Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Reviews

Book Review: Undead and Undermined

By Sandy Amazeen Aug 23, 2011, 16:52 GMT

All-new in the New York Times bestselling drop-dead funny series. Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor thought she couldn\'t die. So what\'s she doing in the morgue? It could have something to do with a time- traveling trip she made, and a foe with a wicked agenda that could finally be the real death of Betsy-if she\'s not careful. ...more

Sadly, book ten of the Undead series might be more accurately titled Undead and Unremarkable as Betsy, Queen of the vampires continues blundering through time. Once again, Betsy awakes as a corpse, this time naked with a toe-tag and only vague recollections of recent events. When she gets home, it is to a changed reality as her best friend, Jessica is hugely pregnant and the delighted father is none other then Nick, the detective Betsy alienated in the first timeline. Faced with knowing she is responsible for the end of civilization as we know it, Betsy is determined to make things better but as usual, fails to think things through with predictable results.

Readers might expect Betsy to be delighted by Jessica’s pregnancy and obvious happiness but instead, she reacts by calling her BFF the "Thing with a Gut." Even by Betsy’s continued shallow character standards, this is beyond callous as is her treatment of those who care about her. After the revelation about Sinclair’s ultimate fate in Undead and Unfinished, it is surprising there is no further mention of it nor does Betsy’s treatment of him change. Betsy’s attempts to change the future while going out of her way to point out obvious differences in timelines do little to move the story forward. Marc’s sacrifice at the conclusion appears to be for naught as clearly, Betsy is going to negate his actions. I have been a fan of this series from the first and while the last few books haven’t been as good, this is a real disappointment.