Author: Susan Dennard
Series: Something Strange and Deadly (book 1)
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Steampunk with Zombies
Synopsis: There’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia. . . .
Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about.
Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper:
The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.
And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor . . . from her brother.
Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.
How I got this book: Borrowed from Library
Release Date: July 24, 2012
The Short Version:
Overall, it was a good book…I just didn’t like it all that much.
The Long Version:
This is possibly the most conflicted I have ever felt about a book. Because, by all logic/reason/whatever you want to call it, I should have loved this book.
But I didn’t.
I didn’t even really enjoy it. I was just waiting for it to be over.
I think my main problem was Eleanor. I just didn’t like her.
Maybe it was the almost fainting/vomiting at almost everything that happened. I don’t know. She just didn’t click with me. At. All.
Which was a shame, really, because everything else about this book is rather wonderful. The writing is excellent, and the plot was interesting enough for me to want to at least make it to the end of the book, just not enough to make me care about the characters. And the characters were good. I didn’t hate any of them. Not really. I was just…apathetic.
However, this all being said, the book definitely had it’s moments. The last 50 or so pages were definitely exciting, and while I did see one of the twists coming a mile off, I did not really expect the other one.
So that was nice.
In Conclusion:
If this looks like the kind of book that would interest you, I would definitely recommend giving it a go. It’s a good book that just didn’t work for me.
The Magical Adventures of Cassie the Weird 