Dearly, Beloved (Gone With the Respiration Series #2)
Author: Lia Habel
Synopsis: 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.
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.
Brought to you by TeamNerd Reviewer
Annabell Cadiz
Review: I had put in the request on Netgalley to read Dearly, Beloved without having known it
was the second book in the Gone With the
Respiration Series so I had been confused when I first started reading. It
took a little bit of time for me to be able to get into the book as I tried to
understand what was going on but the author does a good job of explaining what
had previously happened in Dearly,
Departed. Once I found my reading rhythm, I was hooked!
There’s a lot
that takes place within the plot of Dearly,
Beloved. Making things even crazier, the book is narrated from six
different points of view! Basically, Nora is the daughter of a scientist who
happens to be a zombie. She also happens to be dating Bram, an ex-solider now
turned zombie solider. Zombies have created a tentative truce with those still
living and can now freely walk among those who were not infected with the Laz
virus that turned most of the population into the walking dead. The truce seems
to be going well and those left of the population seem to be accepting slowly
what the new way of life is going to be. But the truce doesn’t last long once
news of the new strain of the Laz infection comes to light through a zombie who
attacks humans and changes them and the vaccine has no power over. The zombie
with the mutated virus, known as Patient Zero, is caught and kept under lock
and key but that does little to ease the mind of those who are still living. As
Nora’s father and his crew of scientists aim to discover how the Laz virus
mutated and if they can create a vaccine for it, Nora and Bram have more
immediate concerns to deal with. A new secret society of masked hunters known
as the Murder, are determined to rid the world of zombies once and for all,
even if that means resorting to kidnapping and murder. To top it off, the
zombie group known as the Changed, have gone from peaceful protesting and
helping fellow zombies who have been shunned, to committing mutiny and
declaring war on Nora and her father.
I loved the
Victorian type feel mixed in with a futuristic modern setting. The world
building was lush and vivid, expressing the small and delicate beauties the
world still holds and the dark, desolate truths seeping through the cracks. I
liked the way Habel approached the mixture of simple actions acting as a mask
to the monster beneath, the calm before the ravaging storm. The setting is
crisp and detailed. The atmosphere and mood fraught with heavy grief, loss, and
sparks of hope.
I also enjoyed
many of the characters. Although, there were times I became increasingly
frustrated with how many different points of view the story was told from, I
was still able to capture the personalities to the characters, well most of
them. Nora is smart, loyal, fiercely protective of those she loves and
compassionate. She was cute and courageous. Bram is funny, kind, strong and
great leader. Laura was sweet, shy and loving. Her story was heartbreaking and
terrifying. She learns to be brave gradually, learns to find her voice and
inner strength. I couldn’t help but root for her.
Pamela, Nora’s best friend, I
didn’t much care for. Yes, she had this deep inner strength and fire. I liked
how much she put others needs above her own but she often came off whinny and
boring. Vespertine was even more boring than Pamela. She was the standard
arrogant rich girl who treats people like trash.
Michael, one of
the villains of the book, was the best written character. He is boarding on
psychotic, quietly churning out his plans, determined to make Nora see how much
she’s better off with him—except he goes about it through kidnaps, tortures and
murder. Michael is completely what you would expect a cocky, wealthy, good
looking guy to be like—rude, manipulative, cold, and indifferent. But Michael
had very much a feel of suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder because
he had moments of clarity in his madness where he would start to regret his
actions or fear the consequences. He has a cruel father and an absent mother so
for Michael loving someone means forcing them to be with you or controlling
them or hurting them. Michael believes the only way Nora will understand his
feelings for her are through killing. Habel managed to show a sense of
vulnerability in Michael’s downhill spiral of madness. He was my favorite
character of the book. I enjoyed reading from his perspective.
But not everything
in this book kept me hooked. One of the biggest issues was the fact that the
book was told from so many points of view. The characters personalities and
individual voices would get lost; leaving the reader to wonder which character
was narrating a chapter even though each name is written at the beginning of a
chapter. They started to blend into each other and sound the same. There was
also an overabundance of explanation between the characters. There was a lot of
back and forth between what goes on within the narration and reiterating that
in dialogue. As much as I loved the world building, it also had a tendency to
become too much. There were details that did not matter in any real way and
could have been lessened to keep the story from dragging. Action scenes,
although great when they arrived, were far and in between forcing the book to
rely on characterization that got lost during narration because the points of
view were constantly shifting and repetition as to what the reader was already
aware of. I do like that Nora and Bram are fully aware and accept the fact that
Bram’s time as one of the undead is limited and don’t go into their
relationship with blinders on or false hope.
Dearly, Beloved was definitely a new type of read for me
since I don’t really read zombie content filled books but it was a rather
interesting and fun adventure. There is some great humor throughout the book
and I like the subtle tokens to chivalry and civility shown throughout the way
the characters think and act. The action scenes are full of raw pain and heart
pounding tension.
I look forward
to reading the first one and discovering what I’ve missed and continuing to
read where the author takes the series.
Despite this promising start, Lia went on to live an unremarkable life. Although she entertained vague thoughts of one day writing (comic books, specifically), it was only her love of literature that compelled her to pursue her B.A. in English Lit from SUNY Buffalo. Afterwards, ever the generalist and lover of Old Things, Lia moved to the UK to attend the University of Leicester and get her M.A. in Museum Studies. Several scattered internships and jobs followed, but Lia was never able to obtain long-term, serious work in her chosen field. She wrote the first draft of Dearly, Departed while unemployed, because it seemed like more fun than filling out job applications. Ultimately, she ended up procrastinating herself into a wonderful career.
Miss Habel currently lives with three former alley cats and far too many Victorian ball gowns. She enjoys attending anachronistic and steampunk events, watching zombie movies (her goal is to watch every zombie movie ever made), and collecting Victorian and Edwardian books.
Where to Find the Author
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