not. Once again, Habel doesn’t shy away from gory details. Some of the descriptions in Dearly, Beloved are utterly disgusting (and infinitely thrilling, of course). It is through blood and rotten body parts that she breathed life into her world and made it stand apart.
The only thing I can’t seem to get used to is the number of perspectives. There are even more this time: Nora and Bram of course, Pamela, but also Michael, Vespertine, Coalhouse and a newly introduced character, Laura (the zombie flower girl). All of them undoubtedly contributed something significant and as hard as I try, I honestly can’t come up with another way to tell the same story, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t feel disjointed at times.
Romance, however, is what really brought me to my knees. I expected it to be lovely after Dearly, Departed, but I didn’t expect such sweetness and maturity. Nora and Bram face everything together, they understand each other perfectly. Nothing can keep these two apart, they love each other as openly and honestly as they can, aware that time is quickly running out for Bram. And yet, even with time in mind, they (mostly) uphold the rules of propriety, they are both bold and respectful at the same time and this balance they constantly maintain is quite beautiful.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Dearly, Departed, but everything changed with this book. I can’t wait to read more.
July 8, 2012
Though Dearly, Beloved finally hit its stride at around 70%, that was altogether far too late for this rating to be salvaged.
While the final chapters saw a dramatic acceleration in the pacing and a return to the tongue-in-cheek humour of Dearly, Departed, the truth is, I almost didn’t get that far. Up to that point, I felt not so much that I was reading, but that I was actively fighting the urge to be done with it and mark this as a DNF.
The frustrating part of this is that Dearly, Beloved is not a “bad” novel. In fact, it has all the potential of being a good one – Habel has some unique, well thought out ideas and avoids many of the all too common tropes beleaguering the genre. But put simply, for a zombie/steampunk novel, Dearly, Beloved is, well, boring.
As with its predecessor, much of the trouble lies in the sheer breadth of viewpoints. With six (at least, I think it’s six, I stopped counting) point of view characters, the novel starts to feel weirdly top-heavy, staggering drunkenly with not enough plot for ballast. Exacerbating the issue is that the POVs lack distinction –it’s easy to lose track of who’s head you’re in due to the lack of tone. Nora, Laura, Pamela, even Bram all occasionally sound like exactly the same person. Also, I’m not convinced that all of the points of view are necessary to tell the story, and that some couldn’t have been condensed in order to make the novel less cumbersome.
Dearly, Beloved is rich with detail: a zombie girl grows flowers in her body like a walking garden, a perfectly preserved 20th century Rolls Royce is armed with railguns, a throat wound is sewn closed liked a ribbon-laced corset. Habel clearly has an eye for the grotesquely beautiful, and her characters are vividly rendered. Habel’s interest in her subject matter is evident, as her attention to even the finest points of her elaborately imagined world demonstrate. Similarly, by creating a mash-up of the past and future, the dead and the living, Habel is able to eloquently explore themes of social class, inequality and prejudice. The juxtaposition of Victorian etiquette with a futuristic setting makes for solid worldbuilding, as the novel seems equally concerned with the minutiae of both.
However, this doesn’t negate the fact that plot of Dearly, Beloved is far less compelling than that of Dearly, Departed. The tension is flaccid, if not non-existent, for a large part of the story.
Following two main threads that serve to throw conflict between the living, the zombies, and even the zombies themselves – the story feel tedious, with the most interesting points left to be addressed in the next book. And while it could be argued that the clues and foreshadowing all tie together cleverly at the finale, it’s an uphill battle to stay interested.
Despite my lack of enthusiasm in general for this book – Habel has done an exceptional job of laying the groundwork for an intriguing third book. Suffice to say, I have theories about how it will play out. However, whether I’m interested enough in finding out whether I’m right or not, is another matter entirely.
* * * * *
*theatrically collapses at the finish line*
While the final chapters saw a dramatic acceleration in the pacing and a return to the tongue-in-cheek humour of Dearly, Departed, the truth is, I almost didn’t get that far. Up to that point, I felt not so much that I was reading, but that I was actively fighting the urge to be done with it and mark this as a DNF.
The frustrating part of this is that Dearly, Beloved is not a “bad” novel. In fact, it has all the potential of being a good one – Habel has some unique, well thought out ideas and avoids many of the all too common tropes beleaguering the genre. But put simply, for a zombie/steampunk novel, Dearly, Beloved is, well, boring.
As with its predecessor, much of the trouble lies in the sheer breadth of viewpoints. With six (at least, I think it’s six, I stopped counting) point of view characters, the novel starts to feel weirdly top-heavy, staggering drunkenly with not enough plot for ballast. Exacerbating the issue is that the POVs lack distinction –it’s easy to lose track of who’s head you’re in due to the lack of tone. Nora, Laura, Pamela, even Bram all occasionally sound like exactly the same person. Also, I’m not convinced that all of the points of view are necessary to tell the story, and that some couldn’t have been condensed in order to make the novel less cumbersome.
Dearly, Beloved is rich with detail: a zombie girl grows flowers in her body like a walking garden, a perfectly preserved 20th century Rolls Royce is armed with railguns, a throat wound is sewn closed liked a ribbon-laced corset. Habel clearly has an eye for the grotesquely beautiful, and her characters are vividly rendered. Habel’s interest in her subject matter is evident, as her attention to even the finest points of her elaborately imagined world demonstrate. Similarly, by creating a mash-up of the past and future, the dead and the living, Habel is able to eloquently explore themes of social class, inequality and prejudice. The juxtaposition of Victorian etiquette with a futuristic setting makes for solid worldbuilding, as the novel seems equally concerned with the minutiae of both.
However, this doesn’t negate the fact that plot of Dearly, Beloved is far less compelling than that of Dearly, Departed. The tension is flaccid, if not non-existent, for a large part of the story.
Following two main threads that serve to throw conflict between the living, the zombies, and even the zombies themselves – the story feel tedious, with the most interesting points left to be addressed in the next book. And while it could be argued that the clues and foreshadowing all tie together cleverly at the finale, it’s an uphill battle to stay interested.
Despite my lack of enthusiasm in general for this book – Habel has done an exceptional job of laying the groundwork for an intriguing third book. Suffice to say, I have theories about how it will play out. However, whether I’m interested enough in finding out whether I’m right or not, is another matter entirely.
* * * * *
*theatrically collapses at the finish line*
Want to read
May 21, 2012Found this on Amazon:
*drool*
*drool*
October 3, 2012
This and other reviews on Book Thoughts by Marielle!
I absolutely loved the first book by Lia Habel Dearly, Departed and I really liked her second book in the Gone with the Respiration series, Dearly, Beloved as well! This series (and book) is extremely complicated, so I will try my best on this synopsis…
Nora and Bram know that everything is stacked against them: one is living, one is dead, the entire city hates the dead, and hates those who sympathize with them even more, plus there’s a group of zombies called the Changed that is producing a whole bunch of chaos for our favorite characters. Now a new bird-mask-wearing group, they call themselves the Murder, is out for blood, both zombie and human. When Nora, Bram, Pamela, and her family are attacked by this mysterious Murder, they can no longer ignore it. Nor can Michael Allister, considering he’s in it. He wants more than anything to kill Bram, who took Nora, whom Michael thought was rightfully his. He wanted to teach Nora a lesson and ultimately win her over. Only one other person knows: Vespertine Mink. She doesn’t like Nora, but their squabble was solely verbal, nothing as fatal as guns and knives. She needs to decide whether to help Michael and destroy Nora once and for all or to save Nora’s life, as well as that of countless others. Oh, and there’s a new strain of the Lazarus that can’t be prevented from the vaccine.
There’s SO MUCH MORE to this story, it’s not even funny. I just glossed over some of the huge concepts, but this book is over 520 pages and none of them are filler pages, so if you really want to know what happens, you have to read the book!
Now, for our female heroine: Nora. I loved Nora in the last book and she stays true in this one. She is filled with fire and she never plays the damsel in distress; she’s more like the knight in shining armor. She’s really smart; she’s actually the one that comes up with all of the plans and all the other people just follow her lead. Even when she is forced to hide from the world, she still finds useful things to do; she doesn’t just sit there and mope. She always puts herself in harm’s way to protect the ones she loves, but I don’t think she’s appreciated enough for it. Nora is one of my favorite heroines of all time and it actually makes sense that two guys are in love with her; she actually has a personality to fall in love with and she’s just awesome overall.
Bram, the hero, is also amazing. He’s really sweet and I feel like he understands his life well and without illusion; he knows that he doesn’t have long to live, so he’s living like every day is his last. That’s not to say that he does stupid things or acts impulsively, but he never lets an opportunity slip out of his fingers. He also doesn’t push Nora away even though he knows he won’t last forever. Traditionally, in YA, that would be seen as selfish, but that’s just stupid. It’s not selfish if the other person agrees and understands it too, okay YA? You hear me?? Anyway, I said before that Nora was more like a knight in shining armor, but I did not mean to infer that Bram was the princess (that’s Pam’s job, I think); they are both like knights in shining armor and they protect each other, which is the way it should be.
Now a sentence or two on each of the other narrators:
1. Michael: I couldn’t decide if he was sweet in a twisted way or just a creepy stalker. I opted for the second.
2. Pamela: She was kind of wimpy and annoying and I didn’t really like her that much; she was pretty drab. She was also stiff and not very likable (hence why I didn’t like her…).
3. Vespertine: She was just kind of there. She didn’t really play that big of a role in this story and I am indifferent about her. I don’t really understand why she was even a narrator…
4. Laura: A new narrator is introduced! I could see that her point of view was important, but she was really wimpy until the end, at which point I actually liked her.
Finally, the plot! I loved this book from beginning to end, except there was a bit of a lull in the middle of the book, but I got over that quite quickly. As I said before, this book is SO COMPLICATED. It’s really easy to keep everything straight while you’re reading it, but it’s really hard to tell someone what it’s about. There are so many facets to the story; it would be impossible to explain it all, or if you did, it would take until next Tuesday and no one wants to listen to someone ramble on for that long. Trust me. It is awesome in its complexity, though. It makes the story so interesting and I loved it! The only thing I didn’t love was the number of points of views and some of the narrators (*cough* PAM *cough*). There were six different points of views; that seems a little excessive, don’t you think? And it was a tad confusing at times, but mostly it was okay. I loved Bram and Nora’s points of views the best because they were awesome, but the other people were just okay.
THAT ENDING! I LOVED the ending of this book. It was the most adorable and sweetest thing I have ever seen/read (how should I word that?) and it was a slight cliffhanger, but it still left me satisfied… for now. But I still really want the next one to come out soon. It has not yet been announced that there will even be a next book, but with the ending, I think there will be. At least I hope so.
I absolutely loved the first book by Lia Habel Dearly, Departed and I really liked her second book in the Gone with the Respiration series, Dearly, Beloved as well! This series (and book) is extremely complicated, so I will try my best on this synopsis…
Nora and Bram know that everything is stacked against them: one is living, one is dead, the entire city hates the dead, and hates those who sympathize with them even more, plus there’s a group of zombies called the Changed that is producing a whole bunch of chaos for our favorite characters. Now a new bird-mask-wearing group, they call themselves the Murder, is out for blood, both zombie and human. When Nora, Bram, Pamela, and her family are attacked by this mysterious Murder, they can no longer ignore it. Nor can Michael Allister, considering he’s in it. He wants more than anything to kill Bram, who took Nora, whom Michael thought was rightfully his. He wanted to teach Nora a lesson and ultimately win her over. Only one other person knows: Vespertine Mink. She doesn’t like Nora, but their squabble was solely verbal, nothing as fatal as guns and knives. She needs to decide whether to help Michael and destroy Nora once and for all or to save Nora’s life, as well as that of countless others. Oh, and there’s a new strain of the Lazarus that can’t be prevented from the vaccine.
There’s SO MUCH MORE to this story, it’s not even funny. I just glossed over some of the huge concepts, but this book is over 520 pages and none of them are filler pages, so if you really want to know what happens, you have to read the book!
Now, for our female heroine: Nora. I loved Nora in the last book and she stays true in this one. She is filled with fire and she never plays the damsel in distress; she’s more like the knight in shining armor. She’s really smart; she’s actually the one that comes up with all of the plans and all the other people just follow her lead. Even when she is forced to hide from the world, she still finds useful things to do; she doesn’t just sit there and mope. She always puts herself in harm’s way to protect the ones she loves, but I don’t think she’s appreciated enough for it. Nora is one of my favorite heroines of all time and it actually makes sense that two guys are in love with her; she actually has a personality to fall in love with and she’s just awesome overall.
Bram, the hero, is also amazing. He’s really sweet and I feel like he understands his life well and without illusion; he knows that he doesn’t have long to live, so he’s living like every day is his last. That’s not to say that he does stupid things or acts impulsively, but he never lets an opportunity slip out of his fingers. He also doesn’t push Nora away even though he knows he won’t last forever. Traditionally, in YA, that would be seen as selfish, but that’s just stupid. It’s not selfish if the other person agrees and understands it too, okay YA? You hear me?? Anyway, I said before that Nora was more like a knight in shining armor, but I did not mean to infer that Bram was the princess (that’s Pam’s job, I think); they are both like knights in shining armor and they protect each other, which is the way it should be.
Now a sentence or two on each of the other narrators:
1. Michael: I couldn’t decide if he was sweet in a twisted way or just a creepy stalker. I opted for the second.
2. Pamela: She was kind of wimpy and annoying and I didn’t really like her that much; she was pretty drab. She was also stiff and not very likable (hence why I didn’t like her…).
3. Vespertine: She was just kind of there. She didn’t really play that big of a role in this story and I am indifferent about her. I don’t really understand why she was even a narrator…
4. Laura: A new narrator is introduced! I could see that her point of view was important, but she was really wimpy until the end, at which point I actually liked her.
Finally, the plot! I loved this book from beginning to end, except there was a bit of a lull in the middle of the book, but I got over that quite quickly. As I said before, this book is SO COMPLICATED. It’s really easy to keep everything straight while you’re reading it, but it’s really hard to tell someone what it’s about. There are so many facets to the story; it would be impossible to explain it all, or if you did, it would take until next Tuesday and no one wants to listen to someone ramble on for that long. Trust me. It is awesome in its complexity, though. It makes the story so interesting and I loved it! The only thing I didn’t love was the number of points of views and some of the narrators (*cough* PAM *cough*). There were six different points of views; that seems a little excessive, don’t you think? And it was a tad confusing at times, but mostly it was okay. I loved Bram and Nora’s points of views the best because they were awesome, but the other people were just okay.
THAT ENDING! I LOVED the ending of this book. It was the most adorable and sweetest thing I have ever seen/read (how should I word that?) and it was a slight cliffhanger, but it still left me satisfied… for now. But I still really want the next one to come out soon. It has not yet been announced that there will even be a next book, but with the ending, I think there will be. At least I hope so.
Want to read
June 26, 2012
Barely 20% in 8 hours and NOTHING was sinking in! AT. ALL. :( Truth be told, it was just so friggin' SLOW!
Is it me? Maybe, it is just me... going to give it a real go later....
....much later.
July 19, 2016
A lot happened in this book and like the last book there were alternating POVs told in first person. There are reveals coming up but I only write like this when I don't want to read a book again and because I found this one so long well......
Basically what happens in this book is a new strain of the Laz is found in one not quite dead zombie known as Smoke. There were lots of terrorist attacks on the characters done by two groups. The Changed, originally a group of thieves that turned into a protection group for zombies and stood up for zombie rights. Then there was the Murder a group of aristocrats wearing plague time bird masks who hunted down zombies and any zombie sympathizers. This group was greatly influenced by Michael Allister who had the sole goal of winning Nora's heart and killing her zombie boyfriend Bram in order to do so. The original leader of the Changed was killed by a rogue former company z soldier named Hagens who had bitter feelings towards Bram and humans after their abandoning her during the Siege (when lots of mindless zombies attacked the city and the army was told to dispatch all zombies). She planned to take back smoke from the humans at any cost but failed ultimately when Nora escaped from her Changed kidnappers and set fire to the camp and also smoke grew into a huge hulklike form and lay waste to the camp and tried to capture Hagens but she escaped. All of Michael Allisters plans were thwarted by Bram and prior tip offs from Nora and Pamela's bully Vespertine Mink who befriended Michael (it was also interesting to find that mink was born with blue blind eyes but now had grey bionic eyes and I also found it interesting to know she was found when she was young between both dead parents and adopted as a replacement after Lady Mink's child drowned in a pond. I wanted to know more but no more information was offered.) Michael, after having a huge row from his dad found out that the Laz was made by Allister Genetics and Smoke's new strain of the disease was also part of Allister Genetics and they were trying to reclaim him also. Michael was told at the end that it was time to see the 12th floor of the lab where he was to meet something called E.
Well this book certainly was a long haul as it took me so long to finish and towards the end I was less intrigued. Bram remains to be my favorite character and the parts with him and Michael made me laugh. There is definitely room for a third book here as lots of things are not answered such as: the whereabouts of Nora's aunt, what happened to Coalhouse after he and Bram parted ways, Hagens' whereabouts, the origins of the Laz, Allister Genetics' true purpose, who or what was E, why the Punks were abandoning the battle front against the New Victorian soldiers and what is the fate of Bram and Nora's pretend unofficial marriage when Bram has so little time? i would also love to get to know more of Mink's history as I feel a lot could be said about that.
I would like to know the answers to all these things and while I admire the authors talent to weave between all the characters POVs I still found the narrative a bit dull. I mean most of the characters seemed to brood over past events a lot and this wasn't too exciting to read about and in the first book there was more of a sense of mystery. I also felt the controversy between the living and the dead was better described and felt more real in the first book. But if there is a third book coming I would wan't to get to read it at sometime.
Basically what happens in this book is a new strain of the Laz is found in one not quite dead zombie known as Smoke. There were lots of terrorist attacks on the characters done by two groups. The Changed, originally a group of thieves that turned into a protection group for zombies and stood up for zombie rights. Then there was the Murder a group of aristocrats wearing plague time bird masks who hunted down zombies and any zombie sympathizers. This group was greatly influenced by Michael Allister who had the sole goal of winning Nora's heart and killing her zombie boyfriend Bram in order to do so. The original leader of the Changed was killed by a rogue former company z soldier named Hagens who had bitter feelings towards Bram and humans after their abandoning her during the Siege (when lots of mindless zombies attacked the city and the army was told to dispatch all zombies). She planned to take back smoke from the humans at any cost but failed ultimately when Nora escaped from her Changed kidnappers and set fire to the camp and also smoke grew into a huge hulklike form and lay waste to the camp and tried to capture Hagens but she escaped. All of Michael Allisters plans were thwarted by Bram and prior tip offs from Nora and Pamela's bully Vespertine Mink who befriended Michael (it was also interesting to find that mink was born with blue blind eyes but now had grey bionic eyes and I also found it interesting to know she was found when she was young between both dead parents and adopted as a replacement after Lady Mink's child drowned in a pond. I wanted to know more but no more information was offered.) Michael, after having a huge row from his dad found out that the Laz was made by Allister Genetics and Smoke's new strain of the disease was also part of Allister Genetics and they were trying to reclaim him also. Michael was told at the end that it was time to see the 12th floor of the lab where he was to meet something called E.
Well this book certainly was a long haul as it took me so long to finish and towards the end I was less intrigued. Bram remains to be my favorite character and the parts with him and Michael made me laugh. There is definitely room for a third book here as lots of things are not answered such as: the whereabouts of Nora's aunt, what happened to Coalhouse after he and Bram parted ways, Hagens' whereabouts, the origins of the Laz, Allister Genetics' true purpose, who or what was E, why the Punks were abandoning the battle front against the New Victorian soldiers and what is the fate of Bram and Nora's pretend unofficial marriage when Bram has so little time? i would also love to get to know more of Mink's history as I feel a lot could be said about that.
I would like to know the answers to all these things and while I admire the authors talent to weave between all the characters POVs I still found the narrative a bit dull. I mean most of the characters seemed to brood over past events a lot and this wasn't too exciting to read about and in the first book there was more of a sense of mystery. I also felt the controversy between the living and the dead was better described and felt more real in the first book. But if there is a third book coming I would wan't to get to read it at sometime.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 13, 2012
It took me almost three weeks, and I fell asleep every day (sometimes two or three times) that I attempted to read it, but I FINALLY finished it! It wasn't that the book was boring because it definitely had potential and there was a lot going on. It just wasn't compelling enough to keep my attention.
My biggest complaint with the first book was there were WAY too many points of view with five different narrators. With this book, try six. Yes, you read that right, SIX different points of view.
My second biggest complaint with the first book was it started out really slow, but it did pick up about halfway through for me to end up liking it. With this book, slow pacing was not a complaint at all - quite the opposite really. In fact, I felt that there was TOO MUCH going on. There were too many different parties involved that it was so chaotic. It wasn't just the living vs. the zombies. It was Company Z, the living army, the Punks, the Change, the bird raiders (yes, I forgot the name), all the different gangs - ugh, my head is going to explode, and to be honest, I can't even remember everything that happened.
But despite everything that was going on, somehow or another, I just couldn't get into the book. I can't really explain why other than I just couldn't keep my focus. Now whether the scenes were just not interesting enough or there was so much going on that Habel didn't do justice to each part or that snippets here and there was just disruptive and disorienting - I don't know. All I know is I couldn't get into it.
And a good deal of what made the first book decent was the romance. With the exception of two passionate scene, I didn't feel the attraction between Bram and Nora. Their relationship was just flat, and even though I know it's because they're in the middle of wartime, the chemistry just wasn't there as Rhett and Scarlett in Gone with the Wind (yes, I did notice that Habel renamed the series, which I got a good kick out of).
Pamela was just a foolish character. Vesperatine, despite her intelligence, was almost as foolish. And Laura wasn't intriguing enough. I could have done without all of their points of view - perhaps even traded Laura's POV for Coalhouse. And for someone who was so badass in Book 1, Coalhouse's pathetic attitude was really grating on my nerves. I didn't really care for Allister's POV either, but I guess you have to have the villan in there somewhere.
Overall, it wasn't a bad book. Like at all. But I just had so many problems with it that it really ruined the reading experience for me. I really hope that Habel considers some of the complaints from critics (especially the abundance of POVs) in future books.
My biggest complaint with the first book was there were WAY too many points of view with five different narrators. With this book, try six. Yes, you read that right, SIX different points of view.
My second biggest complaint with the first book was it started out really slow, but it did pick up about halfway through for me to end up liking it. With this book, slow pacing was not a complaint at all - quite the opposite really. In fact, I felt that there was TOO MUCH going on. There were too many different parties involved that it was so chaotic. It wasn't just the living vs. the zombies. It was Company Z, the living army, the Punks, the Change, the bird raiders (yes, I forgot the name), all the different gangs - ugh, my head is going to explode, and to be honest, I can't even remember everything that happened.
But despite everything that was going on, somehow or another, I just couldn't get into the book. I can't really explain why other than I just couldn't keep my focus. Now whether the scenes were just not interesting enough or there was so much going on that Habel didn't do justice to each part or that snippets here and there was just disruptive and disorienting - I don't know. All I know is I couldn't get into it.
And a good deal of what made the first book decent was the romance. With the exception of two passionate scene, I didn't feel the attraction between Bram and Nora. Their relationship was just flat, and even though I know it's because they're in the middle of wartime, the chemistry just wasn't there as Rhett and Scarlett in Gone with the Wind (yes, I did notice that Habel renamed the series, which I got a good kick out of).
Pamela was just a foolish character. Vesperatine, despite her intelligence, was almost as foolish. And Laura wasn't intriguing enough. I could have done without all of their points of view - perhaps even traded Laura's POV for Coalhouse. And for someone who was so badass in Book 1, Coalhouse's pathetic attitude was really grating on my nerves. I didn't really care for Allister's POV either, but I guess you have to have the villan in there somewhere.
Overall, it wasn't a bad book. Like at all. But I just had so many problems with it that it really ruined the reading experience for me. I really hope that Habel considers some of the complaints from critics (especially the abundance of POVs) in future books.
December 10, 2016
Je suis un peu déçue. J'avais adoré le premier livre mais j'ai trouvé ce tome plus long, moins divertissant et légèrement dispersé en terme d'actions.
September 25, 2012
★★★★½
Picking up several months following that horrific day the “evil” zombies attacked New London, the city is still trying to come to grips with the fact that zombies exist – that people they know and love have been taken by or become one of the walking dead. The well-ordered foundations of New Victorian society have been shaken, and too soon to tell how this whole “zombie problem” will end up playing out. Love them or hate them, everyone – living and dead – has a pretty strong and definite opinion on the matter. And now that a new strain of “The Laz” has been discovered, one that doesn’t respond to Dr. Dearly’s vaccine, it’s become even more dangerous for everyone. Sides are being chosen, prejudice runs rampant, violence escalates, and the city hangs on the edge of a precipice.
Once again, Nora, Bram & Co. find themselves swept up into a web of danger, secrets, intrigue, and conspiracy as they try to prevent a full-blown conflict between the zealous living and the persecuted dead while also becoming the target of a far more personal vendetta.
Nora. Ah, Nora. ‘Spitfire’ is the word that comes to mind when I think of Nora Dearly. Fiery and passionate, she loves whole-heartedly and fights fiercely for that which she loves. Nora’s not one to do anything halfway. She’s a wonderfully capable heroine, able to fight her own battles (although she’s not opposed to having help from time to time). She’s resourceful, outspoken, intelligent and cool-headed under pressure – the antithesis of everything New Victorian society says she should be. I love her impulsiveness, her temper, her spunk, her huge heart, and her willingness to act on her convictions.
Bram. [sigh]… oh Bram. Throughout this series, Bram remains my absolute favorite character. And it’s not just because he’s a super cute zombie boy – although that certainly doesn’t hurt – but it’s because I just love the voice Lia has given him. He’s the kind of person that radiates confidence, calm, capability. If the world is crumbling down all around, he’s one of those characters you have absolute faith in – the kind of character where you say, “It’s ok. Bram is here, therefore, everything will most assuredly be fine.” He draws people to him, reader and character alike – a centering, grounding force for those around him and the heart ‘n soul of these books. It’s not hard to understand why he became the captain of Z Company, despite his young age. He’s kind and gentle, while still being firm and decisive. And yet, though he doesn’t often show it, he’s also a conflicted character. It’s hard to be a leader – the one everyone looks to. And he has doubts about his role in the escalating zombie situation – whom should he side with? Should there even be sides?
Nora & Bram. These two… [sigh] I cannot adequately explain how much I adore this love story, but I’m going to give it my best shot. I love how they crave each other, and yet are still two very independent people. I love how they genuinely respect each other, how they value each other’s opinions and insights, how they’re a team, and how their first thought is for the safety and happiness of the other. They’re open and honest with each other, and they let each other be who they are, no pretense or games. Even with all the obstacles standing in their way, which are numerous, Nora & Bram have decided that their love is worth fighting for, worth pursuing. And I love how even in the darkest of dark times they are able to find humor, hope and comfort in each other. (← Ok… yeah. That works.)
Pamela. You might remember, if you read my Dearly, Departed review, that I adored Pamela in the last book. She starts off rather mousy – the throw-away best friend… and then somehow morphs into super, kick-butt Pamela. However, Dearly, Beloved is a tough book for our Pamma. She was so strong for her family for so long, and feels as though she must still be that foundation for them. However, now that she’s out of the thick of battle, no longer feeling the rush of adrenaline and survival, she’s falling apart, having nightmares, and her anxiety is worse than ever. She needs someone she can lean on this time… and I found part of Lia’s answer to this very intriguing. I’m very curious indeed as to where she’s going to take this. I have hopes, people, hopes.
The gang’s all here. So what about the rest of Z Company – the doctors & soldiers? They’re all here – Chas, Tom, Coalhouse, Ren, Samedi, Dr. Chase, Dr. Dearly, as well as Issy and various others we’ve already met, along with some we haven’t. The cast is a large one, but the character development is solid and well done. We learn more back story about several members of this ragtag group, and I loved the deeper more rounded perspectives Ms. Lia provides for these characters.
Villains. As with the last book, the villain(s) of Dearly, Beloved get(s) their own shot(s) at narration (← yay, misdirection! Or is it? Or is it?!?!) as Wolfe did in Dearly, Departed. However, if I had one complaint about the last book it would be that Wolfe always struck me as being a tad one-dimensional. I prefer my villains twisty, conflicted and sympathetic, and in this book, Lia delivers this perfectly. Histories that illicit tiny pangs of compassion, empathetic feelings of being backed into a corner with no choice, pitying delusions of things that will never be. Oh, the “bad guy(s)” is/are still nefarious and scary, but they have bits of themselves that I found myself empathizing with, understanding how they could’ve taken the path that led to their ultimate fall from grace. And aren’t those the best villains? Why yes. Yes, they are.
Story. With six alternating and diverse points of view that are all weaving toward the final conclusion, the plot of Dearly, Beloved is far more complex than that of the first book. It builds a bit slowly at first, reflecting the “where do we go from here?” tone as the doctors and former soldiers of Z-Company, the Dearlys and the Roes are all trying to settle back into life after the zombie attack orchestrated by Wolfe – trying to determine a direction, just attempting to carry on, or rediscovering normal. But what is “normal” now? The newly dead roam the streets of New London alongside the living, and tensions are rising between the two groups. Protests, violence, arguments for and against zombie civil rights have broken out in Parliament. The city is a powder keg, ready and primed, and Lia does a fantastic job of capturing and gradually developing this growing feeling of unease.
As I said this is a story that starts rolling a little slowly. Part of this, I think, is due to readjusting to a new narrator every chapter. Coming off the “omigosh!” ending you just left behind and trying to figure out where you are now in the time-line. That said, I don’t think this is a negative aspect to the book at all, as all of the narrators are necessary to tell this story. Dearly, Beloved certainly wouldn’t have had that heightened sense of urgency without each individual viewpoint. And through it all, Lia is ever building and accelerating the story until it turns into an unstoppable force – weaving a complicated tangle of clues for the reader, who’s given a birds-eye view of many of the goings on, and the characters, who you’re desperately hoping will piece everything together before disaster strikes. This is definitely one of those books where I feel a second reading would be beneficial for me to understand how all the pieces fit together, as I did get a tad lost one or two times. The only reason I gave it a 4.5 was because of that. However, I do feel like that might’ve been more me than the book. So upon a second reading, I reserve the right to change my rating should I see fit. (← In the spirit of full disclosure…)
Overall. Like a zombie at an all-you-can-eat brain buffet, I gobbled this book right up… and it was delicious.
Picking up several months following that horrific day the “evil” zombies attacked New London, the city is still trying to come to grips with the fact that zombies exist – that people they know and love have been taken by or become one of the walking dead. The well-ordered foundations of New Victorian society have been shaken, and too soon to tell how this whole “zombie problem” will end up playing out. Love them or hate them, everyone – living and dead – has a pretty strong and definite opinion on the matter. And now that a new strain of “The Laz” has been discovered, one that doesn’t respond to Dr. Dearly’s vaccine, it’s become even more dangerous for everyone. Sides are being chosen, prejudice runs rampant, violence escalates, and the city hangs on the edge of a precipice.
Once again, Nora, Bram & Co. find themselves swept up into a web of danger, secrets, intrigue, and conspiracy as they try to prevent a full-blown conflict between the zealous living and the persecuted dead while also becoming the target of a far more personal vendetta.
Nora. Ah, Nora. ‘Spitfire’ is the word that comes to mind when I think of Nora Dearly. Fiery and passionate, she loves whole-heartedly and fights fiercely for that which she loves. Nora’s not one to do anything halfway. She’s a wonderfully capable heroine, able to fight her own battles (although she’s not opposed to having help from time to time). She’s resourceful, outspoken, intelligent and cool-headed under pressure – the antithesis of everything New Victorian society says she should be. I love her impulsiveness, her temper, her spunk, her huge heart, and her willingness to act on her convictions.
Bram. [sigh]… oh Bram. Throughout this series, Bram remains my absolute favorite character. And it’s not just because he’s a super cute zombie boy – although that certainly doesn’t hurt – but it’s because I just love the voice Lia has given him. He’s the kind of person that radiates confidence, calm, capability. If the world is crumbling down all around, he’s one of those characters you have absolute faith in – the kind of character where you say, “It’s ok. Bram is here, therefore, everything will most assuredly be fine.” He draws people to him, reader and character alike – a centering, grounding force for those around him and the heart ‘n soul of these books. It’s not hard to understand why he became the captain of Z Company, despite his young age. He’s kind and gentle, while still being firm and decisive. And yet, though he doesn’t often show it, he’s also a conflicted character. It’s hard to be a leader – the one everyone looks to. And he has doubts about his role in the escalating zombie situation – whom should he side with? Should there even be sides?
Nora & Bram. These two… [sigh] I cannot adequately explain how much I adore this love story, but I’m going to give it my best shot. I love how they crave each other, and yet are still two very independent people. I love how they genuinely respect each other, how they value each other’s opinions and insights, how they’re a team, and how their first thought is for the safety and happiness of the other. They’re open and honest with each other, and they let each other be who they are, no pretense or games. Even with all the obstacles standing in their way, which are numerous, Nora & Bram have decided that their love is worth fighting for, worth pursuing. And I love how even in the darkest of dark times they are able to find humor, hope and comfort in each other. (← Ok… yeah. That works.)
Pamela. You might remember, if you read my Dearly, Departed review, that I adored Pamela in the last book. She starts off rather mousy – the throw-away best friend… and then somehow morphs into super, kick-butt Pamela. However, Dearly, Beloved is a tough book for our Pamma. She was so strong for her family for so long, and feels as though she must still be that foundation for them. However, now that she’s out of the thick of battle, no longer feeling the rush of adrenaline and survival, she’s falling apart, having nightmares, and her anxiety is worse than ever. She needs someone she can lean on this time… and I found part of Lia’s answer to this very intriguing. I’m very curious indeed as to where she’s going to take this. I have hopes, people, hopes.
The gang’s all here. So what about the rest of Z Company – the doctors & soldiers? They’re all here – Chas, Tom, Coalhouse, Ren, Samedi, Dr. Chase, Dr. Dearly, as well as Issy and various others we’ve already met, along with some we haven’t. The cast is a large one, but the character development is solid and well done. We learn more back story about several members of this ragtag group, and I loved the deeper more rounded perspectives Ms. Lia provides for these characters.
Villains. As with the last book, the villain(s) of Dearly, Beloved get(s) their own shot(s) at narration (← yay, misdirection! Or is it? Or is it?!?!) as Wolfe did in Dearly, Departed. However, if I had one complaint about the last book it would be that Wolfe always struck me as being a tad one-dimensional. I prefer my villains twisty, conflicted and sympathetic, and in this book, Lia delivers this perfectly. Histories that illicit tiny pangs of compassion, empathetic feelings of being backed into a corner with no choice, pitying delusions of things that will never be. Oh, the “bad guy(s)” is/are still nefarious and scary, but they have bits of themselves that I found myself empathizing with, understanding how they could’ve taken the path that led to their ultimate fall from grace. And aren’t those the best villains? Why yes. Yes, they are.
Story. With six alternating and diverse points of view that are all weaving toward the final conclusion, the plot of Dearly, Beloved is far more complex than that of the first book. It builds a bit slowly at first, reflecting the “where do we go from here?” tone as the doctors and former soldiers of Z-Company, the Dearlys and the Roes are all trying to settle back into life after the zombie attack orchestrated by Wolfe – trying to determine a direction, just attempting to carry on, or rediscovering normal. But what is “normal” now? The newly dead roam the streets of New London alongside the living, and tensions are rising between the two groups. Protests, violence, arguments for and against zombie civil rights have broken out in Parliament. The city is a powder keg, ready and primed, and Lia does a fantastic job of capturing and gradually developing this growing feeling of unease.
As I said this is a story that starts rolling a little slowly. Part of this, I think, is due to readjusting to a new narrator every chapter. Coming off the “omigosh!” ending you just left behind and trying to figure out where you are now in the time-line. That said, I don’t think this is a negative aspect to the book at all, as all of the narrators are necessary to tell this story. Dearly, Beloved certainly wouldn’t have had that heightened sense of urgency without each individual viewpoint. And through it all, Lia is ever building and accelerating the story until it turns into an unstoppable force – weaving a complicated tangle of clues for the reader, who’s given a birds-eye view of many of the goings on, and the characters, who you’re desperately hoping will piece everything together before disaster strikes. This is definitely one of those books where I feel a second reading would be beneficial for me to understand how all the pieces fit together, as I did get a tad lost one or two times. The only reason I gave it a 4.5 was because of that. However, I do feel like that might’ve been more me than the book. So upon a second reading, I reserve the right to change my rating should I see fit. (← In the spirit of full disclosure…)
Overall. Like a zombie at an all-you-can-eat brain buffet, I gobbled this book right up… and it was delicious.
December 7, 2015
Nothing was usual, for us.
Everything was wonderful, because of it.
Once again, Bram and Nora are so stinkin' perfect in this book! Did I love Dearly, Beloved as much as its predecessor? No. But my love for the honorable and affectionate zombie and his fiercely clever warrior woman has increased tenfold. There is no room for romantic angst in this series, despite - or maybe because of - their differences, the obstacles they face, and the increasingly hostile world around them. Instead they are besotted and wholly communicative. Nora and Bram work together so well, and their devotion to each other is not only swoon-worthy but genuine. They've turned me into a gooey mess!
However, I do have to say that while they didn't disappoint, this second book didn't charm me quite as much as the first. There were far too many points of view for my liking, and I felt like the plot was less adventurous and more tedious. Not only that, but it's clearly meant to be a trilogy, and at this point the author has stated she probably won't be writing the third book. There are quite a few loose strings, so that's disappointing. She does leave Bram and Nora in a really good spot, though, a fact I will be eternally grateful for.
Like I said about the first book, if you're at all curious about a zombie love story with a twist, I think you should give the Gone with the Respiration "duology" a try. It's certainly worth it for the cuteness that is Nora and Bram!
This review can also be found at Love at First Page.
April 11, 2016
An Electronic Advanced Reader Copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review. Quotes have been pulled from an ARC and may be subject to change.
I just have to say there are a ton of characters in this book. So many that sometimes I don’t even remember who is who. To add to my confusion some of them have nicknames! So once a character does something I remember, that’s when it clicks into place. Multiple viewpoints in this one just like the first one so I have to say I loved it. I love knowing the inner workings and feelings of Nora, and Bram, but also of Vesterpine and Michael. Two sides with two very different goals. Nora is just as kick-ass as she was in the first book, and why wouldn’t she be? She still doesn’t let Bram walk all over her, and that’s saying something when your boyfriend is a zombie.
There’s a lot of plot going on. A lot. I can even give you an example. If you’ve ever seen any of Christopher Nolan’s movies, you’ll understand. There’s a plot with these bunch of characters, which also correspond with another set of characters, then in the end, it’s all seamlessly brought back together again. That’s how I can describe Dearly, Beloved‘s plot. It weaves so many characters together with an intricate plot, that you can’t help but want to read again, so you wouldn’t miss anything! Love it.
Truly an amazing tale! Steam punk meets zombies? How can you go wrong? Lia Habel, please come to Canada and do a signing.
I just have to say there are a ton of characters in this book. So many that sometimes I don’t even remember who is who. To add to my confusion some of them have nicknames! So once a character does something I remember, that’s when it clicks into place. Multiple viewpoints in this one just like the first one so I have to say I loved it. I love knowing the inner workings and feelings of Nora, and Bram, but also of Vesterpine and Michael. Two sides with two very different goals. Nora is just as kick-ass as she was in the first book, and why wouldn’t she be? She still doesn’t let Bram walk all over her, and that’s saying something when your boyfriend is a zombie.
There’s a lot of plot going on. A lot. I can even give you an example. If you’ve ever seen any of Christopher Nolan’s movies, you’ll understand. There’s a plot with these bunch of characters, which also correspond with another set of characters, then in the end, it’s all seamlessly brought back together again. That’s how I can describe Dearly, Beloved‘s plot. It weaves so many characters together with an intricate plot, that you can’t help but want to read again, so you wouldn’t miss anything! Love it.
Truly an amazing tale! Steam punk meets zombies? How can you go wrong? Lia Habel, please come to Canada and do a signing.
September 16, 2012
*Genre* Dystopian/Steampunk
*Rating* 2.5-3.0
*Full review shortly*
Probably would have liked this story much much more had there not been 6 seperate POV's. Some of the points of view were unnecessary in my humble opinion. It's a good thing that Bram is one of the main character, otherwise, I would drop my rating even further for this book. Anyway...more later.
*ARC Rcvd 06/01/2012 via Netgalley.com * Expected publication: September 25th 2012 by Del Rey Books/Random House
*Rating* 2.5-3.0
*Full review shortly*
Probably would have liked this story much much more had there not been 6 seperate POV's. Some of the points of view were unnecessary in my humble opinion. It's a good thing that Bram is one of the main character, otherwise, I would drop my rating even further for this book. Anyway...more later.
*ARC Rcvd 06/01/2012 via Netgalley.com * Expected publication: September 25th 2012 by Del Rey Books/Random House
Want to read
August 2, 2012Wow..the Uk Cover is brilliant
April 30, 2024
This book was exhausting.
I liked the first book and so went ahead to read the second one. It took me almost 5 months to finish.
While in the first book we get thrown into the action quite fast this book takes until well into the second half until anything remotely interesting happens. A big part of the book is just “we’re at home. Now we’re buying groceries. Now folding the laundry. Now we’re going on a walk”.
I contemplated giving it up after fighting through the first half but then a few interesting things did happen so I kept reading. Which disappointed me again because even the few things that spark interest towards the end of the book have nearly no payoff. There are plot points that just don’t have an ending (it reads like the author wanted to write a 3rd book and so gave hints to new storylines but then never went through with it) as well as plot points that end in a really boring matter, plots that build up over large portions of the book only to be resolved in half a chapter.
I’m not sure if writing the book in the POV of a whole 6 different people helps or makes it worse. One of the plus points is that I absolutely can’t stand the main female character Nora and that way I have to spend less time reading through her mind, if the entire book was from her view I would have dropped it. Since the first book her entire personality is based on the premise of how she is so different than other girls and not one of the snobby, girly and weak aristocrats. We never really get to know who or what she is, we are just told about all the things she’s not and how she’s so much better because of that. This character had so much potential but suffers from the for this genre typical “I’m not like other girls”-syndrome where she spends most of her thoughts on how different she is and telling us about how strong and cool she is - instead of just being it. I don’t have anything against strong female leads and girls that are “not girly” but it’s tiring if that’s your whole 1-dimensional personality and you just constantly talk about it.
Still giving this 2 points because there were a few times something interesting happened that kept me reading and I liked all the other characters - especially Pamela, who is a character that has been through hell these 2 books and has grown from chapter to chapter. I wish Nora would have gotten the same development instead of her one personality trait that is about - oh, did you already now she’s not like other girls? Did we mention she’s not girly? Did we tell you she doesn’t like dresses? Have we talked about how strong she is?
I liked the first book and so went ahead to read the second one. It took me almost 5 months to finish.
While in the first book we get thrown into the action quite fast this book takes until well into the second half until anything remotely interesting happens. A big part of the book is just “we’re at home. Now we’re buying groceries. Now folding the laundry. Now we’re going on a walk”.
I contemplated giving it up after fighting through the first half but then a few interesting things did happen so I kept reading. Which disappointed me again because even the few things that spark interest towards the end of the book have nearly no payoff. There are plot points that just don’t have an ending (it reads like the author wanted to write a 3rd book and so gave hints to new storylines but then never went through with it) as well as plot points that end in a really boring matter, plots that build up over large portions of the book only to be resolved in half a chapter.
I’m not sure if writing the book in the POV of a whole 6 different people helps or makes it worse. One of the plus points is that I absolutely can’t stand the main female character Nora and that way I have to spend less time reading through her mind, if the entire book was from her view I would have dropped it. Since the first book her entire personality is based on the premise of how she is so different than other girls and not one of the snobby, girly and weak aristocrats. We never really get to know who or what she is, we are just told about all the things she’s not and how she’s so much better because of that. This character had so much potential but suffers from the for this genre typical “I’m not like other girls”-syndrome where she spends most of her thoughts on how different she is and telling us about how strong and cool she is - instead of just being it. I don’t have anything against strong female leads and girls that are “not girly” but it’s tiring if that’s your whole 1-dimensional personality and you just constantly talk about it.
Still giving this 2 points because there were a few times something interesting happened that kept me reading and I liked all the other characters - especially Pamela, who is a character that has been through hell these 2 books and has grown from chapter to chapter. I wish Nora would have gotten the same development instead of her one personality trait that is about - oh, did you already now she’s not like other girls? Did we mention she’s not girly? Did we tell you she doesn’t like dresses? Have we talked about how strong she is?
July 26, 2012
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: Zombies fight for independence, while characters hash out revenge from Dearly, Departed.
Opening Sentence: When I got to the top of the hill, the zombie caught me.
The Review:
Phew. This is such a busy book. There are so many character arcs and details that somehow blend together that it keeps your mind reeling (and it’s pretty ingenious how it all plays out).
Dearly, Beloved picks up a few months after where Departed left us. As a refresher (WARNING SPOILER ALERT!!):
Z-company has split up, Bram and Nora have declared their love, and the vaccine for “The Laz” didn’t work. Now Dr. Dearly is busy working on a new vaccine while a revolution is brewing in the city of New Victoria. Meanwhile, Michael Allister, heir of Allister Genetics, is plotting revenge against Bram Griswold because he stole Nora from him (Michael’s insane. Just saying.) Pamela (Nora’s best friend) is struggling with PTSD, and her house being bombed in the beginning of Beloved. Nora and Bram are caught in the middle of the chaos, and the time of Bram’s life is ticking. Oh, and a group of new zombies called The Changed are looking for independence. Mix all this together and add a handful of new characters and you have a complex and fast paced steampunk story of zombies and revenge.
I was dreading the character switches. Just like Departed, Beloved switches perspectives every chapter. From Nora to Bram to Michael, to Vespertine Mink. But unlike Departed, I actually enjoyed the perspective change, after the first few chapters. There was enough suspense and action in each chapter I was engaged in each story as it unfolded and then melded together with the other perspectives. So a gold star to Lia Habel for the improvement!
The entire story is like 5 different stories in the beginning (note: this is not a bad thing). The characters all know each other, but some don’t mingle with the others. Although it was a slow beginning, the story really picked up and was really intriguing. The voices were distinct, helping the perspectives to become more distinguished.
My favorite perspective was Michael. Yes, he is completely obsessed with Nora and hates my favorite character Bram, but his voice and point of view is intriguing in a very weird way. I sort of feel bad for him with his daddy issues (he’s very neglected, not that he’d admit that), but bad guy perspectives are always interesting when he thinks he’s in the right.
Overall, this was a very good (but very long) book that had slow parts, but when it got going it never stopped. You might want to review Departed before you read this because a lot of characters come back that I didn’t remember (like Lopez). So place this book on hold or pre-order it on the web because this book is worth it.
Notable Scene:
The first sparks of a deep, blistering anger started popping in my stomach upon hearing those words. My entire unlife was an exercise in control, but Hagens was pushing buttons that ought not to be pushed. I felt myself take a step toward her, even as my higher brain processes told me to back down. That it wasn’t worth the risk.
“Bram.” Samedi moved in front of her, his eyes boring into mine. “Let’s go. Come on. We have a lot of things to figure out, but not here.”
“Look at him. He won’t even fight me,” Hagens said scornfully.
“Miss Hagens,” Dr. Chase said as she moved to usher Renfield and Chas forward. “Do shut up. And everyone check your pockets again.”
FTC Advisory: Del Rey/Random House provided me with a copy of Dearly, Beloved. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: Zombies fight for independence, while characters hash out revenge from Dearly, Departed.
Opening Sentence: When I got to the top of the hill, the zombie caught me.
The Review:
Phew. This is such a busy book. There are so many character arcs and details that somehow blend together that it keeps your mind reeling (and it’s pretty ingenious how it all plays out).
Dearly, Beloved picks up a few months after where Departed left us. As a refresher (WARNING SPOILER ALERT!!):
Z-company has split up, Bram and Nora have declared their love, and the vaccine for “The Laz” didn’t work. Now Dr. Dearly is busy working on a new vaccine while a revolution is brewing in the city of New Victoria. Meanwhile, Michael Allister, heir of Allister Genetics, is plotting revenge against Bram Griswold because he stole Nora from him (Michael’s insane. Just saying.) Pamela (Nora’s best friend) is struggling with PTSD, and her house being bombed in the beginning of Beloved. Nora and Bram are caught in the middle of the chaos, and the time of Bram’s life is ticking. Oh, and a group of new zombies called The Changed are looking for independence. Mix all this together and add a handful of new characters and you have a complex and fast paced steampunk story of zombies and revenge.
I was dreading the character switches. Just like Departed, Beloved switches perspectives every chapter. From Nora to Bram to Michael, to Vespertine Mink. But unlike Departed, I actually enjoyed the perspective change, after the first few chapters. There was enough suspense and action in each chapter I was engaged in each story as it unfolded and then melded together with the other perspectives. So a gold star to Lia Habel for the improvement!
The entire story is like 5 different stories in the beginning (note: this is not a bad thing). The characters all know each other, but some don’t mingle with the others. Although it was a slow beginning, the story really picked up and was really intriguing. The voices were distinct, helping the perspectives to become more distinguished.
My favorite perspective was Michael. Yes, he is completely obsessed with Nora and hates my favorite character Bram, but his voice and point of view is intriguing in a very weird way. I sort of feel bad for him with his daddy issues (he’s very neglected, not that he’d admit that), but bad guy perspectives are always interesting when he thinks he’s in the right.
Overall, this was a very good (but very long) book that had slow parts, but when it got going it never stopped. You might want to review Departed before you read this because a lot of characters come back that I didn’t remember (like Lopez). So place this book on hold or pre-order it on the web because this book is worth it.
Notable Scene:
The first sparks of a deep, blistering anger started popping in my stomach upon hearing those words. My entire unlife was an exercise in control, but Hagens was pushing buttons that ought not to be pushed. I felt myself take a step toward her, even as my higher brain processes told me to back down. That it wasn’t worth the risk.
“Bram.” Samedi moved in front of her, his eyes boring into mine. “Let’s go. Come on. We have a lot of things to figure out, but not here.”
“Look at him. He won’t even fight me,” Hagens said scornfully.
“Miss Hagens,” Dr. Chase said as she moved to usher Renfield and Chas forward. “Do shut up. And everyone check your pockets again.”
FTC Advisory: Del Rey/Random House provided me with a copy of Dearly, Beloved. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
September 25, 2012
Dearly, Beloved is set in the year 2195. The world has suffered disasters that have reduced the population, forcing the survivors to build settlements in South and Central America. The wealthy believe the Victorian time period is perfect and have adopted its etiquette. The Victorians have long despised the Punks, which are the poor, and have been at war with them. That is until the Laz disease begins to take hold of the surviving population. A disease that reanimates the dead turning them into zombies has forced the two parties to unite into a battle to help save the human race.
As with the first novel Dearly, Departed, this sequel is told from multiple points of view. 5 to be precise. I typically enjoy multiple pov's. They tend to give you details that you would have otherwise missed if only reading from one of the characters perspectives. Unfortunately, this aspect doesn't work for me in this novel. It was honestly the one thing that I had hoped would be different from the first novel. I had a hard time differentiating the characters and would constantly find myself going back to see which character's pov I was reading.
Dearly, Beloved touches more on zombie rights and the political machinations of each party. This is what kept me engaged in the plot. Much of the book is figuring out where to draw the line on what rights the zombies have. While this is important, it did slow the pacing. There just wasn't enough tension between the warring factions and the book didn't really take off until half way through.
The romance in this installment was a bit too formulaic for me. It seemed as though each character had a love interest, which made it feel like a soap-opera. The relationship drama was too excessive for me. I wanted more action, zombies and especially world building. I never truly grasped the New Victorian environment. The blend of steampunk and modern technology never fully combined to create a cohesive atmosphere.
Overall, I did enjoy this novel, but I had a difficult time getting into it. The pacing was off and the multiple pov's were really distracting for me. Despite all my criticisms, I'll still read the third book, since not everything is resolved in this one. If you liked Dearly, Departed and enjoyed it's many pov's then I recommend this read. If you had difficulties with DD, then I'm not sure if this sequel is for you. Also,
As with the first novel Dearly, Departed, this sequel is told from multiple points of view. 5 to be precise. I typically enjoy multiple pov's. They tend to give you details that you would have otherwise missed if only reading from one of the characters perspectives. Unfortunately, this aspect doesn't work for me in this novel. It was honestly the one thing that I had hoped would be different from the first novel. I had a hard time differentiating the characters and would constantly find myself going back to see which character's pov I was reading.
Dearly, Beloved touches more on zombie rights and the political machinations of each party. This is what kept me engaged in the plot. Much of the book is figuring out where to draw the line on what rights the zombies have. While this is important, it did slow the pacing. There just wasn't enough tension between the warring factions and the book didn't really take off until half way through.
The romance in this installment was a bit too formulaic for me. It seemed as though each character had a love interest, which made it feel like a soap-opera. The relationship drama was too excessive for me. I wanted more action, zombies and especially world building. I never truly grasped the New Victorian environment. The blend of steampunk and modern technology never fully combined to create a cohesive atmosphere.
Overall, I did enjoy this novel, but I had a difficult time getting into it. The pacing was off and the multiple pov's were really distracting for me. Despite all my criticisms, I'll still read the third book, since not everything is resolved in this one. If you liked Dearly, Departed and enjoyed it's many pov's then I recommend this read. If you had difficulties with DD, then I'm not sure if this sequel is for you. Also,
September 13, 2013
This and my other reviews can be found at http://amethystbookwyrm.blogspot.co.uk/
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for giving me this book to review.
Since “The Laz” has hit New Victoria both the living and the dead have been co-existing, however, they are not at peace with each other. Some of the living believe that the dead are abominations which should be wiped out, and a group of the dead believe they have to fight the living for their survival and rights. Caught in-between these groups are Nora Dearly a girl who is immune to “The Laz” and the dead boy she loves Bram.
While there is a lot to Dearly Beloved, I just did not find it as interesting as the first. The pace was so slow and I feel it did not have the adventure of the first book. However it was an interesting story as it looks at how both the living and the dead react to living together in the same city.
This book has six points of views and the voices all sounded similar to me. I would not know who was telling the story unless it was said at the start of the book. However, unlike the last book I felt we needed all the points of view or we would not understand the story.
Bram and Nora’s romance in this book is not as interesting as Dearly Departed as it had lost it star-crossed quality, and also it seems Habel was more interested in building the story-line for the third book.
The ending does leave you wanting to read the next book, however I do hope it is more like Dearly Departed, and this is just the slow middle book. I would recommend this to people who like Dearly Departed, or those who like Zombie books.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for giving me this book to review.
Since “The Laz” has hit New Victoria both the living and the dead have been co-existing, however, they are not at peace with each other. Some of the living believe that the dead are abominations which should be wiped out, and a group of the dead believe they have to fight the living for their survival and rights. Caught in-between these groups are Nora Dearly a girl who is immune to “The Laz” and the dead boy she loves Bram.
While there is a lot to Dearly Beloved, I just did not find it as interesting as the first. The pace was so slow and I feel it did not have the adventure of the first book. However it was an interesting story as it looks at how both the living and the dead react to living together in the same city.
This book has six points of views and the voices all sounded similar to me. I would not know who was telling the story unless it was said at the start of the book. However, unlike the last book I felt we needed all the points of view or we would not understand the story.
Bram and Nora’s romance in this book is not as interesting as Dearly Departed as it had lost it star-crossed quality, and also it seems Habel was more interested in building the story-line for the third book.
The ending does leave you wanting to read the next book, however I do hope it is more like Dearly Departed, and this is just the slow middle book. I would recommend this to people who like Dearly Departed, or those who like Zombie books.
March 10, 2013
There were some awesome and adorable parts (especially that ending!) but this book didn't really live up to the first one, IMO.
I hate, hate, HATED the multiple POVs. (Were there 6 POVs in book one? I don't remember.) It made it impossible to put the book down and pick it up again, because I couldn't remember which freaking narrator was talking. The plot also really felt like it dragged on in places, which is kind of weird because there was a lot happening, I think I just had a hard time following it because there were so. many. narrators. Sweet Jesus, the narrators.
Bram and Nora remain one of my all-time favorite YA couples. Despite the zombie issue, they remain surprisingly angst-free and very loyal to each other. Very refreshing considering the tidal wave of stalkerish, rapey love interests out there in YA.
I do think the awesome humor from the first one wasn't as present here, maybe because the author was taking on too many rotating narrators. Anyway, I'm hoping there's a third book that can redeem this series a bit, but even if there isn't a book three, I was pretty happy with the conclusion of Dearly, Beloved.
I hate, hate, HATED the multiple POVs. (Were there 6 POVs in book one? I don't remember.) It made it impossible to put the book down and pick it up again, because I couldn't remember which freaking narrator was talking. The plot also really felt like it dragged on in places, which is kind of weird because there was a lot happening, I think I just had a hard time following it because there were so. many. narrators. Sweet Jesus, the narrators.
Bram and Nora remain one of my all-time favorite YA couples. Despite the zombie issue, they remain surprisingly angst-free and very loyal to each other. Very refreshing considering the tidal wave of stalkerish, rapey love interests out there in YA.
I do think the awesome humor from the first one wasn't as present here, maybe because the author was taking on too many rotating narrators. Anyway, I'm hoping there's a third book that can redeem this series a bit, but even if there isn't a book three, I was pretty happy with the conclusion of Dearly, Beloved.
August 20, 2012
I really, really hoped (& wanted) to love this one but the pacing was so slow and I didn't feel any of the wonder that I felt in the first book. The whimsical descriptions of New Victoria and exploration of the zombies was mostly absent.
The multiple POV's are continued here and while I wasn't a huge fan of them in book #1, I felt that they at least overlapped and added to the overall story arc. In Dearly Beloved the characters all have such similar voices that I had problems telling them apart.
Despite dire consequences for New Victoria and human/zombie relations there was a lack of tension throughout most of the book.
Dearly Beloved focuses more on zombie rights and politics than action. While I love a good moral dilemma and debate I just couldn't drum up any excitement here.
It seems that most other readers here on GR enjoyed it so definitely give it a try. The writing was top notch but it just wasn't as compelling as the first book for me.
The multiple POV's are continued here and while I wasn't a huge fan of them in book #1, I felt that they at least overlapped and added to the overall story arc. In Dearly Beloved the characters all have such similar voices that I had problems telling them apart.
Despite dire consequences for New Victoria and human/zombie relations there was a lack of tension throughout most of the book.
Dearly Beloved focuses more on zombie rights and politics than action. While I love a good moral dilemma and debate I just couldn't drum up any excitement here.
It seems that most other readers here on GR enjoyed it so definitely give it a try. The writing was top notch but it just wasn't as compelling as the first book for me.
July 22, 2012
*****FINAL RATING: 4.85 STARS*****
CATCHALL
If I loved Dearly, Departed, Dearly, Beloved was really something else. It was completely unlike anything I've ever read and completely perfect. I fell in love with it from page one and never stopped. It's easily one of the most amazing books that I have ever read and one of my favorites of 2012 for sure. I almost couldn't believe how awesome it was. It literally and completely blew me away—I mean, it was honestly that amazing. It was totally a different story than the one told in the first book, and yet I loved it every bit as much.
THE HERO
BRAM
I adore Bram just as much as I did in the first book. He's gorgeous, and brave. I'm sounding like a total fangirl, and to be honest, I probably am. I just love him. He's isn't afraid to stand up for what's right, and he'll do anything to protect Nora and his friends. He usually can see what needs to be done and does it. However, he is not so perfect that it's ridiculous, and of course he makes mistakes that he has to work his way out of. And he never wastes time. He is truly an awesome hero.
THE HEROINE
NORA
Nora is so sweet, but she's also anything but innocent. She can do things that are brave but rash, and yet the reasons she has for taking such risks always leads back to protecting her friends. She isn't foolish at all. I adore Nora. She's an extremely relatable heroine. It's really easy for me to identify with her. She's every girl. Despite everything that she goes through, she stays strong and doesn't lose herself. Instead of dwelling on the past, she looks towards the future.
THE BEST FRIEND
PAMELA
Pam bothered me at times, but for the most part I genuinely liked her. She's struggling to fit into this new world, and she's trying to in the only way she knows how. Honestly, it's actually pretty admirable. She's not afraid to get in the action and she's so loyal to Nora in the fiercest yet sweetest way.
THE OTHER ROYALS
ISAMBARD
Isambard wasn't in this book much, although I do like what we see of him. He's changed a lot, but then in some ways he also hasn't, and that's refreshing. I love the way he's used to represent, and what he's portrayed as.
MICHAEL
Michael is a jerk, plain and simple, but he makes for a deliciously insane and corrupted villain. It was creepy and yet totally awesome to be inside his head. I seriously, seriously loved it. Watching his character and his anger unfold was remarkable. Also he is a total kleptomaniac, which is just weird, and obviously not right in the head.
VESPERTINE
Vespertine took me a while to figure out, but I actually ended up really admiring her. She goes through a lot but in the end she tries to do what she thinks is right, even putting herself in danger to do so, as long as she thinks it could help. It's hard not to admire that.
THE OTHER WALKING DEAD
TOM
I still love Tom. He's such a fun character, but he can be serious when he needs to be. He goes through some difficult things in this book, and yet he tries not to let them bother him too much. He really presses through even when things are tough to help Bram.
COALHOUSE
Coalhouse was an incredibly dynamic character. He took the sidelines in Dearly, Departed, but in this book her really takes the stage. He wants to get attention for something, to finally do the right thing, and to get praise for it. Yet he's lost and doesn't really know how to go about it. Watching his struggle is heartbreaking, but ultimately gives us an awesome insight into his character.
RENFIELD
I just love Ren, like so much. He's awesome and brilliant. He figures crazy and insane things out, and contributes some seriously valuable knowledge. He also just seems so amazing. He's another character who really grows in this novel, although honestly, they all do. But still.
CHAS
I missed Chas in this book, because we didn't really see her as much as we did before. Still, she's just as awesome in this book as she was in the last. She still makes me smile, and se's still totally badass.
LAURA
Laura is a new zombie who is introduced, who struggles with the new world that she's trying to fit into. Everything is thrown into chaos more than once for her, and yet she really manages to keep her head through it all. She's an essential and really awesome character who I without a doubt adored.
THE PLOT
I admit that the plot was actually pretty slow-moving at first. It actually does take a while for it to get into the action. The first hundred pages or so do seem to move pretty slowly. However, I just couldn't bring myself to mind too much. I loved the was the development took its time. It made everything seem that much more genuine. No details were left unseen to. Everything fit into its proper place.
And once the action got started, it didn't stop. There was so much action that it was nearly impossible to believe so much action could be packed into so few pages. I literally couldn't put the book down. It was as if my life depended on knowing what happened next.
Really, I loved it. So much was happening, just like in the first book. And yet it was so different from the first book at the same time. The entire story it centered around was different. It was just as remarkably original as the first and so unique that it has its own claim to fame.
It had everything I look for in a novel. Romance. Action. Mystery. It's all set in an incredible dystopian world that I completely love. I know I keep saying this, but it's just so…awesomely unique, like I'll never get enough of it. I just love it. I love it so much.
So, to sum it all up? Plot=awesome. And that's really all there is to it.
THE ROMANCE
The romance in this book absolutely thrilled me, too. It doesn't dominate the novel, and yet it's an important and central part of it all the same. Nora and Bram are perfect together, and yet they have their share of hardships to overcome, too. The romance is sweet, the type that you can't help but smile at. Sparks definitely go flying. I am totally and most definitely a fan of Nora and Bram's relationship! It really feels genuine and nothing like instalove.
THE WRITING
Lia has gorgeous writing. I love the way she uses multiple POVs. In this book, we get Nora, Bram, Laura, Vespertine, and Michael. It's totally perfect. It's really great because we get to see into the heads of some many different people. Yet she never gives so much away that the fun and tension is taken away. Getting into everyone's head is incredible. Everything about the world-building is incredible and just continues to grow and grow. I love the dialogue, too—it just shimmers. The banter between certain characters is awesome, too.
THE ENDING
The ending was just perfect and sweet and so, so lovely. There's hardly any cliffhanger at all, which of course I loved! There are hints that there might be another book, and I fervently hope there is. Yet this book left me so satisfied that I could be happy with this ending. It made me so ridiculously happy. It's certainly wonderful. The ending is spectacular! I'm really obsessing a lot over the ending, but seriously, it is that good.
WRAPUP
Of course I'll be reading Lia's books in the future! With two awesome zombie novels out there, I do hope she writes more. However, I am confident that I'll enjoy whatever she writes in the future. I give a glowing recommendation to this series! The Gone With the Respiration books are honestly some of my favorite ever, and I'm absolutely thrilled for more!
FINE.
Find more of my reviews on Sparkles and Lightning!
CATCHALL
If I loved Dearly, Departed, Dearly, Beloved was really something else. It was completely unlike anything I've ever read and completely perfect. I fell in love with it from page one and never stopped. It's easily one of the most amazing books that I have ever read and one of my favorites of 2012 for sure. I almost couldn't believe how awesome it was. It literally and completely blew me away—I mean, it was honestly that amazing. It was totally a different story than the one told in the first book, and yet I loved it every bit as much.
THE HERO
BRAM
I adore Bram just as much as I did in the first book. He's gorgeous, and brave. I'm sounding like a total fangirl, and to be honest, I probably am. I just love him. He's isn't afraid to stand up for what's right, and he'll do anything to protect Nora and his friends. He usually can see what needs to be done and does it. However, he is not so perfect that it's ridiculous, and of course he makes mistakes that he has to work his way out of. And he never wastes time. He is truly an awesome hero.
THE HEROINE
NORA
Nora is so sweet, but she's also anything but innocent. She can do things that are brave but rash, and yet the reasons she has for taking such risks always leads back to protecting her friends. She isn't foolish at all. I adore Nora. She's an extremely relatable heroine. It's really easy for me to identify with her. She's every girl. Despite everything that she goes through, she stays strong and doesn't lose herself. Instead of dwelling on the past, she looks towards the future.
THE BEST FRIEND
PAMELA
Pam bothered me at times, but for the most part I genuinely liked her. She's struggling to fit into this new world, and she's trying to in the only way she knows how. Honestly, it's actually pretty admirable. She's not afraid to get in the action and she's so loyal to Nora in the fiercest yet sweetest way.
THE OTHER ROYALS
ISAMBARD
Isambard wasn't in this book much, although I do like what we see of him. He's changed a lot, but then in some ways he also hasn't, and that's refreshing. I love the way he's used to represent, and what he's portrayed as.
MICHAEL
Michael is a jerk, plain and simple, but he makes for a deliciously insane and corrupted villain. It was creepy and yet totally awesome to be inside his head. I seriously, seriously loved it. Watching his character and his anger unfold was remarkable. Also he is a total kleptomaniac, which is just weird, and obviously not right in the head.
VESPERTINE
Vespertine took me a while to figure out, but I actually ended up really admiring her. She goes through a lot but in the end she tries to do what she thinks is right, even putting herself in danger to do so, as long as she thinks it could help. It's hard not to admire that.
THE OTHER WALKING DEAD
TOM
I still love Tom. He's such a fun character, but he can be serious when he needs to be. He goes through some difficult things in this book, and yet he tries not to let them bother him too much. He really presses through even when things are tough to help Bram.
COALHOUSE
Coalhouse was an incredibly dynamic character. He took the sidelines in Dearly, Departed, but in this book her really takes the stage. He wants to get attention for something, to finally do the right thing, and to get praise for it. Yet he's lost and doesn't really know how to go about it. Watching his struggle is heartbreaking, but ultimately gives us an awesome insight into his character.
RENFIELD
I just love Ren, like so much. He's awesome and brilliant. He figures crazy and insane things out, and contributes some seriously valuable knowledge. He also just seems so amazing. He's another character who really grows in this novel, although honestly, they all do. But still.
CHAS
I missed Chas in this book, because we didn't really see her as much as we did before. Still, she's just as awesome in this book as she was in the last. She still makes me smile, and se's still totally badass.
LAURA
Laura is a new zombie who is introduced, who struggles with the new world that she's trying to fit into. Everything is thrown into chaos more than once for her, and yet she really manages to keep her head through it all. She's an essential and really awesome character who I without a doubt adored.
THE PLOT
I admit that the plot was actually pretty slow-moving at first. It actually does take a while for it to get into the action. The first hundred pages or so do seem to move pretty slowly. However, I just couldn't bring myself to mind too much. I loved the was the development took its time. It made everything seem that much more genuine. No details were left unseen to. Everything fit into its proper place.
And once the action got started, it didn't stop. There was so much action that it was nearly impossible to believe so much action could be packed into so few pages. I literally couldn't put the book down. It was as if my life depended on knowing what happened next.
Really, I loved it. So much was happening, just like in the first book. And yet it was so different from the first book at the same time. The entire story it centered around was different. It was just as remarkably original as the first and so unique that it has its own claim to fame.
It had everything I look for in a novel. Romance. Action. Mystery. It's all set in an incredible dystopian world that I completely love. I know I keep saying this, but it's just so…awesomely unique, like I'll never get enough of it. I just love it. I love it so much.
So, to sum it all up? Plot=awesome. And that's really all there is to it.
THE ROMANCE
The romance in this book absolutely thrilled me, too. It doesn't dominate the novel, and yet it's an important and central part of it all the same. Nora and Bram are perfect together, and yet they have their share of hardships to overcome, too. The romance is sweet, the type that you can't help but smile at. Sparks definitely go flying. I am totally and most definitely a fan of Nora and Bram's relationship! It really feels genuine and nothing like instalove.
THE WRITING
Lia has gorgeous writing. I love the way she uses multiple POVs. In this book, we get Nora, Bram, Laura, Vespertine, and Michael. It's totally perfect. It's really great because we get to see into the heads of some many different people. Yet she never gives so much away that the fun and tension is taken away. Getting into everyone's head is incredible. Everything about the world-building is incredible and just continues to grow and grow. I love the dialogue, too—it just shimmers. The banter between certain characters is awesome, too.
THE ENDING
The ending was just perfect and sweet and so, so lovely. There's hardly any cliffhanger at all, which of course I loved! There are hints that there might be another book, and I fervently hope there is. Yet this book left me so satisfied that I could be happy with this ending. It made me so ridiculously happy. It's certainly wonderful. The ending is spectacular! I'm really obsessing a lot over the ending, but seriously, it is that good.
WRAPUP
Of course I'll be reading Lia's books in the future! With two awesome zombie novels out there, I do hope she writes more. However, I am confident that I'll enjoy whatever she writes in the future. I give a glowing recommendation to this series! The Gone With the Respiration books are honestly some of my favorite ever, and I'm absolutely thrilled for more!
FINE.
Find more of my reviews on Sparkles and Lightning!
April 22, 2020
J'ai adoré me replonger dans cet univers. Je vais un peu à contre courant des autres avis mais j'ai trouvé ce roman prenant et bien construit. L'univers est très intéressant et ce mélange ère néo-victorienne / zombie hyper original. Très bon moment de lecture pour moi !
December 5, 2021
I thought it might be an interesting novel. It started out okay and then got a little boring in the middle and hard to be interested in unless you just enjoy a different take on zombies and the spread of such disease but I felt that it wasn’t resolved and came to an abrupt end that was out of left field. Do not recommend unless you’re just bored.
February 4, 2017
So now what, no third book? At least this one didn't end with a huge clif hanger.
September 13, 2012
♥ Find my reviews on Blogger ~ Reviews by Bookish Sarah
- - -
*This review may contain spoilers for Dearly, Departed!*
Dearly, Beloved picks up a few months after Dearly, Departed. Z-Comp has split up, the vaccine for The Laz didn't take, and Bram & Nora are happily in a relationship; a relationship that is frowned upon by most of New Victoria, including Nora's father.
Many old characters return in this novel. Pamela is dealing with anxiety after everything that happened in book one. Michael Allister is determined to punish Pamela and Bram for taking Nora from him. Vespertine is working behind the scenes to help, but you never really know who she's helping 'til the end. There are also lots of new characters in this novel. We learn more about the bird-masked group of terrorists. We're also introduced to a group called “The Changed” - they want the living and the dead to live together in peace and harmony.
Nora's father is working on a vaccine to fight The Laz (a new strain included!). Nora and Bram get caught up in all the crossfire between The Murder and The Changed. All the while, Bram's second life is slowly wilting away.
- - -
I really enjoyed this installment of the series! I have to say, though, that it moved very slowly to start. There was also a lot of info-dumping going on - just like in the first book. I am glad for the details, but they weren't spread out enough; just lumped all together. I'm really not a fan of pages and pages of descriptions and back-story. Especially when all of that should've been finished with in the first book.
As for the rest? It was fantastic.
The story is told through multiple POVs. Nora, Bram, Pamela, Michael, Vespertine, and Laura. I think that's all of them. Anyway, I really enjoy this about the book. It lets us see what is going on from many different angles and keeps the book action-packed and fast paced.
I really enjoyed the characters. Nora and Bram are too sweet as a couple, and their crew of zombies is as spunky as ever! Pamela is inspiring in the fact that she deals with being so low on the totem pole of New Victorian society and yet has the strength to handle her PTSD and the whole issue of zombies with such grace. Laura is a new zombie character, but I think she's my new favorite. She is so interesting and colorful. I really can't wait to read more from her perspective (hopefully) in the upcoming installment.
Habel really knows how to weave a plot! She has all sorts of things going on in this novel. First you have the new strain of The Laz - what's going on with that?
Then you've got the two groups. First, The Murder - a bunch of rich boys who want to kill all zombies and bring chaos to the city. Then you have The Changed - a group who wants peace and harmony between zombies and living people. They sort of remind me of gypsies. They travel in a caravan-esque group and they have the same sort of community aspects going. They are really interesting to say the least. These two groups are pretty much yin and yang.
There is also a lot going on between the characters. Nora and Bram are separated at one point. Michael is determined to make Nora his. Pamela isn't happy with Nora. You don't know where Vespertine's loyalties lie. Nora's father is hiding something and being completely unreasonable for most of the book. You've got Coalhouse holding Nora at gunpoint and being completely erratic. There is also the enigma that is Smoke. He's a zombie, but something isn't right about him. He looks dead, but his organs seem new and alive. There is also a huge surprise at the end involving him. It's just a whole lot of separate storylines that eventually meld together perfectly.
All in all, Dearly, Beloved is a fantastic follow-up to it's predecessor. There is a wonderfully colorful cast of characters (both old and new). The romance is subtle, but intense. The steampunk/neo-Victiorian world is vivid and easy to envision thanks to Habel's descriptive writing. The book moves a bit slow in some parts, but once it gets going, it really goes. It's action packed and full of surprises. The plot is deeply thickened with this novel, and I can't wait for a third installment! If you enjoyed Dearly, Departed, you'll love this one!
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Book source: NetGalley
Publisher: Del Ray/Random House Publishing Group
November 9, 2012
Exciting book 2 in a steampunk, dystopian trilogy
This book is the sequel to Dearly Departed (Gone with the Respiration #1) by Lia Habel. It is book 2 in a dystopian trilogy, pitched by the publisher as "steampunk romance meets zombie thriller." The publishers also bill this book as a story of "star-crossed lovers," which it certainly is. You don't get a much bigger romantic conflict than that the male lead is suffering from "the Laz," a disease that is slowly turning him into a zombie, one of the "walking dead." I myself view this series as "Beauty and the Beast" meets steampunk meets zombie apocalypse.
This story takes place in 2195. A hundred and fifty years prior, the Americas endured a civilization-crushing convergence of man-made and natural disasters, including plagues, volcanic eruptions, rising seas and a civil war in the U.S. in which both sides nuked each other. The small fraction of survivors in North and Central America surged as displaced refugees far into South America and warred with its inhabitants for control of their land and natural resources. Years later, the victors, many of whom were presumably native speakers of Spanish and Portuguese, decided along with their English-speaking compatriots that the most desirable society to form out of the rubble of a destroyed world would be an English-speaking one that reinstated the customs of Victorian England of the late nineteenth century, including hot, cumbersome clothing worn in a tropical climate and a highly stratified social order. They chose to emulate this time and place in history because they admired its "conservative" values--with the notable exceptions that lesbianism (and presumably male homosexuality) were not frowned upon, and little girls were allowed to play, unchaperoned, with little boys who were not members of their family.
In book 1, Nora Dearly, who is somehow immune to the Laz, the infection that creates zombies, was kidnapped by non-evil zombies, led by her father, whom she had thought was dead but is alive and leading the zombies. She also fell in love with a young zombie, Bram (Abraham) Griswold, a captain in a zombie company called, naturally enough, company Z. This book continues a couple of months after the previous book. New London has endured a zombie plague and been forced to realize that people can survive the disease and retain their intelligence and moral compass. A vaccine against the Laz seems to work, but unfortunately a new strain has emerged. In addition, Nora is threatened by a rejected suitor; her best friend is in danger, and she is dealing with the social reality of dating a zombie.
There is no sexual activity in this story (much as in Twilight) because it is dangerous to Nora to exchange bodily fluids (much like AIDS) with Bram. This forces the author to create a strong romance entirely based on unconsummated sexual tension--not a bad thing at all.
This story is told from multiple points of view, but there is no confusion because chapter headings make clear whose head we are in. I personally enjoy having various perspectives to broaden the story. There is mystery, action, and strong romance--something for readers of all ages.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Hero (Bram): 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Fantasy World-Building: 3 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Action-Adventure Plot: 4 stars
Romantic Subplot: 3 stars
Overall: 4 stars
This book is the sequel to Dearly Departed (Gone with the Respiration #1) by Lia Habel. It is book 2 in a dystopian trilogy, pitched by the publisher as "steampunk romance meets zombie thriller." The publishers also bill this book as a story of "star-crossed lovers," which it certainly is. You don't get a much bigger romantic conflict than that the male lead is suffering from "the Laz," a disease that is slowly turning him into a zombie, one of the "walking dead." I myself view this series as "Beauty and the Beast" meets steampunk meets zombie apocalypse.
This story takes place in 2195. A hundred and fifty years prior, the Americas endured a civilization-crushing convergence of man-made and natural disasters, including plagues, volcanic eruptions, rising seas and a civil war in the U.S. in which both sides nuked each other. The small fraction of survivors in North and Central America surged as displaced refugees far into South America and warred with its inhabitants for control of their land and natural resources. Years later, the victors, many of whom were presumably native speakers of Spanish and Portuguese, decided along with their English-speaking compatriots that the most desirable society to form out of the rubble of a destroyed world would be an English-speaking one that reinstated the customs of Victorian England of the late nineteenth century, including hot, cumbersome clothing worn in a tropical climate and a highly stratified social order. They chose to emulate this time and place in history because they admired its "conservative" values--with the notable exceptions that lesbianism (and presumably male homosexuality) were not frowned upon, and little girls were allowed to play, unchaperoned, with little boys who were not members of their family.
In book 1, Nora Dearly, who is somehow immune to the Laz, the infection that creates zombies, was kidnapped by non-evil zombies, led by her father, whom she had thought was dead but is alive and leading the zombies. She also fell in love with a young zombie, Bram (Abraham) Griswold, a captain in a zombie company called, naturally enough, company Z. This book continues a couple of months after the previous book. New London has endured a zombie plague and been forced to realize that people can survive the disease and retain their intelligence and moral compass. A vaccine against the Laz seems to work, but unfortunately a new strain has emerged. In addition, Nora is threatened by a rejected suitor; her best friend is in danger, and she is dealing with the social reality of dating a zombie.
There is no sexual activity in this story (much as in Twilight) because it is dangerous to Nora to exchange bodily fluids (much like AIDS) with Bram. This forces the author to create a strong romance entirely based on unconsummated sexual tension--not a bad thing at all.
This story is told from multiple points of view, but there is no confusion because chapter headings make clear whose head we are in. I personally enjoy having various perspectives to broaden the story. There is mystery, action, and strong romance--something for readers of all ages.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 4 stars
Hero (Bram): 4 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Fantasy World-Building: 3 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Action-Adventure Plot: 4 stars
Romantic Subplot: 3 stars
Overall: 4 stars
July 27, 2013
Neste livro continuamos a seguir a vida de Nora e Bram após as revelações do livro anterior. Finalmente é possível vacinar os vivos de modo a que estes possam interagir com os mortos sem que possam ser afectados por estes. Assim sendo temos aqueles que são simpatizantes dos zombies e os que não o são. E como em qualquer sociedade quando temos este tipo de situação a única coisa que pode acontecer é desgraça. Ainda por cima vem-se a descobrir que o prião que causa Lázaro tem a capacidade de mutar, levando a que a vacina se torne ineficaz e despoletando novamente o pânico na população.
Uma das alterações principais que a autora fez à narrativa foi introduzir novos POV. Além de as situações nos passarem a ser descritas por Nora, Bram e Pamela, é-nos também apresentado o ponto de vista de outros personagens que ganham relevância na narrativa, como Michael, Laura e Vespertine. Esta foi uma jogada inteligente da autora, tendo em conta que nos ajuda a conhecer melhor determinadas personagens, que já nos tinham despertado o interesse, bem como a conhecer as suas motivações. A autora fez um bom trabalho com as suas personagens, tornando-as mais profundas, mais humanas. Relativamente a Bram e a Nora não há muito a acrescentar, já são personagens bem conhecidas. Agora as restantes personagens deixaram-me completamente cativa. Pamela com os seus ataques de ansiedade e a maneira como acaba por ultrapassá-los, percebendo que é forte o suficiente para fazer o que é preciso; Michael, com a sua mente completamente distorcida pelos seus ideais e a sua obsessão por Nora; e por fim Vespertine, apesar de vermos muito pouco desta personagem parece-me que ela ainda tem muito para contar e que esconde muitos segredos.
Apesar de ter adorado conhecer cada um destes personagens a verdade é que achei o resto da história bastante sem saborona. Passei o livro todo a sentir que a autora andava a enrolar e a arranjar maneira de introduzir uma nova linha de acontecimentos que iriam levar a um terceiro livro. Compreendo a necessidade de se transmitir ao leitor o que se seguiu aos acontecimentos apresentadoz no livro anterior, e a tudo ao que os mesmos levaram, mas acho que a autora poderia não ter desperdiçado tanto tempo e causado tantas tramas na mesma história que no fim levam todas à mesma conclusão, conclusão essa que até é inesperada, mas que acaba por não causar assim tanto impacto devido ao cansaço provocado pela leitura de um livro que parece que foi escrito para encher chouriços.
Houve ainda algumas atitudes dos personagens que me irritaram, como por vezes o egoísmo de Nora, ou as inseguranças de Pamela, se bem que por um lado isto até seja um ponto a favor da autora. Tendo em conta que as jovens de 17 anos são assim este tipo de atitudes dá-lhes uma personalidade mais real e de acordo com o esperado de jovens da sua idade.
Assim sendo posso dizer que Dearly, Beloved é um livro que se lê relativamente bem devido ao carisma das suas personagens, mas que deixa a deseja relativamente ao contexto. Uma sequela razoável, que deixa alguma curiosidade no leitor relativamente ao que aí vem no terceiro livro.
Uma das alterações principais que a autora fez à narrativa foi introduzir novos POV. Além de as situações nos passarem a ser descritas por Nora, Bram e Pamela, é-nos também apresentado o ponto de vista de outros personagens que ganham relevância na narrativa, como Michael, Laura e Vespertine. Esta foi uma jogada inteligente da autora, tendo em conta que nos ajuda a conhecer melhor determinadas personagens, que já nos tinham despertado o interesse, bem como a conhecer as suas motivações. A autora fez um bom trabalho com as suas personagens, tornando-as mais profundas, mais humanas. Relativamente a Bram e a Nora não há muito a acrescentar, já são personagens bem conhecidas. Agora as restantes personagens deixaram-me completamente cativa. Pamela com os seus ataques de ansiedade e a maneira como acaba por ultrapassá-los, percebendo que é forte o suficiente para fazer o que é preciso; Michael, com a sua mente completamente distorcida pelos seus ideais e a sua obsessão por Nora; e por fim Vespertine, apesar de vermos muito pouco desta personagem parece-me que ela ainda tem muito para contar e que esconde muitos segredos.
Apesar de ter adorado conhecer cada um destes personagens a verdade é que achei o resto da história bastante sem saborona. Passei o livro todo a sentir que a autora andava a enrolar e a arranjar maneira de introduzir uma nova linha de acontecimentos que iriam levar a um terceiro livro. Compreendo a necessidade de se transmitir ao leitor o que se seguiu aos acontecimentos apresentadoz no livro anterior, e a tudo ao que os mesmos levaram, mas acho que a autora poderia não ter desperdiçado tanto tempo e causado tantas tramas na mesma história que no fim levam todas à mesma conclusão, conclusão essa que até é inesperada, mas que acaba por não causar assim tanto impacto devido ao cansaço provocado pela leitura de um livro que parece que foi escrito para encher chouriços.
Houve ainda algumas atitudes dos personagens que me irritaram, como por vezes o egoísmo de Nora, ou as inseguranças de Pamela, se bem que por um lado isto até seja um ponto a favor da autora. Tendo em conta que as jovens de 17 anos são assim este tipo de atitudes dá-lhes uma personalidade mais real e de acordo com o esperado de jovens da sua idade.
Assim sendo posso dizer que Dearly, Beloved é um livro que se lê relativamente bem devido ao carisma das suas personagens, mas que deixa a deseja relativamente ao contexto. Uma sequela razoável, que deixa alguma curiosidade no leitor relativamente ao que aí vem no terceiro livro.
September 27, 2012
“You’re a zombie. If you’re not missing body parts, you’re doing it wrong.”
Dearly, Beloved continues the story of our plucky heroine Nora Dearly. Nora lives in New London, Nicaragua, the capital of New Victoria. The book is set in the future, a future that embraced Victorian culture and societal standards. Oh - there are zombies in this book. Sentient, talking, tofu-eating zombies. You see, this world has been ravaged by the Lazarus virus and it causes the dead to reanimate. Not everyone is happy granting rights and privileges to the undead. A group of aristocrats is running around wearing crow masks and wreaking havoc on the zombie population. Meanwhile, someone is riling up the zombies as well.
There’s a lot going on in this book. The story itself was bogged down by multiple points of view; we get the story from six different points of view! This caused the story to feel disjointed and confusing, in fact, I almost abandoned the book at one point. Once I got into the story, I was able to enjoy the many adventures of Nora and Bram. While I loved Bram, I found the secondary characters to be more interesting than Nora and Bram. I enjoyed Vespertine’s two-faced plotting and her online chess games with Ren. Samedi was an interesting character as a zombie.
Is there romance? Oh yes, a “mixed” romance, romance of the human-zombie kind. Now before you get all grossed out, remember that these are not the mindless “eat brains” kind of zombies. They are paler and greyer than normal humans and do not have a heartbeat, but other than that, the zombies in this book are just like you and I, only reanimated and slowly rotting away.
For the haters of the ubiquitous love triangle, there is an attempt at one however the target of said love triangle is not having any part of it. It is more of an unrequited love, rather than an actual triangle.
While I found the Victorian society angle quaint, it did cause the characters to be extremely stifled in their actions. First of all, the women were dressed in so many layers that they could barely flee renegade zombies. Second of all, it was odd that the women characters would obsess about their dress when something dire was going on. It just seemed forced.
When reading a book that is classified as steampunk, I am always on the lookout for how the gadgets and devices are used. This series has some very clever steampunk contraptions such as backlit digidiaries, horseless carriages, airships, and even the Aethernet. There were a few things that felt out of place such as a sub dermal identity chip.
Overall, while the pacing of this book was a little slow and bogged down by multiple points of view, I did find it to be an entertaining read. Dearly, Beloved is suitable for a young adult audience and older.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a review copy of this book.
Review posted on Badass Book Reviews.
July 18, 2012
This is the second book in Habel’s YA series, Gone with Respiration. When I requested this book via NetGalley, I was not aware that it was a series; I had been intrigued by the idea of a futuristic Victorian society and of course, the zombies. I should therefore be clear that I am missing the set up and world building of the first novel, which may have affected my understanding of the zombie apocalypse in New London.
Dearly, Beloved picks up after the main characters, Nora and Bram, have had some kind of crazy adventure in the jungle. Nora is a scientist’s daughter and Bram is a zombie. They of course fall in love… Yup, a sixteen year old and a decaying corpse are in love. Habel does a fairly good job of showing why this relationship is plausible with her explanation of how some zombies are not the slow walking, flesh-eating monsters that we generally encounter. Instead these zombies have retained their human personality and instead of eating people they eat tofu. Yes, tofu.
Due to the huge changes (ie. the tofu) in zombie lore, I felt that this series was a little bit of a Twilight-ification of the zombie genre, and the ending of the book solidified that opinion for me.That said, there are a lot of people that enjoy Meyer's vampire book, so I think this book will also appeal to a similar fanbase that enjoy a bit of the paranormal and a romance.
In terms of this futuristic Victorian society, I had a really hard time with the narrator complaining about her boring textbook, “Deportment and You: A Text for Young Ladies of Refinement” and her using her cell phone to contact her zombie boyfriend in the same book. The bringing together of both an antiquated society and modern technology was a little bizarre for me and I'm not really sure that I bought it. The inclusion of Victorian society made me think of this book as steampunk, and I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it were actually set in the Victorian period as steampunk books generally are. This mash-up was awkward in my opinion and I think a zombie romance could have been made to be a little less gross (see Stephen Harper’s The Doomsday Vault – but it’s not YA).
I also found the pacing to be a little slow. It took a while for the action and adventure to actually start taking place. However, I did like how Habel shifted between points of view of characters; this style doesn’t usually appeal to me, but I liked the other characters like Pamela and Laura and how their perspectives lent a different impression to what was happening. Habel wrote engaging secondary characters in this novel and I enjoyed the parts that they played.
Overall, this wasn’t my favourite book, but I think it had promise as a fun, light read. If you don’t obsess over the oddness of the book's setting and zombie-human romance, I think teens would like the novel with its light romance and mystery.
Dearly, Beloved picks up after the main characters, Nora and Bram, have had some kind of crazy adventure in the jungle. Nora is a scientist’s daughter and Bram is a zombie. They of course fall in love… Yup, a sixteen year old and a decaying corpse are in love. Habel does a fairly good job of showing why this relationship is plausible with her explanation of how some zombies are not the slow walking, flesh-eating monsters that we generally encounter. Instead these zombies have retained their human personality and instead of eating people they eat tofu. Yes, tofu.
Due to the huge changes (ie. the tofu) in zombie lore, I felt that this series was a little bit of a Twilight-ification of the zombie genre, and the ending of the book solidified that opinion for me.That said, there are a lot of people that enjoy Meyer's vampire book, so I think this book will also appeal to a similar fanbase that enjoy a bit of the paranormal and a romance.
In terms of this futuristic Victorian society, I had a really hard time with the narrator complaining about her boring textbook, “Deportment and You: A Text for Young Ladies of Refinement” and her using her cell phone to contact her zombie boyfriend in the same book. The bringing together of both an antiquated society and modern technology was a little bizarre for me and I'm not really sure that I bought it. The inclusion of Victorian society made me think of this book as steampunk, and I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it were actually set in the Victorian period as steampunk books generally are. This mash-up was awkward in my opinion and I think a zombie romance could have been made to be a little less gross (see Stephen Harper’s The Doomsday Vault – but it’s not YA).
I also found the pacing to be a little slow. It took a while for the action and adventure to actually start taking place. However, I did like how Habel shifted between points of view of characters; this style doesn’t usually appeal to me, but I liked the other characters like Pamela and Laura and how their perspectives lent a different impression to what was happening. Habel wrote engaging secondary characters in this novel and I enjoyed the parts that they played.
Overall, this wasn’t my favourite book, but I think it had promise as a fun, light read. If you don’t obsess over the oddness of the book's setting and zombie-human romance, I think teens would like the novel with its light romance and mystery.
July 30, 2012
Nora Dearly has had enough adventure to last her a lifetime. But it doesn't seem like her life will be slowing down anytime soon, now that she has her Father back in her life (as one of the undead affected by the Lazarus virus) and she is involved romantically with a zombie soldier named Bram. Also, now that the zombies have proved that they aren't all flesh-eating monsters, they're trying to peacefully co-exist in society with the living. It isn't working out all that well. With a new group of the living called the 'Murder' committing hate crimes against zombies, and a group of hostile zombies wanting to strike back against all of the living in New London, Nora and Bram have more to deal with than they can handle. The novel is told from the points of view of Nora, Bram, Pamela (Nora's best friend), Michael Allister, complicated mean girl Vespertine Mink and a new zombie named Laura who grows plants from her rotting body. Dealing with terrorist attacks, possible outbreak of a new strain of the virus and a possible apocalypse, Nora and her friends may not all make it out alive. And how do you move on from a betrayl so deep that it could crush your heart completely? I wanted to love this book. The first one was new, exciting and well-written with characters that had distinctive voices, even with multiple points of view. That wasn't the case in the sequel. I felt like the divide between the six p.o.v.s was clunky, not at ALL well-executed and I lost track of who was supposed to be narrating quite a bit more than was acceptable. Nora has basically become a petulant brat now that she is living with her Father again, Bram is annoying and without any real purpose anymore and the only character I could really even stand was Pamela. Even she managed to get on my nerves a lot. I felt like the author was trying to cram too much plot into one book and yet it still moved at a glacial pace that bored me to tears for the most part. I found myself no longer caring if the characters lived or died and I was sorely disappointed with Habel's treatment of the formerly strong and admirable Coalhouse. I loved the scene with Vespertine and Renfield (unfortunately there was only one, at almost the end of the book) and learning the badass backstory of Drs. Samedi and Chase. I however feel cheated by the poor follow-through of the first book's wonderful set-up and execution. I have wasted some time reading this and will not be reading the next book in the series. I just don't care anymore.
VERDICT: 1.5/5 Stars
*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is September 25th, 2012.*
VERDICT: 1.5/5 Stars
*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is September 25th, 2012.*
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