Title: Dearly, Departed
Author: Lia Habel
Series: Gone With the Respiration (it's possible that this is a fan made title)
Length: 467 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (an imprint of Random House Inc.)
On-Sale Date: October 18, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Definitions
as per my understanding:
Lia
Habel’s zombies: Dead. Can only be killed by beheading and / or a
bullet to the brain. Zombie-ness caused
by a genetic mutation that kills you, and causes you to be reborn as one of the
undead. Some zombies reanimate with
their brains intact, while others are insane.
Grays: Insane zombies.
Lazarus
Virus (or "Laz"): Zombie genetic mutation.
New
Victoria: Mostly Central America, plus Mexico,
parts of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, and Brazil.
New Victoria was built hundreds of years ago, in a world that had
been nearly destroyed. Now, in 2195,
young ladies carry electric powered parasols, because this future is combined
with modern advances and historic elegance.
Nora Dearly is a sixteen year-old living in present day New
Victoria, 2195. Her life hasn’t been the
same since her father’s death – exactly one year ago – and getting approached
by a strange boy isn’t helping things.
The boy – Bram – introduces himself as someone who knew her father
before he died, and has a message to pass on. Only, Nora doesn’t believe him, and from that
moment on, her life is completely turned upside down. She’s attacked, threatened and kidnapped by
troupes of the walking dead. But how can
the dead be living? The government has
been hiding the existence of zombies and the Lazarus Virus, and now the Laz is
spreading, and will not be contained.
Nora’s thrust right into the middle of zombie central, and the
longer she’s there the more she learns – about her father, the Laz, and the
part she has to play. She’s let in on
some dangerous secrets, and Nora might just be falling for the boy who pulled
her into this world.
I bow
down to Lia Habel. I was ecstatic that
Dearly, Departed was the first zombie novel I’d ever read. After I finished reading it, I was literally
jumping up and down while making exuberant hand gestures … (and then I read
this line that I found hilarious to everyone who would listen to me).
I had absolutely
no intention of reading Dearly, Departed, although, I was immediately drawn to
the pretty cover. As soon as I read the
word “zombie” I was turned off. Someone,
with a similar taste in books, had this exact reaction and loved it, so I
decided to give it a chance. I was so
happy that I did.
I don’t
know if I had ever laughed so much while reading a book (I’ve read 15 of Janet
Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels). I
wasn’t even sure if everything I was laughing at was meant to be funny. I was on the bus, on the subway, on campus,
and I laughed, giggled, clapped, and stamped my feet. I could not contain myself while I was
reading.
Lia had a way of cutting off a chapter right at that crucial moment
where you needed to know what happened, and you needed to know right then. Sufficient to say, it was difficult to stop
reading this book for any period of time.
I still found zombies a bit creepy but was able to move past it, and
this book just swallowed me whole. It
was so easy to love Dearly, Departed.
There was so much thought put into this world. These characters and the Lazarus Virus
(zombie-making-ness) fit carefully together. Inevitably, while reading I questioned the
mechanics of the Laz and zombification.
The answers given were explained well and so logical that I could have,
possibly, believed that the Laz was real.
Dearly, Departed was primarily told through Nora Dearly and zombie
Bram, but other characters had their say as well. You wanted to hear from the character you
were reading, and you never rushed through a chapter or wished that you were
reading from a different viewpoint.
The
story centered around Nora Dearly, and everything always pointed back to
her. Nora was left in the dark, and the
reader discovered the undead world as she did.
She was not without fear, but she wouldn’t live in ignorance either. Nora was resilient and completely stubborn
making her ideal for contending with an army of the undead.
Bram was
the love interest. He also happened to
be a zombie with an intriguing name (Bram is short for Abraham). Bram was both sweet and ferocious at once. He was
sad and resigned to an inescapable fate, but a glow of determination burned
within him. The care he had for other people
saved him, and love gave him a purpose. In
the end you didn’t care an awful lot that he was part of the undead. Bram was not a monster. In fact, he was more of a gentleman than most
teenage boys.
Nora
and Bram had every possible obstacle standing against them, and you wanted
nothing more than for them to beat the odds.
You wanted them to survive and you wanted them to survive together. However, deep down, even they know that any
sort of relationship they had would not have “forever” attached to it.
It was
terribly sad that you became connected to these characters while knowing that
they were already dead. They were
literally falling apart; missing limbs and rotten flesh. Their hearts weren’t beating and yet, they
were capable of loving and hating and feeling. They were dead, but they were human. (Fictional characters no longer need to be
alive for me to love them).
Take a
bite out of Dearly, Departed. (Yes, I
had to say that; I could not help myself).
Seriously now, I cannot form coherent sentences that would explain how
much I’m looking forward to the sequel.
Dearly,
Departed was so enjoyable. Now, when I’m
shopping I’ll pick up books that I wouldn’t have ordinarily, because I could
end up loving it like I loved Dearly, Departed.
Favourite quote: "Please use the bathroom appointed for your gender and mortality!"
Favourite quote: "Please use the bathroom appointed for your gender and mortality!"
- page 459
Rating
Premise: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
Disclosure: I received a finished copy from the publisher. This did not influence my review in any way.
