October 28, 2012

Review: Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1)
Author: Susan Dennard
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: July 24, 2012
Pages: 388
Source: Hardcover/Library

The year is 1876, and 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 their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

Review: I really enjoyed this book!!! It wasn't what I was expecting, it ended up being better than what I expected. I was expecting a zombie novel. Not a zombie novel where the zombies are under the control of a necromancer. That definitely put an interesting twist on it and I loved it! I do have to say once I learned some key facts though when reading I did find the book a bit predictable. 

Eleanor. This girl had a ton on her plate. Waiting for her brother to finally come home, a very rude and seemly uncaring mother constantly getting on her case, a guy courting her which she had no idea what to do about and she was working with people that nobody really liked. I really hated Eleanor's mother. She used up the family's money and now she's pushing Eleanor to get herself a guy real quick and get married to get the money back. She didnt care about what Eleanor thought or wanted, she just cared about money. I was really happy that Eleanor kept going against her mom. Her mom kind of deserved it for what she was doing to her daughter. I also felt for her because she missed her brother and she didnt know what happened to him for the longest time. And then she had Clarence courting her, which was kinda odd seeing as their families had a falling out a while back. But apparently he was doing it to make up for the wrongs done to her family. Which lightened me up a little on him because hey, he was trying to make up for something bad their parents had started. 

The Spirit-Hunters! They tried so hard to do the right thing and help the people of Philadelphia and protect them from the walking dead but all they got was hate. And then on top of that, somehow they got blamed for everything bad that happened and that totally wasn't fair to them. I have to say my fave Spirit-Hunter was Daniel! I really enjoyed how he and Eleanor had this like love/hate relationship. I mean one time thy would get along, the next they were fighting. I'm glad they came to their senses at the end though! I was also glad they let Eleanor help in their hunt for the necromancer. 

The necromancer. Now I was stumped about who it could be at the beginning, but as certain things started getting revealed I was able to guess who the necromancer was and I was right! Now of course I'm not gonna spoil it and tell you who it is! I was shocked though with what happened at the very end though with the necromancer. That was unexpected for me. And I feel so bad that Eleanor lost one of her hands in the end. I really cant wait for the next book!

4 Stars!