Review: Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel

Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel

Gone With the Respiration #2

Release Date: September 25^th, 2012

Number of Pages: 496

Publisher: Del Rey

Source: eARC from NetGalley

Can 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. Lia Habel’s spellbinding, suspenseful sequel to Dearly, Departed takes her imaginative mash-up of period romance, futuristic thriller, and zombie drama to a whole new level of innovative and irresistible storytelling. 

I’ve been sadly dreading this review since I finished Dearly, Beloved last week. I absolutely adored Dearly, Departed. The sequel simply failed to impress me. I know many have really enjoyed the sequel, but personally, I was expecting more from this book. I found myself getting bored while reading it. It was slow, there was nothing really happening for a while. This book really felt like a middle book, and not in a good way. This is honestly the kind of review I hate writing, because all I wanted was to rave about it, since Lia Habel created an amazing world, and some amazing characters in Dearly, Departed. This book just didn’t give me much to rave about.

I’m left with nothing much to say about the book. I actually don’t remember that much about it, because nothing seems to sink in while I was reading it. I wonder if it was just me, or if anyone else felt that way. The characters didn’t surprised me that much in the book, the story wasn’t as impressive as the plot of book one. Still, I want to read more from this world, because I still have hope that the amazingness I found in the first book will be back in the future. Sadly, this one won’t be one of my favorites this year.

Dearly, Beloved was a disappointing sequel to one of my favorite book from 2011. Hopefully, Lia Habel’s next book will find my heart once again. I wouldn’t put this book at the top of my list, but fan of Dearly Departed should give it a shot, if you really enjoyed it. I would simply recommend you not to read it if you’re not in the mood for a slow read, since this book can be really slow by moments.