I actually really liked this book. I had a friend who asked me what genre is was and I described it as a "futuristic sci-fi, based in a Victorian era with zombies and romance". I really like sci-fi and the Victorian era. The only thing I had no experience with was zombies, but they turned out to be pretty ok. I really like the world that Lia Habel created. It's like nothing I've read before. She actually did really good mashing the different elements together to form a great story. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the romance. I guess I was just a little grossed out by the fact that Nora was kissing someone who was dead? I mean, I understand that Bram is a nice guy and all, but he's dead. There is just no way to get around that for me. Every time there was anything intimate I was slightly disgusted.The setting for the book is in New Victoria and the government has been hiding the fact that there are walking dead out there. Nora is kidnapped from her home and then suddenly there is an outbreak in New London, the capitol and things just get crazy from there. Dearly, Departed is told from a few different PoVs. There is Nora, Bram, Pamela, Wolfe and Victor (I think that's all of them). My favorite character by far was Pamela. She is the scholarship girl, who is also Nora's best friend, and she turns out to be pretty kick ass in the end. She's pretty tough and takes things as they come to her. She knows she can't really take anything for granted.Other than the queasiness from the romance, I really enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to reading the next (which I actually already started) and finding out what happens next. It should be pretty interesting to see how New London copes with the knowledge that there are walking dead. It was a great intro into zombie books because it's not too scary, and the zombies aren't too disgusting (well the civilized ones anyways). I would definitely recommend this one!