Undeadly by Michelle Vail

Author: Michele Vail
Title: Undeadly
Publication: November 20, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Source: Around the World Arc Tours

Synopsis
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 school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.

Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be with. To make matters worse, students at the academy start turning up catatonic, and accusations fly-against Molly. The only way out of this mess? To go through hell. Literally.



Thoughts:A world where zombies’ walking around is normal....uh, I'll pass. This is crazy, crazy but comical. People have the right to takes someone who is dead be it a spouse or whatnot and have them zombified. O_o Okay, so Molly is special, on her 16th birthday she is visited by Anubis, who asks if she will serve him and thinking it's just a normal dream, she says yes. Then, things get really weird her friend, Rick has a freak accident where he dies but something even stranger happens, she brings him back to life but he just doesn't seem the same, a reaper named Rath appears and for whatever reason she can see him. On top of all of this she learns a heartbreaking secret about her family that changes everything she knows about her life and how she feels about her future. Now, in a whole new world at the Nekyia Academy she must embrace her destiny or fall at the feet of those out to see her fail.

At first this book through me for a loop, I have never read anything like it. Zombies that live with people as the norm and people that have the powers to raise the dead integrated into a society that is aware of their existence...double odd. Molly's sister is an advocate for zombie rights, which I thought is hilarious. Zombie rights, yeah! What seems interesting is how the author integrates zombification with Egyptian lore, which made me think mummies. I was intrigued by the history of the different heka powers. In the beginning, I did feel bogged down in all of the information on why this world is this way but once the action started, things progressed much better. Molly has a snarky wit about her and it made her seem more real and I think I like her character but we shall see if I love her in the next book. 

The story is okay and the concept has piqued my interest. The writing is fine though I felt the pace in the beginning lagged just a tad but picked up a quarter of the way in and that's when all the fun really started to pop off. The characters are unusual but intriguing and I await the next piece to the puzzle. Because there are a lot of things, I want to know and hope that they are answered soon. I also look forward to some romance between Molly and a certain hot reaper. Overall, this is good story about family, death and destiny.