Dearly, Beloved(Gone With the Respiration 2)Publisher: Del Rey, 2012Genre: YA Steampunk DystopiaCan 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 virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.
In the conclusion of Dearly Departed the people of the world were informed that the dead had risen, and though some of them were out to eat their brains, most of them were like any other person…only dead. Now that the secret is out, not everybody is comfortable with accepting the dead among the living. They are afraid of getting contaminated and becoming zombies themselves. When they discover a new string of the Laz virus the zombie haters rise up, causing panic among the living and the undead. With the world on the brink of disaster, Nora and Bram will rise to the challenge once again to save the future, and the few years they might have left together before Bram decays.
Told in interweaving chapters of Nora, Bram, Pamela, Michael, Vespertine, and Laura, Dearly Beloved comes with a whole new set of colorful secondary characters, a whole lot of action and intrigue, and good old dash of zombie romance!
Nora and Bram can’t get enough of each other, but now that they’re living among the humans again they have to play by society’s courtship rules, something that annoys them both to no end. Nora is still incredibly stubborn and valiant to the point of foolishness, but Bram balances her out quite nicely. He’s usually more level headed, but good god, do I love Bram when he goes all scary ass zombie on someone. I love the chemistry between these two. Amid all the trouble they find strength in each other, and are awed by each other’s bravery.
Pamela is having trouble forgetting the horror of the night of the Siege. And with the attacks on zombies she’s constantly afraid for her brother. I didn’t understand why Pamela, after all the awesomeness she reaped at the end of book one, reverted to this scared girl persona. It was like she suddenly lost her badassery. At one point she even complains about being tired of taking care of people and wanting someone to take care of her instead. Only the last five minutes of her do we get some of that old fire back, but overall I was really disappointed in Pam.
Michael Allister has been brewing his master plan for some time now. It basically goes like this: Kill Griswold. Make Pam pay. Teach Nora to behave. But he knows he won’t be able to do this alone, so he’s joined The Murder, a group of masked vigilantes intent on ending the undead threat on society. But when the group starts to go out of control attacking zombie supporters, he wants out. Only, it might be a little too late for that.
Vespertine Mink had the misfortune of listening to a very drunk Michael Allister, who told her just enough of his plans to get her to worry. But like with all things, Vespertine can’t just come out and do the right and nice thing. Where Pam let me down, Vespertine surprised me to no end. That last chapter by her melted my brain. Seriously.
Laura is the youngest of the Cicatriz sisters. Together with Mártira and Claudia they’re the leaders of The Changed, a gang of zombies. Before they were dead they used to steal and stuff, but now Mártira wants them to be peaceful, something that doesn’t go well with some of them. Trouble brews, zombies are killed, and their friend Smoke gets arrested. I mostly like Laura because she’s a unique zombie in terms of composition (hehe now you’ll have to read it to find out what I’m talking about) and she’s very sweet to those weaker than her.
You might be asking yourself the same question I did when I started reading. How the hell do all these things connect? Well, I won’t tell you. You’ll have to read the book to find out, because that’s the beauty of it! Lia Habel is truly a master of plots and subplots and weaving them all in this complex and awesome way that blows your mind. I have to admit, at the beginning the story seemed to lack direction or a clear goal, but that was just the set up for the action packed middle and end. After the set up, the twists and omfg bombs started to fall.
People of the blogoverse, read this! I promise you won’t be disappointed. Not with Nora and Bram, or all the other amazing things like the Cicatriz sisters, the Changed’s gypsy-like camp, Smoke, Samedi’s Rolls Royce, the railguns, Ichabod Merryweather the Third, and the list goes on! Also, after reading this, and after seeing the new UK covers, I will be getting this for Christmas. Feast your eyes.
*I received this book via Netgalley from the publisher for my honest review*
Favorite Quotes:
~Love Bites~
“I’d still like to know why those guys were wearing those stupid masks.”
“Probably bought them all at the same store. Maybe that’ll come back to bite them.”
I couldn’t help it. “Is that a threat or a promise?”
“Nora, you’re the only person I’ll ever bite. And you know it.” A smile ghosted across his lips. “You think I’d cheat on you with common criminals?”
“How messed up is it that I find that really romantic?”
~Days left of being grounded~
“Two days and twelve hours. I think I’ll celebrate by setting off fireworks on the front lawn. In my underwear. While I dance.”
Bram laughed. “Promise?”
“Pinky swear.” I curled my little finger and tried to grab his hand. “Come on!”
Bram twisted his pinky with mine. “I’m holding you to that, then. I can’t court a girl who doesn’t keep her word.”
“Oh, I’ll so do it. It’s on.”
Bram shook his head, but was having a hard time fighting his laughter. “Dr. Dearly will kill you.”
“Around here, dead is normal.”
~Samedi~
“You think the concert’s a ruse, then?”
“I’ve partied from one end of this continent to the other,” he said. “I’ve drunk many questionable things and danced in many questionable ways. But I never thought I’d walk in on something like that this far north.”
“I have so much to learn from you,” Nora decided.
~Bad Zombie~
“Let’s go boys,” I said as I floored it again. Beside me, Michael shifted in his seat belt, moaning. Okay, this was no longer a “hostage situation.” It was now a full-fledged hostage situation. Kidnapping, too. And extortion. And assault. And…was it only vandalism? Seemed like blowing a hole in somebody’s building deserved a bigger word than that.
Maybe I’d wait for the money to hit my account before I gave him back, after all. A million seemed fair.
