Parents who are fans of John Carpenter movies will find a familiar story within the pages of Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses. As an adult, it was an enjoyable, almost nostalgic read; as a child, I can imagine it to be a quite exciting one. Ty Drago has delivered a story filled with action, adventure, and mystery. It’s also, as a lot of middle-grade books are, about growing up a bit even if you don’t want to.

Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses is definitely meant to be the beginning book in a series. The loose ends left hanging at the conclusion of the story are big ones. (We do get a complete story arc, though. No evil cliffhangers to get you to buy the next book.) I enjoyed some of the references in the book to other well-known works. Beyond the aforementioned Carpenter movie, there’s also a Harry Potter reference, as well as The Walking Dead. (I’m sure there’s more; those are just the few that stand out.)

Drago does a good job giving us a wide variety of characters and showing how neatly each one fits into the group. It’s important to show kids that everyone has different skills and abilities and they are all equally useful. There is also a bit of racial diversity, and a good split of males and females doing all jobs.

This is one of those books that moves at such a rapid clip you want to give it your full attention for fear that you’ll miss something. The dialogue seems believable for the situation. (Some of them do speak and act a bit older than you might expect, but being forced to grow up too soon will do that to a kid.) There is some violence, blood, and one on-page death. However, while it might make you go “Eww”, it’s not excessive on any level.

Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses is a good middle-grade read, and looks to be the start of a very promising series. It’s also been out for a while, so there are four other books in the series already available if your kid likes to dive in the deep end with series rather than just test the water.

Mortuary Confidential is a collection of tales about the funeral business.

So, in the wake of my grandmother's death, I was thinking about the great beyond a bit and stumbled upon this. Since I have nearly infinite store credit at the local used bookstore, I snapped it up.

This is not precisely the book I thought it would be. I was expecting hilarious, inappropriate stories. While some of the stories were funny, most were just interesting. I guess I can't fault the book for that.

Some favorite tales include a mortician locking himself out of the hearse, two brothers beating the shit out of each other at a funeral, and the bottom of a casket dropping out while the pallbearers were carrying it.

Mortuary Confidential is a fun read but don't expect it to be a barrel of laughs. Three out of five stars.

*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

 

Not one to read non-fiction very often a book in this genre has to catch my interest. Needless to say, a book about undertakers and purporting to be humorous did just that. When I first saw the title I thought it would be a mystery. However, when I read the blurb and saw what it was really about, I knew I just had to read it. I’m so glad I did. I knew very little about the world of funeral directors and such, but this book is loaded with info about the business as well as mostly humorous stories about things that can go wrong or even go right. There are also some more poignant stories but for the most part this book had me smiling, snorting, giggling and outright laughing at various points.

 

I’ve attempted to pick a favorite and it’s hard to do. Though I will say Chapter 8: Cremation and the Goat made me cringe, but not for reasons you may think, Chapter 13: Epitaph has had me thinking for days now and Chapter 17: Ouija gave me goosebumps.

 

I recommend this for anyone with a curious mind and a sense of humor.

 

Hello everyone! Welcome to Month9Books 2014 Books you may have Missed Blitz!

Check out all M9B 2014 titles below and enter for a chance to win 1 of 3 prize packs of eBooks! International

 

Click on the cover for book information.

 

 

Tantrum Titles

It’s recommended you read the first book (Rise of the Corpses) before you jump into this one. You’ll understand things more and there are a lot of references from the previous book in this one as well. (Besides, it was a great book to read! why not try it?)

This book was just as good as the first one, there’s a lot of action and moments of close calls. It’s very fast paced and one can easily fly through this novel in a matter of days (or day?). The plot itself was really good. The Queen makes a perfect villain (she’s quite a nasty creature) but the questions you might have had in the previous book are still prevalent in this one. They’re still not answered. Yet.

Characters in this book are still good. Will’s character develops well. Dave gets a bigger part and plays a bigger role (which is fine, he turned out to be quite the likable character). You do get a little frustrated with Helene and Will. (There’s a part where Dave says: “just get it over with!” and you just felt like yelling out: “Yeah!” in response to that).

The ending of the book was great and I suppose the right word for it would be dramatic. So dramatic it could actually be an ending to a movie. Still, it was good and it’ll leave you wanting to know more. Definitely recommended for younger readers. Zombie lovers (well, they’re not really zombies..sort of zombie body snatchers?) would also love this. Can’t wait for the third one!