Dead, Undead, or Somewhere in Between
by J.A. SaareReview copy provided by author.
Author Web Site.
PJVs QUICKIE POV: I approached this novel with trepidation, I really don’t even know why, probably because I couldn’t nail it down, categorize it in a pretty little box. Some touted it as Urban Fantasy, some as PNR I even got a few snips from another blog with it as erotica. So what to do? I like my genre boxes, which is so odd for me, since I was told over and over in design school “Think Outside The Box!” But what is wrong with a bit of organization? I think I’m rambling. Back to the book. So confusion led to it sitting on my shelf for a month or two...until I couldn’t take it anymore, picked up the book, and then I was stuck. To put it in perspective, I grabbed it for my cereal book (the one I read while I’m brushing my teeth and then eating my cereal before I leave for work). I was on page 15 by the time the clock read 6:31 which was the warning to me that said “Get to Work” but I didn’t want to go to work, I wanted to keep reading! I was hooked from page one. Now it is my turn to categorize this: This has to be one of the best Urban Fantasy books to come out of an ePublishing house that I have read so far. And I can’t help but imagine the potential this book has if a good editor got their hands on it. Great job Mrs. Saare, can’t wait for the next one.
REVIEW: Rhiannon, like all of my fav Urban Fantasy chicks is kick ass, curses like a sailor, brings grown men to their knees with her sharp insults and might be a tad bit on the unhinged side of the crazy line. Did I mention she also sees ghosts? Not your happy little translucent ghosts either, we are talking, mangled, chest cavity exposed, missing limbs - what you looked like on the slab kind of dead people. Yum. Rhiannon is my kind of chick.
While slinging drinks in a New York strip club, Rhiannon is approached by a vampire, who goes by the name Disco (hee hee). Disco needs help from a ghost seeing girl like Rhiannon and he isn’t taking no for an answer. Before Rhiannon can say “Go to Hell”, Disco has her running around the city looking for some lunatic that enjoys cutting up vampires and taking their hearts. Not to mention he drags her into a snakes nest of vampire politics and a world she has been shying away form, but is very much a part of: Necromancy.
A knee-jerking, action, adventure of the fanged variety, Dead, Undead is a great addition to your Urban Fantasy TBR. Pick this one up, you will not be disappointed.
What I liked about this novel:
Saare approached your garden variety UF subjects with finesse. She took characters that were very stereo-typically UF/PNR and made them different and very entertaining. I liked her approach.
Like all damaged characters, Rhiannon was in a seriously bad mental place when Dead, Undead opens. This is also a typical UF trait in their main female characters. For example, Anita Blake and her hate. Mercy Thomas and her abandonment. Sookie Stackhouse and her being treated as a pariah. Well for Rhiannon her past is a childhood of abuse. Saare approached this from straight on, holding back nothing when it came to her character, we know she is broken, she knows she is broken, but like all good novels, their is progression. Usually in these books there is a break, whether internal or external. Saare handled Rhiannon’s break with a subtlety that impressed me, she didn’t take the easy way out and this gives me great anticipation for what will come next in her later novels.
The characters were well done with a level of emotion that you don’t normally see in these kinds of novels. Saare tackled some very hard subjects in this book, and instead of being turned off I was very empathetic. Rhiannon was hard where I expected her to be hard, and soft when it was needed. She was a very well rounded character.
Then the ending...oh my do I want more. I ended this book with WTH? And I need more like now!
What I didn’t like about this novel: My one hang up on this novel was that there were a lot of elements that are used in many of the popular vamp series. This happens a lot, there is only so many ways you can write vamp novels, but I guess they were just very glaringly obvious in this one. The vampire family structures, the mark, the human familiars, I’ve read many of these ideas in other books.
My dislikes in no way turned me away from this book though, and it was very easy to overlook once I got hooked into this novel.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Adults, there is a ton of cursing and a bit of nookie. Urban Fantasy, vamp fans you’ll really enjoy. Fans of the Anita Blake, Sookie Stackhouse, Rachel Morgan, Mercy Thomas series, enjoy.
