This will be the first review where I have actually written out notes, so let's see how this goes with the newer, more organized me.
DEARLY, DEPARTED is about a young girl named Nora Dearly who discovers the existence of zombies - good and bad ones - and fights alongside these creatures for equality and love. I don't want to write much more summarizing because I'm afraid of giving something away!
So first of all, this book was freaking fantastic. I love, love, LOVE the zombies. All zombies in general, actually. I am an avid player of COD: Black Ops Zombies and I love the movie Zombieland...I've even wanted to write a book about a zombie apocalypse and survival. So obviously I fell in love with this book rather easily. But I don't think you need to be a zombie fan to love the book. There are so many other great aspects about it as well.
So the first thing I'll talk about is that while I was reminded a bit of TWILIGHT in terms of the relationship between Nora and zombie-boyfriend Bram in comparison to Bella and Edward ("You won't hurt me, I KNOW IT!!!", "But I'm a moster!"...) it was the imperfection in DEARLY, DEPARTED rather than the perfect, glorious vamps of TWILIGHT that made this novel way less eye-roll worthy and 100% more believable. Seriously. This love story also keeps me way more on-edge because Bram WILL die again, and soon (three years). The impending doom/tragedy on their newfound love is so heartbreaking. I mean, people thought that Bella and Edward's relationship was THE most heartbreaking and dramatic thing ever, but ugh. Please. They were just whiny about everything, making it SEEM like it was a way bigger deal than it actually was. But Bram is already dead, and he has the marks on his body to prove it, and he will die again! Come on! And I mean they can't even consumate their love before he dies because he doesn't have blood! (Thank you Lia Habel, by the way, for being realistic about that and not making up some excuse like "Oh, the venom can make that happen for him", or in this case "The juices they pump into him make it work." No.)
The second really great thing about this book was the dialogue. It was realistic, not too serious but not so funny that you find yourself going "Yeah, yeah. Okay." It was written as people really talk, which I find a lot of books lack for the author's fear that it won't be taken seriously or whatever. There was just the right amount of wit and tone of voice to make each character interesting and unique. I also enjoyed how sometimes the character's narrative would tell you what they would have said if it wouldn't have been innappropriate in the situation. It was funny in parts.
Now I am not normally of fan of books that jump perspectives, but this book was so good that I actually wish I saw more of the less likeable characters' perspectives, such as Wolfe's. Just a random side-note, there.
Now a few things I didn't particularily like but that still did not ruin the novel for me (as in the last novel I reviewed)...
I actually have the same complaint as I did in the last novel I reviewed. DEARLY, DEPARTED is a futuristic novel, but the characters have reverted back to the Victorian way of things, modelling that era. Due to that, I was a bit confused as to how the many, many, many references to Bing Crosby applied, considering that it is A) set in the future and you would therefore think that many other musicians have come out of the woodwork since then and B) they are modelling the Victorian era and wouldn't you think they would then be listening to Victorian music? It can be argued that now we still listen to Mozart or Chopin...but still...It was clear that Lia Habel is definitely a fan of Bing's, but I didn't really buy it in the novel. It was sweet to have Bram sing the songs though. :)
The other thing was that even if only a little bit, I was reminded of TWILIGHT. Only at the very beginning and then again at the very end. The huge space in between, not so much. I think it mostly had to do with Bram and the "monster clan", how he was afraid of hurting her but she insisted on being with him anyways, how he sang...I didn't like that, but the entire middle made me forget about TWILIGHT entirely, so that was good. It also helped that it switched perspectives from Bram and Nora quite often, so that reminder was not a constant thing. It couldn't be.
The last thing I have to say is that I kind of wish Nora wasn't AS stubborn simply because she seemed childish at some points. However, it gave her great character development and her stubborness, like the reminders of Twilight, disappeared throughout the entire middle. BECAUSE THE MIDDLE WAS SO ACTION PACKED!!! It was great.
Overall, I really loved this book. Loved the zombies. I am definitely buying the second book in the series when I get the chance. Thanks, Lia Habel!
-Victoria
Source for cover image: http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=dearly+departed+lia+habel&hl=en&biw=1311&bih=655&tbm=isch&tbnid=48MjCrabdLwD7M:&imgrefurl=http://liahabel.com/dearly-departed/&imgurl=http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/yy223/liahabel/ddcoverhighrez.jpg&w=681&h=1023&ei=iQRFUKbbGojs0gG3sYHACw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=184&vpy=119&dur=1862&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=81&ty=154&sig=110521532527818361811&page=1&tbnh=158&tbnw=114&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:70
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