Title: Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1)
Author: Susan Dennard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: July 24th, 2012
Rating: 5 Stars
There's something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia...
Eleanor
Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family
as fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off
to any rich young man who walkers 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. An
now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang
in the balance. -Summary from Goodreads
First off, let me say that Zombies
and Steampunk normally aren’t very high on my list of to-reads. Actually,
zombies almost never make the list but after seeing all the hype for when the
third book came out I decided to give this a shot… I LOVED IT!!!!
“Dead!” a woman screamed. “It’s the dead!”
Something
Strange and Deadly is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year.
Susan Dennard gives us a story filled with action, parasols, and well developed
characters! Everything felt real and natural; the historical setting, the
romance, and yes, even the zombies.
I
loved Eleanor, she is an amazing heroine who doesn’t mind smacking a zombie
with her parasol, but still finds it improper to go out with a man to the opera unchaperoned.
She is your average girl who is terrified of the dead but willing to step up
and do what’s right.
“Miss
Fitt, you know curiosity gets men killed."
I grinned. "Then I daresay it's good I'm a woman.”
This
book has a great cast of character who are not all black and white, good and
bad, making it a very interesting read. The Spirit-Hunters were not really what
I would have expected given the summery. I thought it would be like another
secret society whose members had been doing this since birth ect. But it was
nothing like that at all. They are a mixture of scientists, fighters, and a
magic user… and there are only three of them. That being said I loved the
Spirit-Hunters. They are trying to fight off the dead and protect the people of
the Philadelphia without getting hardly any support from the its leaders. Joseph
and Jie are awesome and Daniel is the perfect scalawag.
I found the slow burn romance quite
refreshing. Eleanor didn’t spend every moment fawning over the men in her life
and was able to stay focus on the matter at hand. Yes, there were more than one
man, but I can’t really say that there was a love triangle because while there
was interest it was more like a few sweet moments mixed in with the story
instead of the other way around.
“I
brandished my parasol at him like a rapier. "You, sir, are an abominable
scalawag of a man, and I'll be damned if I let you threaten me.”
Something Strange and Deadly is a five
star book with an incredibly gorgeous cover extremely high on my wishlist. It’s
a must read!
-Sarah
