Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on
The tale picks up a shortly after Dearly, Departed ends. Bram and Nora are still very much in love and trying to make the best of their limited time together. The young couple, along with some of company Z have taken up residence in the Dearly home. The underground city is practically abandoned, and the artificial sky is dimmed. A new strain of the Lazarus virus has erupted. This has caused tension between humans and zombies. The city is in chaos. A band of masked young people are kidnapping zombies and they are never seen or heard from again. A group of zombies has banded together outside the city limits and Bram fears they are up to no good. It is dangerous to be a zombie supporter at the moment. Nora is trying to take care of everyone she loves. She also wants to be useful and refuses to leave the city. The tale has many different storylines, and I found parts of it fascinating.
The tale is told from six points of view. This was an issue I had with Dearly Departed with its five points of view. Once again I felt that too many perspectives clogged the tale. Characters that I adored in book one, fell apart in book two. I loved Pam and thought she was kick-ass and stole the show in Dearly, Departed. In this novel, she is paranoid, dramatic, scared and although she has amazing moments, she lost her mojo. Coalhouse a member of company Z who was witty and awesome has a meltdown in this novel. Nora is still head strong, fierce and protective of those she cares about. Bram was focused on his company and keeping humans and zombies safe. The romance was sweet and the two enjoyed a few stolen moments. I did like the development in their relationship. Ren, Chas, Tom and others were present. We did learn more about Dr. Chase and Samid’s background. Patient Zero was interesting and I admit to being curious about him and Michael’s father. Michael had his own point of view, and it was perhaps the most interesting. Lauren, a hippie zombie has her own voice making her the new POV.
There is a lot going on in this novel, many different story threads are weaved together. Sadly, the pace of the first three-fourths of this book was horrible. In book one I loved the attention to detail and world-building, this novel lacked those details. Habel’s writing style is lovely and some of the action scenes, and storylines had me completely enthralled. Overall though, the tale didn’t give me the rush I got from book one. I felt like I was at an amusement park, and spent most of my time waiting in line. I will say that when I did get on the ride, it was exhilarating. The ending wrapped up nicely, but there are still many unanswered questions. This novel is going to be hit or miss with fans. Despite, my feelings I would pick up a third book, but the anticipation I felt after book one is gone.
I had a love hate relationship with Dearly, Beloved. I still recommend this to fans of Dearly, Departed. Some of the stories lines were fascinating, and despite issues, I enjoyed aspects of this and adore Nora and Bram.
I want to thank Random House for providing this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.
Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 8 September, 2012: Finished reading
- 8 September, 2012: Reviewed