"Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly, #1)" by Susan Dennard

"Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly, #1)" by Susan Dennard

Website ~ Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Tumblr ~ YouTube

Published: July 24, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 388
Format: ebook
Source: OverDrive
 
Read December 6, 2013

GoodReads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble

Philadelphia 1876. The Dead are rising. A zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor Fitt. Whoever controls the Dead Army has her brother. She avoids her mother's choice of husband for the lab of Spirit Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel. The situation threatens her reputation, and the lives of everyone in the city.

I had REALLY high hopes for this book. It's steampunk, historical, and has zombies. That HAS to be a winning combination. Plus, the cover is super pretty and I feel like this cover won't lie to me. And I was right! This book was amazing and suspenseful and I got really emotional!!

Eleanor's father is dead and her brother is away traveling and can't be found. Because of this, her mother is determined to marry her off to a young, rich man. When Eleanor meets a boy that meets the criteria, her mother is dead-set on them getting married. Sure, Clarence is nice, but he has a lot of secrets he won't tell Eleanor.

She decides to get help finding her brother and meets Daniel, Joseph, and Jie. She soon falls in love with Daniel, and after lots of bantering and some flirting, he tells her that he doesn't feel the same way. That part made me really emotional. Joseph is the leader of the group that has to power to control the zombies and Jie is a Chinese girl, pretending to be a boy, and Joseph's assistant.

Eleanor gets in contact with her brother and when he comes back, he tells her that he is the Necromancer and is the one controlling the zombies. He kills Clarence and his friends because they made fun of Elijah in school. The power consumes him and he eventually dies. Eleanor, Joseph, Daniel, and Jie have to clean up his mess and stop the zombies. They fix everything, but Eleanor loses her hand in the process. The trio leaves while Eleanor is recovering in the hospital.

Eleanor
I thought she was a great character and I just wanted her to be happy, but sad stuff just keeps happening. Her mother is trying to marry her off, she meets a guy and she thinks he likes her but then he dies, her brother comes back but then he dies too, the guy she likes tells her he doesn't feel the same way, and the guy she likes and her friends leave soon after she gets close with them. I wanted to hug her.

Elijah
I was hoping that when he came back that everything would be good, but then he messed everything up by raising zombies, killing a bunch of people, and then dies.

Daniel
I liked him at first, but then he breaks Eleanor's heart. What a jerk. I bet Eleanor could do better anyway.

Clarence
I kinda had a bad feeling about him, and I had a love-hate relationship with him. Sometimes I liked him, cause he really seemed to like Eleanor, but then I didn't because he kept so many secrets and bullied her brother.

Joseph
I thought that he was a great guy and I really hope that Eleanor meets him again so she can learn more about zombies and find out what she can do, if she can become a necromancer like her brother.

Jie
I thought she was so cool! She chooses to dress up and cut her hair like a boy so that she can have more freedom. I'm not sure if I would be able to shave part of my head like her though.

Overall, I thought this book was amazing and I can't wait to read the next book! I have high hopes for the sequel, so it better not let me down!!