Synopsis: Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.
Publisher: Del Ray
Page count: 470
Edition: Hardcover
Rating: 4/5 stars
Review: This book was good, but slow. I loved the plot. Seriously, dystopian world with Victorian zombies? Who wasn't drawn in by that? But the first 300 pages was just back story. There was little to no action at all. It was just the characters describing how the world got to where it was. It's not that I don't mind, I love seeing how a world can turn into one like in Dearly, Departed, but at times it was really slow. It took me a while to read it. It could be that the font was small and the book was huge. Dearly, Departed was slow in the beginning. But the last hundred some pages totally made up for the slowness in the beginning and middle. There was so much action. I was like, "Yes! Finally!".
Another thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the alternating perspectives. Some chapters were completely unnecessary. One chapter could end with someone asking a question and the next chapter starts with another character with a different story. Then the chapter after that the question gets answered. If it were just Bram and Nora I would understand.
Another thing I wasn't huge on was Nora's character. I understand that you are surrounded by zombies. I understand that ,basically, your whole life was a lie. But seriously, Nora threw a hissy fit whenever she didn't get her own way. She screamed and threw stuff every where. I did not agree with most of the things she did in this book. I liked her for the first one hundred pages then she kind of went downhill for me.
But, Bram and Nora's relationship was really sweet and awesome. I loved it. Bram was my favorite character. :)
