Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, 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.
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When I first heard of Dearly, Departed, I was incredibly intrigued by the concept of a girl falling in love with a…zombie? I mean, I’ve gotten on board with the whole falling for the undead thing before (Twilight, anyone?), but typically, you don’t think of zombies — slow-moving, mindlessly-grunting, brain-eating, flesh-rotting zombies — as a potential love interest. Let’s face it. Zombies are all kinds of gross and decidedly NOT sexy. So I was really curious as to how Lia Habel was going to win me over to her particular brand of undead leading man. But she did it. She totally did it, and Dearly, Departed has found a place on my favorites shelf. And zombies? Well, zombies… perhaps they’re not so bad or so gross after all.
The world Habel has created is one of the most interesting I’ve come across in a while. The year is 2195 and the place, South America. A global ice age and a second American Civil War (that wasn’t so civil) caused a mass migration southward into the countries of South America. In this post-apocalyptic environment, the survivors began to rebuild their civilization, modeling it after what they considered to be the epitome of refinement, success and etiquette — the Victorian era. The Victorian era, but with nifty gadgets such as phones, computers, digitized tablets, and holographic emitters. While not fitting the traditional category of steampunk where technology is advanced yet runs on steam, Habel’s neo-Victorian world is definitely a fascinating blend of the past and present. All in all, the world-building that has been done for Dearly, Departed is complex, rich in history, and boasts incredible depth. It’s a world I happily lost myself in for several hours, and can’t wait to immerse myself in again.
While the citizens of New Victoria have successfully revived their society from the ashes of war and natural disaster, while their achievements are truly a wonder, they have unfortunately regressed in other areas. Particularly that of civil rights. In adopting Victorian styles and ideals, the people of New Victoria have also adopted the class system that was so prevalent in that era. They shun those considered “beneath” them, and treat women as delicate creatures whose virtue and fragility of mind must be upheld and protected at all times. It’s interesting to see this shift in mindset, and to note that the women survivors – who undoubtedly fought just as hard as the men for the opportunity to live and rebuild – apparently decided to acquiesce to these archaic feminine ideals. However, not everyone agreed with the new civilization that was being constructed and those individuals, labeled Punks, left to live on their own and have been at odds with the New Victorian government ever since.
I went into Dearly, Departed with the preconception that this book was Nora’s story, and while largely it is, it is not hers alone. As with many other books I’ve read of late, Habel does not only tell the story from Nora’s perspective but employs multiple narrators – five in all. Each of the five narrators tell their story from a first person perspective, which makes for a an interesting and rounded-out view of events, characters and the world at large. While juggling five unique viewpoints could potentially be very confusing for a reader, Habel does a good job of clearly differentiating between narrators, and never once did I find myself confused. And who are these five narrators, you may ask? The three primary points of view comes form Nora Dearly, Capt. Abraham (Bram) Griswold, and Pamela Roe — Nora’s best friend. The two others appear less regularly and for the sake of the story, I’ll let you, Dear Reader, discover those on your own.
Nora Dearly, while raised to a life of privilege due to her father’s esteemed service to the government, is – internally if not externally – the antithesis of the ideal New Victorian woman. Of an age where securing a good marriage for better social status and future financial security should be her primary focus, Nora is instead more interested in news about the home front where the “royal” (aka – New Victorian) troops hold off the ever-invading Punk army. She’s more interested in watching war holos recounting long-ago battles, and more interested in her marksmanship with a firearm than taking tea with the more-affluent-than-thou. Despite her diminutive size, Nora is spunky, clever, courageous, outspoken, has an incredible presence of mind, a quick temper and is not afraid to stand up for herself. In short, she’s a fantastic heroine.
Nora first meets Bram when he’s sent to rescue her from an evil, undead kidnapping attempt. A victim of the Laz, the disease that causes the zombie-fication of humans, Captain Abraham Griswold is indeed a card-carrying member of the walking, mostly functioning dead… and coincidentally my favorite character. A testament to the fact that a change in state does not have to mean a change in the qualities that truly make a person a person no matter how “alive”, Bram is a true leader, intelligent, loyal, honest, kind, extremely patient with amazing self-control. He’s a man who’s accepted his reality and his sense of humor about his current state-of-being demonstrates a peace about his situation which in turn demonstrates a wonderful maturity and perspective. For a guy who should be six-feet under, he’s one dreamy zombie and it’s not hard to understand why Nora would be drawn to him.
Pamela Roe, though I wasn’t to sure about her in the beginning, completely surprised me and quickly grew to be one of my favorite characters. Where Nora is all fire and spunk, Pamela is the more calming influence that balances out their friendship. When we’re first introduced, it appears as though Pamela is more concerned with etiquette and all those things a lady should be concerned with – fashion, tea, and marriage prospects. However, as events in the book unfold, she displays a quiet inner strength that I’m not sure she even knew she possessed. She’s practical, observant, kind, protective of her family and friends and willing to do the right thing even when it’s inconvenient, dangerous or potentially unladylike. She is perhaps the character that undergoes the most change in this novel, and I found myself eagerly looking forward to her turns at narration.
The plot itself was very tight and constantly moving with surprising twists and turns; the mystery well-woven. In addition to the three characters I’ve introduced in this review, Habel has given her story a large, wonderful and diverse cast of characters who populate the world of New Victoria and its outlying territories. Her character development is very well done, and even minor characters are marked by depth and uniqueness. The romance between Nora & Bram is built at a satisfying and believable pace. Their feelings have a real foundation, which I always appreciate. And the detail and descriptions throughout the novel are vivid, lovely and sometimes chillingly gruesome. In addition to the excellent plot and character development, the thing that makes Dearly, Departed really work is that Habel successfully walks that fine line between not taking her story too seriously but also taking it just seriously enough and it just works.
Overall, despite my initial reservations, Lia Habel’s Dearly, Departed, is in my opinion one of the best young adult debuts of 2011 and has found a permanent spot on my all-time favorites shelf. A definite must-read.
Author: Lia Habel
Title: Dearly, Departed
Series: Gone With the Respiration (Book #1)
Published: October 18th 2011 by Del Rey
Format: Hardcover, 480 pages; Kindle; Nook
Website: www.liahabel.com
Source: alternated between an ARC provided by Del Rey via NetGalley & a purchased copy
Happy Reading!
haha wow i cant picture a girl falling in love with a zombie. Maybe i need to read this book 😛 Also i love a book with a mystery. This is what keeps me hooked =D
Great review!
You should totally read this book 😉 Thanks for the review love Juhina!
Oh wow fantastic review! I really enjoyed this as well it was completely original and I agree about the world they live in is so intriguing!
Giselle
Xpresso Reads
Loved your review of it as well!
The world was just so fantastic. Thanks for stopping by Giselle!
That was such a beautiful review! And I totally agree, it’s hard to picture an undead and rotting corpse as a romantic interest. South America sounds beautiful and nifty, can’t wait to finally read this!
Isn’t it though? Zombies aren’t typically on my list of favorite undead creatures ever… but Habel’s zombies are awesome.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my review
I knew this was a story involving Zombies.. I didn’t realize it was about a girl falling in love with one. I can’t help but wonder.. ” what if his junk falls off ” I suppose its Ya, so we will never know, but it’s a question that will forever be on my mind..
Seriously though, now you have made me even more curious to read this.. I have had Warm Bodies on my shelf that I’m going to be reading soon, and that’s zombie love storyish too I think.
Great review!
Hahahahahaha… ok, I really did LOL on that one. Thank God it’s YA, ’cause I’m not sure I want to know the answer to that question. 😛
I haven’t heard much about Warm Bodies but I’m gonna have to check it out. Thanks for stopping by April!
Oh wow fantastic review!
Thanks Roro! Have you read it yet?
Yeah, I don’t think zombies make stellar love interests, but this book makes it so interesting! Adding it on my list.
Yeah, I was surprised, but Habel convinced me. Zombies can be sexy. Thanks for stopping by!
Haha, yup, totally agree.. Bram is swoon worthy regardless of his undead state. And I’m glad someone else liked the growth in Pam. I’ve seen so many people who didn’t like her or the change in her :-\ Great review, Dani.
I really did like Pam… she transformed into this awesome kick-butt heroine by the end of the book and I love how she just kind of sheds that whole Victorian facade. And since we’re talking about the Roes, I loved Issy too.
And Bram is totally swoon-worthy. I liked how Habel took the time to develop him fully as a person and like your awesome review said, she does such a good job it’s hard to think of him as a walking corpse.
Thanks for checking out my review Christy!
At first, I was shocked by a zombie love interest as well. BUt then I read that Bram’s rotting is mostly stopped, that he’s not mindless, and still quite well-mannered, and I thought, why not? So, my new qualm arose: is Bram even a zombie-zombie? Or just has the name? From the reviews I had read, I gathered the chilling bits were enough to remind you of the… condition of the zombie army, and I decided I had to read this one.
This review, now, I feel it goes in more depth into the characters themselves, and into their development, and I love that. There’s also that mentioned mystery, that I had no clue whatsoever about, and that now has me wondering…
Okay. Deeply entrenched in my Wishlist. Must buy this one, and must do it soon.
By the way: when you say that you want to immerse yourself back in that world… wouldn’t that be the chance of a sequel, perchance?
Thanks so much for the review!
Ron
Oh Bram’s a zombie. He just keeps his craving for internal organs to a minimum and minds his manners. lol The science Habel creates behind the zombies is very interesting and felt credible.
Characterization is perhaps the most important thing to me in the books I read. Even if the world and story are AMAZING, if the characters feel shallow and one-dimensional, it’s not going to be a favorite. This book had AWESOME characters who felt like they could walk off the page. Their interactions felt authentic, dialogue was awesome. Just very well done overall
And yes, there is a sequel being written for this one… Dearly, Beloved. Not sure on the estimated release date on that one.
Thanks so much for checking out my review Ron!
Great review! Thanks for sharing! I might have to add this back to my TBR soon list.
Great review! I loved it too. I love the Victorian era, and with the era revisited in the future and zombies that were out of the norm of other reads, wow. I am pretty sure that I have a linky available for this one at the end of my review if you would like to add the link to your review.
I love the cover!
And it’s an original story:)
Can’t wait to read it!
Yup, yup. A very original idea
Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve been tempted to read this book for a while now. Thanks for the great review; it helped me to make up my mind!
I’ve just started to read this book so I was a little confused by this ‘falling in love with a zombie’ thing, plus I’ve never read anything about zombies 😛
But thanks to your review, my little doubts are put to rest. Let’s hope I’ll enjoy this book as much as you did!
I really like this book, i have read only a few steampunks but they seem good so can’t wait to read this one too
Fra
I have heard some good things about this book and I loved your review, steampunk and zombies hmmm… lol
It’s seriously awesome. I hope you give it a shot