Krystle's Reviews > Dearly, Departed

Gosh, this is going to be such a difficult review. It’s not terrible but it’s not great either.

The biggest downfall of this book, to me, was the pacing. It was agonizingly slow for the most part with little to no action. I can only attribute this to the fact that the main character, Nora, was held in a compound and not allowed to do much besides interact with the people and zombies located there. There was hardly any contact with the outside world and the real plotting and action comes later.

Another problem was the excess amount of chapters from other characters’ point of view which were hardly needed or did much to bring the story forward. It was really distracting and took quite a while for me to adjust to another character’s mindset, voice, and personality only to be thrown back into our main characters’ one. Too much. Really destroyed the pacing and flow.

I don’t know about you but I didn’t really care much the romance, not because it was bad. No. While they did have some sort of instant connection, their progress from discovery, friendship, and actual feelings was gradual and natural. All the good stuff, right? Well, he’s a zombie and I don’t find the idea of making out with a dead guy who’s rotting away to be my particular type of ideal man. He’s even described you know as… slowly decomposing. Yech. I really can’t get past that.

I totally loved the world building of this book. It was unique, thought out, developed, and refreshing. I love the Victorian era and all of the facets of it that are so familiar. So having it based off of that was fantastic! Plus for me! The whole social attitudes of the time and the mannerisms were not forgotten also. This story has that plus another layer on top of that with the addition of futuristic technology. Really cool. Everything was all so seamless and worked cohesively together. It was fun!

The characters were alright; they had minds of their own, were decently developed and won’t give you migraines from stupidity. Their interactions were amusing and often times hilarious. It really kept the book from being a melodramatic bore. I totally wasn’t a fan of the very… generic villain but, eh, I guess he’s okay.

This book was so awesome in many parts but the slow pacing and meh romance for me overshadowed everything else. There is a great amount of potential and talent here so it’s up to you if it hits the mark or not.