Though a Minnesota native, Betsy Taylor is the quintessential Valley Girl. Tall, blonde and leggy with a shoe fetish, she was living an ordinary life when she had a day from hell that cumulated in her dying—and rising again as Queen of the Vampires. Undead and Unreturnable is the fourth book in the series that follows the trials and tribulations of Queen Betsy as she tries to come to terms with her undead life. Though Undead and Unreturnable can stand on its own, like most series it’s better to read the books in sequence, including MaryJanice Davidson’s short stories in this universe. While Davidson does a decent job in reintroducing characters and storylines, there’s enough back story that a reader starting at Undead and Unreturnable might be a little confused on who fits where and why.
In Undead and Unreturnable, having finally admitted that she and her vampire consort, Eric Sinclair, love each other, Betsy is terrorizing Eric by planning the wedding of the vampire season. She is also dealing with a new baby brother birthed by her detested stepmother, a newly discovered half-sister whose mother is the devil (literally), ghosts of the dearly departed who drop in for a chat and a demand for justice, and a serial killer rampaging through the neighborhood. With Davidson’s sly wit, biting humor, and talented storytelling, the book should have been full of misunderstandings, cross-purposes, arguments, revelations, denouements, and all the other ingredients of a romp, with the tension of a murder mystery thrown in. Unfortunately, its potential is never realized. There’s not enough room. Undead and Unreturnable is a short 264 pages, with very wide margins, big type, and plenty of space around the words. That makes it very easy on the eyes, but kind of hard on plot and character development. Much is left out, making actions and resolutions seem arbitrary and causing characters, who by now should be well rounded, seem flat and two-dimensional. Even the serial killer was blah. Most of the action takes place “off stage” with no emotional investment in the victims’ deaths—and no fear of what will happen if the killer’s not caught.
Davidson has created a set of characters who are very personable. However, because of the books’ increasing brevity and light weighty-ness, Betsy and friends are becoming caricatures of themselves. There are flashes of the old. The first chapter where Betsy, Jessica and Betsy’s half-sister Laura are contemplating Betsy’s tombstone set up over her empty plot in the cemetery is heavy with foreboding that is deftly woven through their banter and wiseass quips. But that brooding promise is never fulfilled. It’s sort of like getting a good whiff of a roast beef dinner but having to settle for a carton of light yogurt. It left me unsatisfied and wanting more.
If you want to read MaryJanice at her best, get the first book in the series, Undead and Unwed.
You can visit MaryJanice here and buy this book here and here.
Comments (4)
Lorna, I totally agree with you!
I only read up to the second book, and I had the same issue.
Posted by May | August 4, 2006 6:22 AM
Posted on August 4, 2006 06:22
Yeah, this series is definitely going downhill. The first book was so funny, but one would expect to have the characters to be more well-rounded with the subsequent books. Yet they seem less so with each one. MJD writes breezy and funny, but that can't carry these books anymore. Since they've gone to hardcover, I've definitely gotten them at the library. And then have no desire to buy them in paperback.
And yeah, she always gives the impression that something deep and important is going to happen to the characters, yet never delivers. And that really sucks.
Now....when's the third Borderlands book coming out?! Cuz I kept DH up last night with the promise of "just one more chapter", which turned into more than that as I just had to finish.
Posted by Nicole | August 4, 2006 4:44 PM
Posted on August 4, 2006 16:44
Well, Lorna has to finish writing the next Borderlands story before it can hit shelves (darn it). The good news is: she's hard at work on it right now.
Posted by Wendy | August 6, 2006 12:38 PM
Posted on August 6, 2006 12:38
Okay. I suppose I can be happy with that.
Posted by Nicole | August 6, 2006 6:59 PM
Posted on August 6, 2006 18:59