BOOK REVIEW: Undeadly by Michele Vail.

Title: Undeadly
Author: Michele Vail
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: 20th November 2012
Goodreads Summary: The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.

Life at Nekyia has its plusses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another...except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—-Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble....

{ Review }

I have a confession to make. I was actually supposed to post this review a couple of days ago as part of the Undeadly blog tour, but I got so caught up in Uni crap that I forgot. Apologies to the author and the tour host for my delay, but I just couldn't bear to post a review having only read half of this brilliant book.

I've never really been into zombie stories or anything to do with necromancy until I read Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard (see review here) but when the opportunity to participate in the Undeadly tour arose, I jumped at the chance.

Undeadly is written from the perspective of the main character, Molly. It's all in the first person and it feels as if Molly is directly addressing, you, the reader, which really draws you in and makes the whole book feel like one big conversation. Molly is a really down to earth character who's really likable. I have to admit that I didn't like her that much at the beginning of the book, but after she moves to Nekyia Academy you see more of her personality.

There's one main love interest in this story with the hint of another one that will develop later which made the story a lot simpler, and I liked that because when too many guys get involved a. it's not realistic and b. I get far too confused. It's quite obvious that something isn't quite right with Rick which is a shame because for the first few chapters he seemed like the perfect guy - probably a little too perfect actually. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more romance in this novel, but reading a paranormal young adult book that isn't dominated by a teen romance was quite refreshing.

What I love about this book is that the zombies and necromancers weren't a secret in this novel, they are simply things that are accepted as a natural part of human life so there's no fear of exposure, a theme that dominates most paranormal novels. I don't think I've ever come across a young adult book like this so I'd highly recommend this if you're thoroughly bored of the Twilight craze and the subsequent paranormal series that followed. I also love how there's  a whole history behind this story involving the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses which are rarely used in books, but are absolutely fascinating. In addition, each chapter starts with a quote and whilst they are completely made up, they add a sense of reality to the book and foreboding for the coming chapter.

The only problem I have with this book is that I thought it took rather a long time for it to get started and I don't think that a lot actually happens in this book until the very end. Nonetheless, this was a fantastic introduction to a new and unique world so I'm very excited for the sequels to Undeadly.

Michele Vail writes young adult paranormal fiction about zombies and reapers. 

She likes reading, dogs, cats, board games, ghost-hunting shows, and Halloween. She believes in magic, in the impossible, and in the restorative powers of chocolate. 

Michele lives happily-ever-after with her Viking and their family.