Review: A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard

Title: A Darkness Strange and Lovely

Author: Susan Dennard

Series: Something Strange and Deadly #2

Genre: Ya/Steampunk/Zombies

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: July 23rd, 2013

Edition: Kindle Edition, 435 pages

Source: Library

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

  With her brother dead and her mother insane, Eleanor Fitt is alone. Even the Spirit-Hunters—Joseph, Jie, and the handsome Daniel—have fled to Paris. So when Eleanor hears the vicious barking of hounds and sees haunting yellow eyes, she fears that the Dead, and the necromancer Marcus, are after her.

  To escape, Eleanor boards a steamer bound for France. There she meets Oliver, a young man who claims to have known her brother. But Oliver harbors a dangerous secret involving necromancy and black magic that entices Eleanor beyond words. If she can resist him, she'll be fine. But when she arrives in Paris, she finds that the Dead have taken over, and there's a whole new evil lurking. And she is forced to make a deadly decision that will go against everything the Spirit-Hunters stand for.

  In Paris, there's a price for this darkness strange and lovely, and it may have Eleanor paying with her life.

Review:

So, I might like this book more than the first one. Even though there were a few moments when I wanted to throttle Eleanor. She was keeping things from people, things that she shouldn't have and it blew up in her face more than once. 

This book was a little more fast-paced than the first one, and I think that's another reason why I liked it more. Where the first book was more of a mystery, this book was more about self-discovery. Eleanor was also a stronger character in this book, though she had less she was far more sure of herself than she had been in the first book.

The new character, Oliver, I suspected him to be up to something nefarious. I was suspicious of him all the way to the end of the book. He still has some secret that he has yet to reveal, that I think I might know what it could be, but I don't want to jump to conclusions.

I do like that the reaction/reveal of who Oliver was and his connection to Eleanor was handled the way it was. Though the initial interaction/meeting with Daniel was reasonable and understandable but, at the same time, he jumped to conclusions based on nothing really.

I wish the connections between the missions had been revealed a little sooner. 

I am really glad that these books were available at my library and I don't have to wait to read the next one. It's already loaded on my kindle. I am really excited to read how this series is going to end.