Undeadly (Reaper Diaries, #1)

by Michele Vail

[inlibrisveritas]

This book immediately caught my attention when I saw it. It has two things I really adore, Egyptian mythology and zombies. When it comes to Egyptian mythology I’ve been really starved for it since Greek and Roman have exploded onto the scene. So I snapped this one up with the hopes of having a double whammy of fun…but instead I was kind of left a bit underwhelmed.

The plot is fresh and I haven’t personally read anything in the YA catergory with a Necromancer main character. Add that with the great use of the Egyptian myths involving the gods and the soul, and you have a great basis for something that could really stand out. Vail added some great elements with an interesting Necro school, Anubis (my favorite myth god), and the fact that zombies have a rather interesting place in society; but I think what brought it all down was the main character, Molly.

Molly is a bit frustrating. At first it was the way she talked, because she does use some dated language that I haven’t heard since the nineties, but I got over it because it’s just one of those things that I try to give some on. Then it became increasingly apparent that Molly was not going to win any awards for intelligence…in fact I doubt she would be invited to the award ceremony at all. She’s not the typical teenager that just requires a little time to see things clearly, she’s just plain frustratingly stupid. There is a moment where she can’t figure out who the bad guy is that I gave up all hope on her making a come back. She also comes off as increasingly shallow as the book progresses. There is a romance but it’s kind of pointless and a bit sappy, but the outcome while unconventional was still a bit predictable storyline-wise. Rath however was likeable and while there isn’t a ton of him in the book I’m really curious about him, and I want to see more of him

The one thing that really saved this for me was the Egyptian aspect. I loved the detail involved with the soul (ka) and how the different parts are important for various reasons. I also love that there are several different types of Necromancers and that they have different abilities. Of course I loved having Anubis play a direct role in the story as well, because I’ll be completely honest I’m a Anubis fan girl and all you have do is mention him in a story and you get points. I can be forgiving with the fact that Anubis is a bit…fluffy but that’s only because I know he was also a patron to orphans in Egypt, so I can deal but I really wanted more strength from him. I would love to see what exactly being Anubis’ Chosen means because while it’s explained I wanted to see more of what she was going to have to go through.

This wasn’t what I was hoping for and I was disappointed overall.

I received this from Harlequin and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.