Susan Dennard’s Something Strange and Deadly is the first in the Something Strange and Deadly series. It is the late 1800s and all eyes are on Philadelphia as it hosts the grand International Centennial Exhibition. This grand fair not only uses fantastical displays of technology and culture to unite the world for continued scientific progress, but also happens to take place as the Dead begin to rise in Philadelphia. In attempt to quell the growing issue, the city enlist to the help of the Spirit-Hunters, a small company of people notorious for tackling zombie related issues. It does not take long for them to realize that the zombie attacks incidental, but the deliberate, malicious intent of a vengeful necromancer. When protagonist Eleanor Fitt receives a letter from her brother via zombie attack, she realizes that the necromancer has kidnapped her brother and turns to the Spirit Hunters for aid.
Eleanor Fitt is a good attempt at a strong female character, but falls short in delivery. Like many YA heroines, she is bold, intelligent, and independent. She knows what she wants and refuses to let anything get in her way. At the same time, she is an upper-class woman in a family with a fragile reputation. For the sake of family, she must keep up the appearance of being well mannered while sneaking off to consort with the lower class Spirit Hunters. This leads to some inconsistencies with her characters. She’ll be perfectly fine walking into the city without an chaperone, but suddenly care about propriety when alone with the boy her mother is trying to set her up with. Her choppy internal and external dialog only exacerbates the problem. A lot of the choppiness and inconsistency can be traced to poor writing. Often times, the author doesn’t know how to direct the characters to the plot, so she takes control of Eleanor’s personality and forcibly guides her. Given some more freedom, Eleanor could truly take over the plot and become a more realistic character. Something Strange and Deadly is a fun read. The book has a lightning fast pace that pulls you in from page one. As more of a murder mystery, than action plot, the pacing slows down a hair before building to an exhilarating climax.
The book also managed to make beautiful southeastern Pennsylvania feel Victorian, almost steampunk. Although I refuse to consider it steampunk, the well-crafted dialog and description meshes technology with parasols and petticoats, creating a beautiful backdrop for the events to unfold. Unfortunately, Susan Dennard’s delivery can occasionally fail in communicating the beauty. The simplistic prose does little to enhance the setting and create a realistic self-sufficient world.
The simplistic prose also proves problematic in the delivery of its characters. Like with Eleanor, the writer’s hand occasionally shines through the characters’ actions and dialog. Too often, they are used as way to progress the plot instead of freely creating the plot with their actions. All of the basic building blocks for unique and interesting characters exist, but the immature writing causes them to feel underdeveloped. That being said, this is a debut novel, and, in terms of prose, Susan Dennard improves tremendously in her later books. It is very likely that all of the characters will become more realistic and independent as the series continues.
An early sign of this are seen in the budding love triangle. Instead of falling head over heels for two boys, she simply forms a mutual relationship that grows closer and more intimate through shared experiences. As the relationships develop, it becomes more clear that the boys represent her two differing futures: upper-class money or lower class freedom. In her continued growth as a character, she must decide what is more important to her and take charge of her life and love. Most importantly, love never interferes with her goals and takes a back seat to the plot.
I give this 388 page book 3.5 stars.
Something Strange and Deadly
In this alternate history, powerful necromancers reanimate corpses, using them to achieve their nefarious agendas. The Dead have descended on Philadelphia and it up to the Spirit Hunters to save the day.