Review - Undeadly (The Reaper Diaries #1) by Michele Vail

Review: Undeadly

Author: Michele Vail

Series: 1st

Pages: 272

Published:  November 20th 2012 by Harlequin Teen 

ISBN: 9780373210466

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

Description: 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 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.... 

I Give This ...

I really liked the sound of so many things in this book.  Reapers, ghouls, etc paired with an elite boarding school.  Sounds like quite a few other books I enjoy with a new element added to it.  Sadly, I wasn't all that impressed.

First off, I had a really hard time grasping this new world that Molly lives in.  It just didn't make any sense.  I would have greatly appreciated a few pages explaining things.  But, it honestly felt like our main character had ADD.  She would explain things in the middle of whatever was going.  And it was never enough.  I think I had an ok picture of it by the end of the book, but it was too little too late. 

Molly wasn't too bad as our main character.  Her sudden thought changes were confusing at times, but I eventually got use to them.  And they seemed less frequent as the story went on.  I understood her plight as the outcast with the desire to fit in.  I wish she would have thought a little harder about setting her sights on Rick.  Granted we don't get to know him very well in his human state, but I'm a believer than in most stories humans take some of their characteristics with them.  I wish she would have asked more questions.  I think she could have learned some much more about who she was had she demanded some answers (but then we really wouldn't have a story).

 Nekyia Academy is both cliche and not.  It's got secrets just like any other mythical boarding school in young adult literature these days.  But, there were things that I found interesting.  I found it intriguing that there were found families that were guaranteed admittance to the school.  They had designated rooms and in Molly's case, a ghoul that has served her family for a long time.  There's some hierarchy there that will be interesting to explore.

The ending was much better than the beginning, but I'm not sure if it will be enough to keep me reading the series.  I guess we will see when the next one comes along.