Customer Reviews

Undead and Unworthy (Queen Betsy, Book 7)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Betsy Taylor, Queen of the Vampires, has barely settled after her honeymoon when the Fiends come barreling through her door. The Fiends are vampires who were made by the previous King and left to starve. They are a bit like feral animals, but Betsy being the unusual Vampire Queen that she is, refused to stake them. They have been living on a farm being tended to by another vamp, being fed animal blood. But it seems with all the craziness of Queenly and wifely duties, Betsy sort of forgot about them and they're not happy.

MaryJanice Davidson has a fabulous sense of humor, no doubt. Her characters are always wonderful to read and I have been a fan of this series since day one. This book contains the same humor and sarcasm I have come to enjoy and look forward to. The cast of characters is rich and eclectic, and the family Betsy surrounds herself with is phenomenal, to say the least. So I find myself wondering why I didn't love this book like I have all the others and find I have two reasons:

1) I wasn't drawn into the story like I usually am. The beauty of an MJD book is that they are usually short on length but filled to the brim on content. This one, to me, was not. I just didn't have the "I can't put this book down" excitement I usually have.

2) I hated the ending, HATED it. I can't say why without spoiling things but let's just say I am devastated x 2.

It's still not a bad book and I am still looking forward to the next, but this one wasn't all I had hoped it would be.

Cherise Everhard, July 2008

I've read all the Betsy books, all of them more than once, and I can honestly say that this is one of the worst. It seems to be MJD's trend to have Betsy whining and Sinclair and Tina evading and obfuscating to the very end. So nothing is resolved in the big picture, only the crisis of the day is over. Plus, they killed off many of the sidekicks so now there'll be an excuse for another 1/2 book worth of introduction of new sidekicks.

Way to pad up the books without actually deciding on any conclusions. So what is the Ant there for? How should Laura be handled? What happened to Cathy the Ghost? What were the Fiends feeding on while Alice was dead?

So many unanswered questions - MJD should buck up and at least tie up some loose ends. The books are not worth the paper they're printed on otherwise.

This book was bad. And not just bad, but bang-my-head-against-the wall bad. The whole Fiend scenario was far-fetched, at best, and down right boring. It took the blood of the queen and the devil's daughter to fix Garrett, but it only took said Fiend's blood and voila! Not one, not two, but count them seven instant bad guys. And what's with the Ant? Her whole presence seemed so irrelevant to the plotline, the whole story could have gone without it.

And don't get me started on the Nick thing. The guy is so annoying, there were times when I wanted to throw the book at the other side of the room and never look at it again. Never. Again. The guy is becoming MJD's Richard. He comes, he whines, he ruins a not-all-that-good-to-begin-with book, he leaves. I mean, come f'ing on! Either get over it or get the heck out of the story. And for heaven's sake, stop with the darn sniveling already!

But worst of all was the ending. My favorite character was killed. What the f?!? If someone had to die why couldn't it be Nick? Nobody would've missed him. But nooo, we get to read his annoying little whining for another book, two, if not more.

All in all, I am GLAD I borrowed the book from a friend and did not spend money on it. As it is, maybe I never will. And if I decide to buy it, I will definitely wait for the paperback. Sheesh, what a waste of a perfectly good series.

Being a big fan of Ms. Davidson and the Undead novels, I must admit that it pains me to write such a bad review of her latest book, Undead and Unworthy. But, alas, I can not tell a lie - or write a book review that isn't, in my opinion, the truth.

After reading the first six novels from the Undead series, I couldn't wait until the next book was released. I pre-ordered Undead and Unworthy, and was ecstatic when it arrived. I couldn't wait to see what adventure awaited ditzy but lovable Betsy and her super hot, uber sexy husband Sinclair. When I finished Undead and Unworthy, I was still trying to figure out what adventure awaited them! I was left feeling confused and unsatisfied - I even found myself double checking the author's spelling of her name, because I was so sure this wasn't the same author who wrote the other six books. I was convinced that it couldn't be the same MaryJanice Davidson who wrote such witty, clever, funny, page turning novels with steamy vampire sex scenes and actual plot lines! This book lacked all of the above, and then some. Even the sex scenes were a joke - basically "fade to black" moments. I found myself turning the pages not because I was so engrossed in the book, but because I was waiting for something interesting to happen.

I don't want to let any spoilers out, so I'll leave my review broad and without specific examples but take my advice, don't waste your money on this book - check it out from the library. That way, when you're disappointed, you're not out any money, and since you don't own it, you can somewhat pretend it never was written. It would be a shame to put this mess of a book next to the other six really good books in the Undead series.

First off let me say I love the Maryjanice Davidson books. I have read each one two, if not three times. They are funny and she writes like I talk so it's kind of cool to see someone write it down.

As for the book, I hated it. It was nothing but a highlight of the previous six books. There was maybe 100 pages of new storyline, but the rest was all a recap of what happened previously. I understand that in the beginning of the book it said to think of the next three books as a trilogy but come on. No wonder she recapped or she would've had a very short story.

As for the characters, my two favorite that I had grown to love, were killed off. OMG I was heartbroken. I had followed their characters through all of her books and now, I would have rather seen Betsy killed than the female who did. I won't mention names because I hate reading reviews that spoil it. Also, the thing with the Stepmother Antonia will get old really fast. I hated her character through all these books and was actually glad when she was taken out in the last one. Now she is back again to ruin the future books.

I would give this book no stars at all but since that is not an option...

Sorry Maryjanice, but this one really killed that whole series for me. I really don't know if I want to read the Undead anymore.

However, I do encourage people to read her other books. They are fun and witty. You will laugh out loud through most them.

I would have been disappointed in the lack of over the top MJD humor we're used to seeing, if I hadn't read where she wrote that this book will be the turning point in the series where it starts to take on a more serious note. Fine, I can deal with that... sometimes the stupid jokes got old in the previous stories anyway. But here is where I am really getting sick of the Undead series. This books is SO FREAKING SHORT!! Less than 300 pages, and for $23?!?!?! Are you kidding me MJD? How can you let your publisher, or whoever makes these decisions, do something so incredibly stupid if you want to keep your readers happy. Well, then again she probably doesn't care - because that's just more money in her pocket.

But this one really was the stopping point for me - I'm tired of the crappy storyline, and the horrible way she's just shoving all these random "plotlines" in the story... plotlines that never go anywhere (like the ghost of "the Ant")... the way Sinclair's dark, dangerous character has become such a sissy... the fact that Betsy is supposed to be a mother now and the baby isn't even IN the story, which I thought was supposed to be a major point now... the way a chapter can only be ONE PAGE LONG when you take in to account the large margins and print... ok you get my point. I won't buy another MJD book, I'll just wait for them to show up at the local library or read them at the bookstore since it only took a couple of hours anyway.

Got this book and read it in one sitting. All I have to say is: What happen here? I have loved MJD's Undead series. I have gone back and re-read many times the other books. Then I get to this one. It's ok. Not Pee-your-pants-funny like her other books are. This book isn't even ha-ha funny. It feels very flat. There's suppose to be romance, and it really wasn't romantic. Spoiler Alert!! - And what's with the killing of my two favorite characters! If I wanted Romeo and Juliet, I would have read that. Blast it all, that is soo not fair nor cool. Even if they were secondary characters, to get to the 2nd to last chapter and wham bam good-bye mam'. All I can say is I hope the next book is better and I will definitely just borrow it, rather than pay 15 bucks and go to bed with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes. Thanks for nothing MJD. Boo-hiss!

Received my copy of the book today and I read it in one sitting. The story itself is well thought out and has it's typical Betsy moments. MJ states at the start of the book that this is the first of a new 3 story (book) arc.

I understand why she had to end this book in the way that she did, with the death of two back story characters, but it's still very sad to loose them. My only concern in where MJ maybe taking the next few books is that the story could be very unoriginal.

***SPOILER*** Vampires against Werewolves. This type of story has been done to death, pun intended. The character in question makes a choice and knows the possible consequences, so any negative outcome from this act wouldn't make sense.

I know with these types of books in order to bring in new characters that some must be lost along the way, but it's still sad to loose the ones we've come to know and care about. I just hope that MJ is able to create something new and original from their passing and doesn't take the easy way out in the next two stories.

Basically, if your a fan, which I assume you would be to purchase this book in hard cover, I think you'll be pleased with the purchase. I know MJ wants to keep a mixture of humor in the books and I think that's possible even if Betsy grows up a bit more.

Betsy still acts too young, (her language isn't that of a thirty year old women) for her age especially with everything that she's seen and done, which really is becoming a bit annoying. She is a Queen now and her behavior should slowly start to register this growth. Based upon the ending, I think that some development will start to happen.

I liked seeing her and Sinclair act more as a couple, since I'm a Sinclair fan. You can see that MJ is making an effort to have him lighten up a bit. This would make sense since Sinclair really seems to care for his bride and Queen. Though I like him having more enjoyment in his life I'd love to see him really have some action in defense of Betsy. Other then in the first book, he hasn't had a chance to show his physical strength.

All the other charcters are back, I still wish she's bring Marc a real love interest that adds to the story, he's a good man and deserves a main squeeze.

This book was okay, but MJD has done way better with this series. I don't expect every book to be gold, but this isn't one of her better ones. Things were better towards the end but I spent most of the book, reading it just to get it done.

~SPOILERS!!!!!~

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Ready? Let's go.

I will say that I am happy that Jessica and Nick broke up. Nick has frankly been annoying through out this book, and the last one. Can we just get rid of him entirely? And what's with making him rich all of a sudden? He goes from regular guy who's a cop for a living, to heir to John Deere, who just happens to be a cop, it didn't mesh at all.

I was sorry to see Antonia the werewolf die and Garret die soon afterwards, that made me cry it was so sad.

END SPOILERS!

I'm not a big fan of the new cover, it looks more like good fanart, than a bookcover. When I first saw it on MJ's site, that's what I thought it was at first; that some fan had sent in a fanversion of the new book's cover and then I read that it WAS the cover. I'm not impressed and I really think the cover should be rethought or even better, return to the old style, those were cute.

I've read all of the books in the Queen Betsy series and have continued doing so because... well, they've always made me laugh. Literally and out loud.

This time around, tho? Eh. Not so much. The author prefaces the book, letting the reader know that she is taking the series in a new direction. This move, I believe, is not the most successful. As some of the other reviewers mentioned, the ending was a huge blow. Disheartening and disappointing for those of us who have read this series for the simple joy of being amused.