Kelsenator's Review of Dearly, Beloved (Gone with the Respiration, #2)

by Lia Habel

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 illness—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.

For the full review, check out my blog Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf

got a copy of this from NetGalley, and I’m so happy that I did. Thank you!!

This review is based on an early review copy, so things may change when it finally gets released.

Now, the first book was really good. I loved that it made Zombies differently, making some of them still human with thoughts and memories, emotions and all. The different characters and all the action was just awesome. This book is even better than the first!

Months after the events of the first book, zombies are living in the city with the living, trying to stay peaceful. Not everyone likes this, and because of the hate for the dead, two new groups have formed. The Murder, a bunch of rich kids going and killing/torturing zombies and hurting anyone associated with them, and the Changed, the Zombies with thoughts who are tired of being treated badly and who just want to survive at any cost.

Bram and Nora, Pam and everyone else gets mixed up with the drama that these groups create, and they want to stop anything from getting worse and more people getting hurt. On top of that we have Patient Zero, a zombie with a completely different strain of the Laz virus, and the cure from the first book had no effect on it.

This book goes more in depth with the characters, what the effects of the first attack have done to them (especially Pamela), and also digs more into the past which leads to something revealing at the end. And oh my goodness the end! Not only do I dislike a different person in this one now because of their evilness, but Nora and Bram are so cute!

This series is great for anyone who’s never read or who is unsure if they will like a Zombie book. This book so far deals much more with the intelligent Zombies than the crazed ones in the first book, but with all that’s going on you’ll just want to keep on reading. I will definitely be getting a copy for myself when it’s released for the final print!

Dearly, Beloved (Gone with the Respiration, #2)

by Lia Habel

Reviewed by Kelsenator on Jun 8, 2012

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