Something Strange and Deadly
by Susan Dennard
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
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Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard[/caption]I’m writing this three days after I finished Something Strange and Deadly and yeah, I’ll admit that I’m a wee bit scatterbrained in general, but I had to go back into my Goodreads account to recall which book I was writing a review on. I seriously couldn’t remember it.
And, in part, that could be because I started reading when I went to bed around 9 p.m. and finished somewhere around 1:30 a.m. That goes to show you that the book is far from dull.
Another novel in the steampunk genre, Something Strange and Deadly takes place in Victorian Philadelphia circa 1876. The story’s main character is Miss Eleanor Fitt – and that’s exactly how she feels. A misfit. Eleanor lives alone with her mother (and two servants) after the death of her father (no mention of how he died other than it was related to him going insane when his business went belly up). To keep up appearances despite their financial situation, Eleanor’s mother throws lavish parties. Meanwhile, Eleanor (who does the grocery shopping and attempts to handle her mother’s finances) is trying to figure out how to keep food on the table.
The book starts off with Eleanor waiting to meet her beloved older brother, Elijah (who has been traveling the world and should’ve been home already). And then the zombie siren rings.
Say what? Yes, like a fire alarm except for it warns of the undead are invading. For me, the concept was a little confusing. In most books of the zombie genre, the dead are reanimated through a virus or science experiment gone wrong AND anyone bitten will turn into one as well. Deadly has a more classical view of zombies: they are reanimated corpses hungry for human flesh, but they are raised by a necromancer to do his bidding. And, while they are dangerous (they will eat you), victims don’t reanimate by being a zombie buffet.
Eleanor ducks into the ticket booth to wait out the invasion. One of the undead comes to the window, but instead of trying to attack her, the rotting corpse drops off a letter from Elijah informing her that his return will be, again, delayed. How the corpse knew Eleanor would be there at that exact time hiding in the booth, I have no idea. Coincidence?
Returning home disappointed from her brother’s note, Eleanor has little time to mope. Her mother, who is more concerned about keeping up her status among their social circle, decides to host a séance party (that they can’t afford). Unexpectedly, Eleanor catches the eye of Clarence, a handsome and wealthy aspiring politician. And, to her shock, she finds that he isn’t completely intolerable. But she becomes suspicious when she watches him sneak outside to meet with some shady strangers.
During the séance, things get even weirder. Normally séances are harmless – faked – with the host trying to contact deceased loved ones and someone rapping on the table all in good fun. But while trying to contact Eleanor’s father, something dark manifests.
Seeking an explanation for the séance and worried her brother has been kidnapped by the necromancer, she sneaks away to seek help from the Spirit Hunters stationed in town to combat the zombie outbreak. It’s there she meets Daniel (and another guy, who was actually the leader, but I can’t recall his name off the top of my head – see, forgettable). Daniel is – for lack of a better word – a paranormal scientist. His life is his work and he doesn’t have the time or the social skills to deal with Eleanor, who he assumes is a self-entitled rich girl.
Despite being shrugged off initially, Eleanor is relentless. The Spirit Hunters must find the necromancer and stop him from raising his army of the undead. Eleanor must find and save her brother. And she’s convinced they can work together to accomplish both.
Eleanor was an enjoyable character. She’s feisty but has a good head on her shoulders. She’s determined and refuses to let anything stand in her way even if it means sneaking out of her house and bribing the maid with jewelry to keep quiet. She’s perceptive of the characters around her – especially Clarence – and coerces them with wit instead of blatant confrontation.
The budding romance between Daniel and Eleanor wasn’t unpredictable, but it was tolerable. It was never gushy or overdramatic. He was the “bad boy” from the other side of the tracks, but that seemed to be by reputation only. As hotheaded and impatient as he seemed at first, he quickly grew out of that.
As for Clarence and that whole love triangle thing? Yeah. I don’t get it. Clarence freaked me out a little and, although Eleanor stood up to him when he became aggressive with her, she quickly forgave him or even felt sorry for him as soon as he apologized. I wouldn’t think a character like Eleanor would’ve been so forgiving.
The ending of the story wasn’t exactly a surprise – at least not to me. I thought it from the beginning, but really there was no proof to back up my suspicions. It was just a feeling. As for the action leading up to the ending – it seemed, muddled. There was so much going on that I had a hard time following it. I loved the powerful scene at the warehouse and think it should’ve been longer. The part with Eleanor running through the museum (or whatever that was) with all the zombies and finding the necromancer – I kept getting lost in it. Where was she? Where were the Spirit Hunters? I couldn’t figure out how they were navigating through all of this stuff without getting killed.
And what was the deal with the evil entity that first appeared during the séance and seemed to only show up at inopportune moment? That was really never explained.
I wish they‘d skipped straight to the final showdown at the cemetery. Everything that needed to be done could’ve been done there.
The next book in the series, A Darkness Strange and Lovely (schedule for release sometime in 2013), will pick up where Deadly left off and take Eleanor on an adventure to Paris. It sounds similarly entertaining and I’ve put it on my to-read shelf, but I’m afraid by the time it comes out I will have forgotten why I put it there.
Check it out if… you want a book that skips right into the action, has its witty moments dashed with a little romance, and includes a strong leading female.
Skip it if…you are looking for a compelling plot and deep characters or like to nitpick over details.
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