Bel Reviews: Michelle Vail's - "Undeadly"
I’ve followed this author over from her adult romance series about a town called Broken Heart, under the pen name Michele Bardsley. She’s gone from making me cackle with her tales of vampirism and parenthood, to blowing me away with her first novel within the Young Adult framework.
Undeadly was on my ‘must have this book or I will raise hell’ list and I was so concerned it wasn’t going to be released in Australia, I made sure I had it on pre order from Book Depository as early as August. Since then I have seen it proudly gracing the shelves in Big W right along side all the other best sellers this year.
So if you haven’t already picked up this magnificent book yet, here’s the down low from good reads.
“ 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….”
The Reaper Diaries is completely standing on it’s own at the moment in the market as far as I am concerned. We have a few series where the main protagonist is involved with helping souls pass over, however what sets Vail’s book aside is her fresh angle of using Egyptian Mythology. I can’t help but think there are probably a few authors out there smacking their heads right now; after all the Egyptians are one of the earliest civilisations to believe in the afterlife and leave enough evidence to inspire and intrigue us to this day.
If that’s not enough to have to popping out of your chair to bug someone to take to the nearest Big W, let me give you a few of the other elements that have me bouncing for next year’s release of book two, Unchosen.
Language. Molly is what I consider to be a typical (not stereo typical) sixteen year old girl. She speaks like she’s sixteen, as in, she’s okay with her age… not like some of the novels this year where the leading lady has to go to boarding school and tries way too hard to fit in and ultimately ends up sounding like nails down a blackboard in my head. Also the signature draw card of the author, in my opinion, is the humour.
Settings and world building is generously rich, but not so much that you’re wanting the characters to hit the big landmarks. The characters hold the stage and they will not be outshone for anything.
This book really isn’t like anything else I’ve read this year. If you want a fun, summer romp, this is a good one to look out for. It would by far pass the tests of Ma’at. Just sayin’
Paperback, 272 pages
Published November 20th 2012 by Harlequin Teen
ISBN: 0373210469(ISBN13: 9780373210466)
