Jennifer M. (Kaydence) reviewed on 9/12/2012 + 380 more book reviews

Summary: The world has ended and been rebuilt fashioned after Victorian England. This new Victorian world includes the same manners and sense of class that the old one did. The wealthy have above ground houses, but the majority of the populous lives underground, the more wealthy or important, the closer to the outside. Not everyone agrees with the New Victorian lifestyle, so a group called the "punks" is battling for land and rights. These "punks" are along the outskirts of New Victoria and live within fields and mines. The novel is told from multiple points of view. Nora is a teenage girl that is slightly wealthy. She goes to a boarding school and is being raised by her aunt after her father had passed away. Her best friend, Pam, is a poorer student that also attends the boarding school and represents another point of view in the story. Then Bram, a good zombie that wants to save the world, and the girl, represents another point of view. And finally, Wolf, a deranged power-hungry military captain, and Nora's father, you guessed it, another zombie, round out the other point of views within the story. Each person tells their part of the story as it moves forward. So, the story is extremely complex. Here is the basic storyline:
Nora is kidnapped by good zombies because she is immune to the zombie virus. She builds up a friendship/relationship with Bram, who is one of the zombies that rescues her. Meanwhile, the zombie virus has broken out in New Victoria. Pam kills a zombie, is arrested, gets out, and then figures out what is going on with the dead coming back to life. Nora's father was also kidnapped by a crazy man that wants him to make the vaccine for him. When Nora and Bram find out that her father is kidnapped and that New Victoria is being overrun with zombies, they make plans to save everyone. Of course, there are other details, but that basically sums things up.
My thoughts:
I really love Bram! He is the saving grace of this novel. Oh my god, his character is just the most adorable thing in the world. I could give or take everyone else, but rave about Bram for years to come. He almost replaces Valek from Poison Study in my heart, which is saying a ton, because Valek stole my heart years ago and no one has even come close until now. Dearly, Departed as a novel is long and hard to keep track of. I almost wish that I could have skipped some of the side stories so that I could have focused more on the relationship between Bram and Nora. There were several times in the story that I had to go back to figure out which character was leading the dialogue. Sometimes there is such a slight change in perspective because the same action is going on, so you have to really pay attention to the pronouns. This is a flaw because it pulls you out of the story; however, as I have mentioned several times, Bram is well worth some confusion. I look forward to book number 2.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details