<a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2018/12/11/the-reburialists-by-jc-nelson/" target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart</a>

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

My impression about <strong>The Reburialists</strong> was totally wrong. I was thinking it was fantasy and the world building would be overwhelming and heavy with details; it would be grim and dark. Not so much. It is urban fantasy and was easy to read. I happily read along, learning the characters and following the plot.

This book was ok. That's what 2 stars is on Goodreads. I can't say I liked it though. I just did not connect enough with the characters. They did not seem authentic. Their words and actions were not realistic to me. I was surprised to find a romance.  I didn't believe it either. It happened too quickly.

The mystery and the battles of fighting the co-orgs was all interesting. I really enjoyed Grace's scientific methods and her efforts in developing weapons to battle them.  I guessed the Big Bad twist so that sort of took the excitement out of it. I won't spoil the ending but it was a cliche of sorts.  If you can connect with the characters more than I did, you might really like this.

I was expecting Urban Fantasy, but although this book's got an interesting UF world and decent plot points, it is more like mediocre Paranormal Romance than solid UF. The point of view alternates between Brynner and Grace, two unlikeable -- and wildly inconsistent -- characters who want so desperately to get into each other's pants from the moment they meet that their attraction quickly overtakes not just the plot, but any actual character development. Brynner and Grace are meant to enact a classic case of "opposites attract", and we're told early on that Grace is the consummate professional to Brynner's devil-may-care manwhore type, but A) Grace rarely behaves in a professional manner anway, and B) their ostensibly different narrative voices are so similar that I found myself always confused as to which one's headspace I was supposed to be in at any given time. (Also, there's a ton of sexist stuff in here, even from Grace.)

Even with all that, I was still interested to know what would happen with the Re-Animus and the "co-orgs", i.e., the zombies, and what would come of Grace's translations of Brynner's father's journals. But once the two had spent a couple days back in Brynner's home town, I wanted out. The characters' relationships continue to strike sour notes with poorly written dialogue. Also, when Brynner's aunt is terribly upset by Grace's lack of belief system beyond science, the narrative itself seems to agree with her. The message that an atheist is deficient as a person, and just needs to find some religion, was just a final dealbreaker for me, in an already shaky deal.