Book review: Undead and Uneasy by MaryJanice Davidson

I have read and enjoyed several books that have dealt with vampires. Last year, I picked up Undead and Unwed, the first book in a series about a woman who became the Queen of the vampires by Maryjanice Davidson. I really enjoyed it and picked up the rest of the books in the series. I just read Undead and Uneasy, the sixth book in the series.

Before talking specifically about Undead and Uneasy, I want to share a little bit of information about the Undead series in general. Some of what I mention would be spoilers for people who haven’t read the first five books yet. It would be best for the books to be read in order. If someone would start with this book, several things wouldn’t make much sense at all. Davidson has also written some short stories that have included vampire characters or werewolves. One of the short stories, A Fiend in Need from the book Dead and Loving It, did include some rather important developments that fans of the Undead series would probably be interested in.

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The Undead series has been about Elizabeth Taylor. She insists that her friends and family to call her Betsy. She died in a strange accident on her birthday and then woke up in a funeral home wearing cheap shoes and a very tacky suit. It did take Betsy a while to figure out that she was a vampire. She wasn’t hurt by crosses, wooden stakes or holy water and she discovered that she didn’t need to feed that often. She met Eric Sinclair, a very powerful vampire, who she worked with to overthrow Nostro. Betsy was shocked to learn that her uniqueness indicated that she was the Queen of the vampires and Sinclair her consort. Betsy fought her feelings for Sinclair for a while before finally admitting that she loved him. She managed to make him understand how important an actual wedding was to her and they had gotten engaged even though Sinclair wanted no part of the planning. Betsy also had to deal with different problems as Queen of the vampires, including learning that she had a half sister who was the daughter the of devil.

The date for Betsy and Sinclair’s wedding was fast approaching and she still had a lot to do including finding the perfect dress. Sinclair continued to feel that the wedding was a waste since the Book of the Dead - sort of a Bible for Vampires - said they were consorts. Betsy was also very stressed out because her friend Jessica was so sick. Betsy was annoyed by all the people around the house, but then when everyone disappeared at the same time, she felt abandoned. It didn’t take her too long to realize that something very wrong was going on and she set out to figure it out herself. Betsy also had to deal with members of the Wyndham werewolf pack turning up looking for Antonia.

Undead and Uneasy started with a short prologue about something. It seemed very obvious to me that the subject of the prologue would play a part in the plot. That did add an interesting element to the book and even a tiny amount of mystery. That plot element wasn’t explored as much as it could have been which was slightly disappointing. I wasn’t really surprised by that though since the book was so short. There just wasn’t enough time to really flesh out the plot. I really would like it if Davidson started making these books longer so there could be more complexity to the plots.

There was a minor bit of mystery connected to why everyone had disappeared at the same time. That was the major element of the book even though the mystery wasn’t that strong. None of the books in the series have had strong mysteries. I did feel like something that happened with Betsy near the end of the book needed a bit more explanation. I got why the thing happened to Betsy. I just wanted a more definite explanation for why she was able to do something else after that and if it was just a one time thing or one of her unique powers.

Betsy has dealt with several things since she woke up as a vampire. She managed to do many things, though she has always had help from others. Most of the time, she preferred to do as little as possible. Marc and Jessica had also done things to help Betsy in the past, even if it was just dealing with stuff during the hours when Betsy was sleeping. For the first time, Betsy really had to deal with things on her own and she struggled with that for a while. Later in the book she actually turned down two offers of help even though she still wasn’t feeling that confident in her ability to deal with things on her own. It was nice to see Betsy acting more responsibly and doing more herself instead of leaving everything to others.

Since the book was taking place so close to the wedding date, the wedding was brought up frequently throughout Undead and Uneasy. There was even a copy of the invitation at the beginning of the book. Betsy remained focused on finishing up things for the wedding even while she was dealing with other things. There were a few short sex scenes between Betsy and Sinclair that were less detailed than similar scenes in some of the previous books. Sinclair disappeared early in the book, so he and Betsy had very little time together this time. It would have been nice if they had more time together, especially if they managed to not bicker in that time.

There have been several characters that have been at least briefly in all of the books. Betsy has been the main character in every book. They have all been written in the first person point of view from her perspective, so her very unique thought process has been shared. Her thought process, as well as her way of saying things, once again provided a lot of humor throughout the book. Sinclair hasn’t been in any of the books as much as Betsy has been even though he is also important to the series overall. Many things about him have remained a mystery because of that. I have been hoping that Sinclair would turn up more in the last few books.

Most of the rest of the characters have been very under used, both in this book and over the course of the series. Betsy’s best friend Jessica did seem to receive more attention in this book. Marc, the gay doctor who also lived in the house with Betsy and everyone, once again was shoved to the background. Tina, another vampire who was very loyal to Sinclair, was over in Europe for most of the book. Betsy’s mom was in a couple of scenes. Her father and evil stepmother weren’t actually even in this book even though they were discussed.

Laura, Betsy’s half sister, really only turned up twice. There seemed that there might be a return to previous concerns about her, but once again they went nowhere. I’m really not sure if Laura will end up playing a larger part in future books or not. A few other characters who have been in a few of the other books also made short appearances. In addition to all of the returning characters, Davidson decided to introduce more characters from her Wyndham Werewolf series. There really wasn’t a need to add those characters to the mix. It would be nice if Davidson would actually make use of several of the characters she’s already introduced in previous books instead of continuing to squeeze in more with every book that don’t do much.

Undead and Uneasy was an entertaining and enjoyable addition to the Undead series. I was happy that there was resolution to something that has been brought up in previous books. I do think the book is worth reading even though I felt there were a few problems.