A Darkness Strange and Lovely

HarperTeen

A Darkness Strange and Lovely
Susan Dennard
2013

The Summary
"After helping the Spirit-Hunters save Philadelphia from the walking Dead, Eleanor Fitt must now face the thing she couldn't stop:  her brother's death, her mother's deteriorating health, and the sting of unrequited love.  But when she encounters the necromancer Marcus again, she must seek the help of Joseph, Jie, and the gorgeous Daniel--who have all fled to Paris.

"On her way to France, Eleanor meets Oliver, who claims to have known her brother.  Though friendly, Oliver harbors a secret involving black magic that entices Eleanor.  Trying to resist it, she rejoins the Spirit-Hunters in hopes of stopping Marcus.

"But the Dead have taken over Paris, and there's a whole new evil lurking.  Eleanor is now forced to make a dangerous decision--and her choice could mean life or death for everyone."

The Good
Oddly enough, I devoured this book.  Something about it appealed to me and kept me riveted to the page.  I can't say why, either.  It's packed with action, a handful of decent characters, a few plot twists I didn't expect, and I was somehow hooked--drawn inexplicably into a crazy, wild story that crosses the Atlantic and drives right into the heart of Paris.

I'll be the first to admit that A Darkness Strange and Lovely isn't a great book.  I mean, it isn't an epic or an immediate classic, but it's fun and interesting--and it appealed to me on a certain level.  I liked the idea of zombies using the catacombs of Paris to take more victims, to create more havoc.  It's an intriguing concept.  It's exciting and full of heart-pounding action, a few fascinating inventions and weird (read:  mad scientist) science, but it's fun to read.

I can't really tell you why, but I really liked reading Susan Dennard's novel.  I liked it well enough that I managed to finish it within a couple of days.

The Bad
A Darkness Strange and Lovely doesn't have the best writing.  It isn't always compelling and, admittedly, it lost my attention a couple of times.  Granted, I still finished it in, like, two days, but it's not a great novel.  It's dark and grisly, but it has a bad habit of throwing up unnecessary smokescreens that I found annoying and, more often than not,  offered zero explanation for magic.

It continually led me on to one misadventure after another, propelling the story forward with one event after another, culminating in an obvious (to the reader) conclusion.  I felt there were a few gaps in the story:  why was Marcus in France to begin with?  I mean, it's not like it was a particularly compelling destination.  And why doesn't anyone explain circumstances--and magic--to Eleanor when it would keep her out of danger?

Basically, Eleanor is a loaded cannon.  And, instead of teaching her how to aim in the right direction or, you know, telling her to keep a burning match away from the fuse, they all (but Oliver and Joseph, in particular) seem content to let her walk around in ignorance.  She could had been spared a lot of problems and everyone else could have been saved a lot of trouble if they'd just told her the truth.

Sheesh.

The Ugly
Flesh-eating zombies.

Oh, and soul-sucking demons.

And reanimated animal corpses.