Dearly, Departed

Dearly Departed
Author: Lia Habel
Page Count: 470
Release Date: October 18, 2011
Publisher: Del Rey
Series: Gone With the Respiration #1
Source: Won from Lisa Loves Literature blog. Thanks!

Read the summary here on Goodreads. 

My Review

I thought I'd never enjoy about book about a zombie romance, but I was wrong! This book was amazing. Also, a perfect read for Halloween.

The characters are very well written. You get a strong female character, which doesn't happen in a lot of books. Nora wasn't afraid to stand up for herself when she needed to. Yes, she was kind of scared at first when it came to the zombies, or the undead as they prefer to be called, but seriously, what person in their right mind wouldn't be a little scared when surrounded by dozen of people who could quite literally eat you at any moment. She does break down a couple of times throughout the book, but she had very good reasons for it. Nora is also interested in war and politics, unlike the other girls her age, who are interested in making their debut. I can relate to that; I am the kind of person who was never really interested in what everyone else my age was interested in. Then you have Bram, who is very intriguing and later in the book, Nora's love interest. He is also dead. He is one of the zombies who has managed to maintain his mind, thanks to science.

The descriptions were very vivid. You don't find many books that are able to draw you into the character's world as if you were really there.

Dearly, Departed, in my opinion, had a very original and somewhat unique plot. While there are plenty of zombie stories out there, this one has a spin to it. You experience many different genres in the book. There's a horror and a dystopian aspect to it and there is even some steampunk aspects in the story. You also have romance and action and suspense. Honestly, what more can you ask for in one book. The romance between Nora and Bram is one of the focuses of the novel. Even though their relationship develops in a short span of time, it didn't feel like it was rushed.

Now, about the multiple POVs. Some people have liked them, others not so much. While I am not usually a fan of multiple POVs, I actually liked them in this novel. While most of story is told by Nora and Bram, the POVs from the other characters help to develop the story and to build the suspense of the story. In my opinion, if there had not been the multiple POVs, the story just would not have developed the way it did.

The novel is very well paced. Even though it is 470 pages long, it is not long and drawn out. So often, you find novels of this length that you could have cut out at least a hundred pages and still would have had the same story. That was not the case with Dearly, Departed. I felt that every page was necessary.

The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger. While the book wraps up nicely, you are most definitely left wondering what will happen in the next book. What will happen with Bram and Nora and the other characters?

Lastly, the cover. While I felt that I didn't really relate to the story all that much, I still liked it.

All-in-all, this was an absolutely amazing book. I honestly wasn't able to find anything in the book to criticize. At times, I had to force myself to put the book down so I could turn my attention to other things. I would recommend this book to people who are fans of THE WALKING DEAD or zombies in general.

I look forward to reading Dearly, Beloved. 

Rating: 5/5 

Review is also posted on Goodreads.