Dearly, Departed
(Gone With the Respiration #1)
(Gone With the Respiration #1)
Author: Lia Habel
Publication Date: September 29th, 2011
Publisher: Del Rey
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.
Genre: Science Fiction / Steampunk / Zombies
Synopsis:
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.
My Thoughts: I actually really liked this book. I had a friend who asked me what genre is was and I described it as a "futuristic sci-fi, based in a Victorian era with zombies and romance". I really like sci-fi and the Victorian era. The only thing I had no experience with was zombies, but they turned out to be pretty ok. I really like the world that Lia Habel created. It's like nothing I've read before. She actually did really good mashing the different elements together to form a great story. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the romance. I guess I was just a little grossed out by the fact that Nora was kissing someone who was dead? I mean, I understand that Bram is a nice guy and all, but he's dead. There is just no way to get around that for me. Every time there was anything intimate I was slightly disgusted.
The setting for the book is in New Victoria and the government has been hiding the fact that there are walking dead out there. Nora is kidnapped from her home and then suddenly there is an outbreak in New London, the capitol and things just get crazy from there.
Dearly, Departed is told from a few different PoVs. There is Nora, Bram, Pamela, Wolfe and Victor (I think that's all of them). My favorite character by far was Pamela. She is the scholarship girl, who is also Nora's best friend, and she turns out to be pretty kick ass in the end. She's pretty tough and takes things as they come to her. She knows she can't really take anything for granted.
Other than the queasiness from the romance, I really enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to reading the next (which I actually already started) and finding out what happens next. It should be pretty interesting to see how New London copes with the knowledge that there are walking dead. It was a great intro into zombie books because it's not too scary, and the zombies aren't too disgusting (well the civilized ones anyways). I would definitely recommend this one!
Ha ha ... the romance was the part I LIKED about the book! I mean, he really didn't come across as a REAL zombie. To me, at least. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked this one!!
Yeah, it totally creeped me out..lol I know he's not really a normal zombie, but.. he's still dead!
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