Book Review: The Vengeful Dead by Darcy Coates
A fantasy novel about the war between a woman who can see dead and a company that feeds on the dead.
Last month I read the fantasy novel 'The Hollow Dead' by Darcy Coates, and this month I got the chance to read the review copy of 'The Vengeful Dead,' the latest and possibly the concluding part of the series 'Gravekeeper.' In this part, the writer continues the story from the previous one, and we find Kiera, who can see dead people, and her ragtag band of friends trying to take down Artec, the corporation that secretly generates and sells cheap energy from the dead, tormenting them in the process. Kiera now eventually remembers her forgotten past and finds the secret about her cat Daisy. But more people seem to be interested in her powers and want to use them.
The primary reason that I enjoy novels by Darcy Coates is the relentless pace of action and their immense readability. Her 'Dead of Winter' was a closed-room mystery with horror undertones, and 'The Hollow Dead' was a fantasy with lots of humor. While the mysterious elements of the former and the fantastic elements of the latter are not much to write home about, the writer possesses the skill to add a lot of incredible moments of fun in her quick-paced plots, which makes up for most of her flaws. 'The Vengeful Dead' is also not an exception. The fantasy or world-building is pretty rudimentary, while there are dollops of running around, exploding things, 'several large fires,' and to-and-fro banter.
Though the writer pushes us right into the midst of the action, she inserts short recaps whenever needed to bring her first-time readers up to the action and to remind her regularly. I loved the clever placement of such snippets throughout the novel without affecting the pace. I had mentioned this aspect in the review of the previous book, and while reading this one, I could appreciate it more, as I was already aware of the previous happenings and found them super helpful as a recap of the previous books.
The book is written in the third person, though it is throughout focused on the character of Keira. As the characters of Mason and Zoe are integral to the plot, and their perspectives are equally important, contributing immensely to the overall craziness and fun factor, the third-person narrative seems to be a conscious decision from the author. Several side characters from the previous book appear in more significant roles in this book. Three of them are too stiff and underdeveloped, which makes the climax a bit serious when compared to the last book. The antagonist, who made a powerful impact when introduced in it, also is relegated to mostly just a background presence, though intimidating. However, the writer's impactful portrayal of action covers these issues up to a certain extent.
'The Vengeful Dead' continues the plot of the series and gives it a satisfactory resolution. Though as expected, the fantasy elements were underwhelming, the racy plot and the witty narration make it worthy of a visit. The subplot, with the unexpected post-climatic twist and the light romance, contributes to the readability immensely.