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A review by iamhume
Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel
3.0
3.5 stars
I can't believe it took me two weeks to read this book.
TWO!
I got this as a Christmas present last year, at my request, and it sat on my bookshelf for nearly a year before I picked it up. It sounds really good, since the description says "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".
Well, I gotta say, I thought this was going to be a zombie gore-fest with YA romance and steampunk elements. The end result; not so much.
There's a great deal of world building that I enjoyed, getting me into the story and setting up the plot, but I found that the actual story dragged on far too much. Dearly, Departed has five different narrators, making it one of the most stretched out books I think I've ever read.
I liked reading from Nora, Bram, and Pamela's perspectives, but I couldn't stand Wolfe and Victor was just plain boring. Perhaps having adult narrators in a YA book was the main problem for me. Neither Victor or Wolfe had any real significance to their narration and I think the book would have flowed a lot better if they had been omitted.
And where was the romance? It was almost non-existent. Yes, the book only takes place over a week, or so, but when the book description says "romance", I expect, well, romance. Stolen glances and feelings of longing don't cut it for me.
The humour is probably what made the book enjoyable. That and Bram. He was by far my favourite character.
And the writing was really good, for the most part. My favourite line is this: "Around us, enemy soldiers dropped in mid-stride, gore starbursting from their skulls." Ooh! Very visual!
There was enough to the book that I will be picking up the sequel, Dearly, Beloved, but I'm not rushing to the store to get it just yet.
I can't believe it took me two weeks to read this book.
TWO!
I got this as a Christmas present last year, at my request, and it sat on my bookshelf for nearly a year before I picked it up. It sounds really good, since the description says "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".
Well, I gotta say, I thought this was going to be a zombie gore-fest with YA romance and steampunk elements. The end result; not so much.
There's a great deal of world building that I enjoyed, getting me into the story and setting up the plot, but I found that the actual story dragged on far too much. Dearly, Departed has five different narrators, making it one of the most stretched out books I think I've ever read.
I liked reading from Nora, Bram, and Pamela's perspectives, but I couldn't stand Wolfe and Victor was just plain boring. Perhaps having adult narrators in a YA book was the main problem for me. Neither Victor or Wolfe had any real significance to their narration and I think the book would have flowed a lot better if they had been omitted.
And where was the romance? It was almost non-existent. Yes, the book only takes place over a week, or so, but when the book description says "romance", I expect, well, romance. Stolen glances and feelings of longing don't cut it for me.
The humour is probably what made the book enjoyable. That and Bram. He was by far my favourite character.
And the writing was really good, for the most part. My favourite line is this: "Around us, enemy soldiers dropped in mid-stride, gore starbursting from their skulls." Ooh! Very visual!
There was enough to the book that I will be picking up the sequel, Dearly, Beloved, but I'm not rushing to the store to get it just yet.