Review: Undeadly

Title: Undeadly
Author: Michele Vail
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: November 20, 2012
Format: eBook via Netgalley 

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….—via Goodreads

Undeadly had a lot going on.

It’s a book of discovery—Molly, a girl who believes she’s nothing more than a necromancer, which, you should know, is totally common place in the near-to-present-reality setting of this book—turns out to be a very special kind of reaper, chosen by Anubis, the Egyptian god of the afterlife himself, who is a god that teens learn about in school since the world they live in is rife with zombies, ghosts, and ghouls.

But that’s not all—Molly meets another reaper, Rath, during a very bizarre situation, learns about her mother’s background, meets some long-lost relatives, enrolls in fancy boarding school, is inducted into a high-fallutin’ secret society, has visions, fights some crime, and starts training to be a kick-ass reaper.

All in less than 300 pages.

To say the pace of this book is brisk is an understatement.

And though it’s a crowded plot, the book is fun. Molly reminds me of Evie from Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy series: she’s perky and yearns to be nothing more than a typical teenage girl. But she accepts her fate with resolve and goes for it with everything she has.

However, this book was a little shallow for me—I wanted Vail to dig deeper into some of the emotional scenes, because, seriously, Molly has A LOT going on in this book. There were some things that I think Vail could have taken a little more time with—and a couple plot points that could have perhaps not been introduced in the first book at all—that would have allowed for Molly to grow a little more as a character than she did.

Overall, Undeadly is a fun read that mixes Egyptian mythology, necromancy, boarding schools, ghosts, and hot reaper dudes. It’s perfect for a night that you don’t want to go out, but also don’t want to read anything heavy. It will keep you entertained throughout and serve as good company while you’re snuggled up on the couch.