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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Too much focus on a budding romance between two of the main characters for me.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wanted to like this more than I eventually did. It had a lot going for it: Vampires, New Orleans, the 1990s setting complete with fun pop culture references. In the end though, "Mina and the Undead" just left me underwhelmed. There was a lot here I found fun but there was also a lot of wasted potential. The author said in her acknowledgements that she wanted to write this story since 2012 and that's exactly what this book feels like: This could have been popular in YA ten years ago but feels dated in 2021 despite just having been published.
The book checks all the boxes your usual vampire romance would have ten years ago: the new girl trope, insta love, a paranormal murder mystery etc.. It's basically a 2012-style paranormal romance. I expected actual gothic horror and I guess that one is on me for having wrong expectations.
My main gripe with this book is the writing style though: It seemed a bit too simple to me, almost as though the book was aimed at a much younger audience, but that doesn't match the characters being college age and the serious themes and gory imagery in the book. A lot of the dialogue and the characters' reactions felt stilted. Mina seemed to not react to horrible and traumatising events at all, she's always back to watching movies or eating sandwiches minutes after learning something horrifying. Spoiler Like for instance when Mina learns about Lucas's death, she dwells on her sadness for a sentence max before moving on like nothing had even happened.
The other thing I didn't like was the jumbled plot. The author uses 200 pages to set the story up with Mina exploring New Orleans and hearing about the murders. The actual story and conclusion are crammed into the remaining 95 pages, with vampire lore, Mina's investigations and a lack-luster resolution basically shoe-horned in. It's all over the place. SpoilerFor instance, one of the villains is a character we met only once before for two sentences who isn't even given any motivation for their crimes. I felt that a lot of questions were left unanswered too and in the end it just got ridiculous. Spoiler Like multiple characters dying, coming back to life and in one case dying again right away.
In the end, this might have been popular in 2012 during the vampire YA craze but in 2021 I expected it to bring something new to the vampire genre and it just didn't. YA as a genre has evolved so much in the last ten years but this book sadly doesn't reflect all that change. I did appreciate the well done diversity in the book though, that's the one thing you might have not found in a book from 2012.
The book checks all the boxes your usual vampire romance would have ten years ago: the new girl trope, insta love, a paranormal murder mystery etc.. It's basically a 2012-style paranormal romance. I expected actual gothic horror and I guess that one is on me for having wrong expectations.
My main gripe with this book is the writing style though: It seemed a bit too simple to me, almost as though the book was aimed at a much younger audience, but that doesn't match the characters being college age and the serious themes and gory imagery in the book. A lot of the dialogue and the characters' reactions felt stilted. Mina seemed to not react to horrible and traumatising events at all, she's always back to watching movies or eating sandwiches minutes after learning something horrifying. Spoiler Like for instance when Mina learns about Lucas's death, she dwells on her sadness for a sentence max before moving on like nothing had even happened.
The other thing I didn't like was the jumbled plot. The author uses 200 pages to set the story up with Mina exploring New Orleans and hearing about the murders. The actual story and conclusion are crammed into the remaining 95 pages, with vampire lore, Mina's investigations and a lack-luster resolution basically shoe-horned in. It's all over the place. SpoilerFor instance, one of the villains is a character we met only once before for two sentences who isn't even given any motivation for their crimes. I felt that a lot of questions were left unanswered too and in the end it just got ridiculous. Spoiler Like multiple characters dying, coming back to life and in one case dying again right away.
In the end, this might have been popular in 2012 during the vampire YA craze but in 2021 I expected it to bring something new to the vampire genre and it just didn't. YA as a genre has evolved so much in the last ten years but this book sadly doesn't reflect all that change. I did appreciate the well done diversity in the book though, that's the one thing you might have not found in a book from 2012.
After a rocky start, this ended up being a very fun YA urban fantasy. You could tell that it was a debut, but it was a good one nevertheless. I only understood a small fraction of the references, having not read many of the classic vampire novels. I read this in about two days and gave it 3.5/5 stars. It was very predictable, but like I already said, it was a fun read. I'm glad I read it at Halloween as that's the perfect time to read a book like this. I am excited to read the sequel as it was left on quite a cliffhanger.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
An absolutely superb YA vampire story which is everything I love about both YA and horror.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Absolutely amazing. I throughougly enjoyed this book, I loved the description of New Orleans, the characters and the mansion. The plot twists were brilliant and this seriously had me guessing all the way through. I really hope there is a second. Can praise this one enough!!