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Valerie Stevens #2
Funeral Pallor
There’s a nest of zombies in an old city warehouse and they’ve got a hankering for human flesh, but that’s the least of Valerie Stevens’ problems. While necromancers are a dime a dozen, these mindless killing machines all share one thing in common: they’re former occupants of every funeral home in the city.
All the evidence points to Val’s best friend, the zombie Caroline. (She’s the only sentient zombie in existence & lately she’s been having trouble explaining her whereabouts.) If Valerie plans to clear her best friend’s name, she’ll have to move fast: someone has dispatched a zombie assassin and there’s a dark plot to overrun the city with the living dead.
All the evidence points to Val’s best friend, the zombie Caroline. (She’s the only sentient zombie in existence & lately she’s been having trouble explaining her whereabouts.) If Valerie plans to clear her best friend’s name, she’ll have to move fast: someone has dispatched a zombie assassin and there’s a dark plot to overrun the city with the living dead.
First published August 24, 2014
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About the author
Sean Cummings
43 books132 followersSean Cummings is a fantasy author with published works ranging from traditional urban fantasy to the zombie apocalypse. He lives in Saskatchewan Canada with his wife, a retired racing greyhound and a huge spotted dog.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 13, 2010
The sequel to the book Shade Fright starts with a lot of action : Valerie, the apprentice mage, must battle a nest of zombies at a warehouse. She struggles to eliminate all of them and that's when we're introduced to two new guys : Rick and Nick Newby, the headbanging zombie killers with a snowplow.
All the characters are back in this second installment plus there's a few new ones. We get to see a lot more of Caroline the zombie in this book and less of Fifty-Dollar Bill, the ghost of a former Canadian Prime Minister. I love the wide variety of characters in this book. From the head-banging brothers to zombies, there's something for everyone. Oh, and there's also the death spirit/bounty hunter, Tim Reaper. He's a fun new character who will get his own spinoff novel.
Although this is the second book in a series, I think it could be read as a stand-alone. There's a few mentions of something that happened in book one but it's still possible to follow the story without knowing what happened previously in Shade Fright.
I enjoyed this book very much. I never wanted it to end. That's how good it was. When you get hooked on the first couple of pages, you know that it's going to be a wonderful read. From the beginning to the end, Funeral Pallor was action-packed. It was impossible to guess how the story would unfold. The book was full of surprises.
I'm sure we're going to hear a lot more of Sean Cummings. He's an incredible urban fantasy writer. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
All the characters are back in this second installment plus there's a few new ones. We get to see a lot more of Caroline the zombie in this book and less of Fifty-Dollar Bill, the ghost of a former Canadian Prime Minister. I love the wide variety of characters in this book. From the head-banging brothers to zombies, there's something for everyone. Oh, and there's also the death spirit/bounty hunter, Tim Reaper. He's a fun new character who will get his own spinoff novel.
Although this is the second book in a series, I think it could be read as a stand-alone. There's a few mentions of something that happened in book one but it's still possible to follow the story without knowing what happened previously in Shade Fright.
I enjoyed this book very much. I never wanted it to end. That's how good it was. When you get hooked on the first couple of pages, you know that it's going to be a wonderful read. From the beginning to the end, Funeral Pallor was action-packed. It was impossible to guess how the story would unfold. The book was full of surprises.
I'm sure we're going to hear a lot more of Sean Cummings. He's an incredible urban fantasy writer. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
July 16, 2010
Favorite Quote: “What are you…like Gandalf with boobs, or something?”
Valerie Stephens, alchemist and an apprentice mage has found herself in quite a predicament…again. She works for Government Services and Infrastructure Canada and as she says, “I deal with things that go bump in the night and eat your face.” She finds herself in an abandoned warehouse with her ghost cohort, Fifty Dollar Bill. Except, at the moment, the warehouse isn’t abandoned. It is filled with about thirty zombies and Valerie is not quite sure how she is going to get rid of them all and keep it a secret to the public. But this time she gets help – Rick and Nick Newby arrive in a specially equipped snow plow – and plow right through the gruesome creatures.
Valerie is thankful for the help, but doesn’t know what to make of the metal-head banging, slightly not with it brothers. The brothers love to kill zombies, and Valerie becomes very curious how they know these creatures even exist. Turns out, their mother was turned into a zombie, before the brothers took her out. She is now a ghost, and Valerie wants to know what is really going on. How did she turn into a zombie if she was not bit? Valerie feels there is a conspiracy in the works. To add complications, her best friend Caroline (who is a zombie, but tries her best to stay on the good side) is blacking out, and no one knows if Caroline could be responsible for turning humans into Zombies. Together, they start to dig to uncover what is going on, before more zombies are made and Calgary is threatened.
Funeral Pallor is book two in Sean Cummings Valerie Stephens series. I have to say that I enjoy zombie books. I know I say the “Z” word and a lot of people start to back away slowly. But really, zombies are entertaining. Sure they are gross, but take Caroline for instance. So much can go into her character – she has to stave off wanting to eat human flesh, she has to wear a ton of cover up to even appear normal – she talks and tries to act human – but everyone knows she is not.
I find Valerie to be a very mature heroine. She doesn’t take crap from anyone, and she has a sarcastic side. Throughout the book it is mentioned she is best friends with Caroline, but I really had a hard time with their relationship. I mean, they are friendly, but it is hard to see them as really, really close. Along the same lines, I wish we got to see more of Valerie’s personal life. All we see is her working the mystery. She has a boyfriend, which we only briefly see at the end. I think when reading urban fantasy, it is important to see what makes up the heroine. We don’t see a well rounded picture of her. We really don’t know a lot about Valerie, besides her work ethic.
One fun character introduced is Tim Reaper, literally a death spirit, who created the Spanish Influenza decades ago because he was bored. As punishment, he has been stripped of his powers and placed in the mortal world. Valerie is forced to work for him and he enjoys giving her a very hard time.
“You’re late,” he said in a raspy, low-pitched voice. “Oh, and your entrance doesn’t even warrant a two on the bad ass scale.”
Funeral Pallor is a nice sequel to Shade Fright (although it can be read as a stand alone) and I look forward to more from Sean Cummings in the future.
Rating: 3.5/5
Valerie Stephens, alchemist and an apprentice mage has found herself in quite a predicament…again. She works for Government Services and Infrastructure Canada and as she says, “I deal with things that go bump in the night and eat your face.” She finds herself in an abandoned warehouse with her ghost cohort, Fifty Dollar Bill. Except, at the moment, the warehouse isn’t abandoned. It is filled with about thirty zombies and Valerie is not quite sure how she is going to get rid of them all and keep it a secret to the public. But this time she gets help – Rick and Nick Newby arrive in a specially equipped snow plow – and plow right through the gruesome creatures.
Valerie is thankful for the help, but doesn’t know what to make of the metal-head banging, slightly not with it brothers. The brothers love to kill zombies, and Valerie becomes very curious how they know these creatures even exist. Turns out, their mother was turned into a zombie, before the brothers took her out. She is now a ghost, and Valerie wants to know what is really going on. How did she turn into a zombie if she was not bit? Valerie feels there is a conspiracy in the works. To add complications, her best friend Caroline (who is a zombie, but tries her best to stay on the good side) is blacking out, and no one knows if Caroline could be responsible for turning humans into Zombies. Together, they start to dig to uncover what is going on, before more zombies are made and Calgary is threatened.
Funeral Pallor is book two in Sean Cummings Valerie Stephens series. I have to say that I enjoy zombie books. I know I say the “Z” word and a lot of people start to back away slowly. But really, zombies are entertaining. Sure they are gross, but take Caroline for instance. So much can go into her character – she has to stave off wanting to eat human flesh, she has to wear a ton of cover up to even appear normal – she talks and tries to act human – but everyone knows she is not.
I find Valerie to be a very mature heroine. She doesn’t take crap from anyone, and she has a sarcastic side. Throughout the book it is mentioned she is best friends with Caroline, but I really had a hard time with their relationship. I mean, they are friendly, but it is hard to see them as really, really close. Along the same lines, I wish we got to see more of Valerie’s personal life. All we see is her working the mystery. She has a boyfriend, which we only briefly see at the end. I think when reading urban fantasy, it is important to see what makes up the heroine. We don’t see a well rounded picture of her. We really don’t know a lot about Valerie, besides her work ethic.
One fun character introduced is Tim Reaper, literally a death spirit, who created the Spanish Influenza decades ago because he was bored. As punishment, he has been stripped of his powers and placed in the mortal world. Valerie is forced to work for him and he enjoys giving her a very hard time.
“You’re late,” he said in a raspy, low-pitched voice. “Oh, and your entrance doesn’t even warrant a two on the bad ass scale.”
Funeral Pallor is a nice sequel to Shade Fright (although it can be read as a stand alone) and I look forward to more from Sean Cummings in the future.
Rating: 3.5/5
July 18, 2010
In this installation of the Valerie Stevens series, we catch up with Valerie many months after the events in Shade Fright. She is still under the tutelage of the ancient mage/Yoda-like mentor D. T. and still trying to learn about her powers including the “clarity” she apparently glows with before her next encounter with the Conclave. Valerie is still dragging her heels with trying to find a solution to Caroline’s undead situation and has had some bumps in her relationship with mustached dump truck driver Dave. Unfortunately for Valerie, the big baddies of the supernatural community are still interested in her and one evening during the course of her job she gets trapped in a warehouse by a gaggle of flesh-eating zombies. This near-death experience is just the start of wild adventures for Valerie as she tries to get to the bottom of why zombies are loose in Calgary and what her undead friend Caroline might have to do with it.
Funeral Pallor starts out the action pretty quickly with one of the most fearsome (at least for me) supernatural creatures out there – the zombie. And these zombies seem to be working together to get their little piece of flesh like a borg-hive (double shiver) so Valerie needs to get all the help she can get – including the aid of metal loving headbanger brothers, the Newby brothers. The Newby brothers cracked me up with their modified Zombie killing pick-up truck with a snow plow attached and their constant reverence to Valerie as “toots”. Although their headbanging may have dislodged any higher level reasoning skills they do seem to be good at killing zombies and are important to unraveling the mystery of why all these zombies are roaming the streets of Calgary. We also see a lot of Caroline in the installment and the lengths she’s had to take to preserve her zombie form (self-service embalming anyone) though less of the rest of the cast of friends from Shade Fright including Fifty-Dollar Bill, D.T., and Dave. Caroline has been having black-outs that have Valerie worried that Caroline is giving in to her darker zombie nature and while investigating what is going on they delve into conspiracy theories, shady business organizations, and survive a few assassination attempts. We also meet a new character – Tim Reaper – along the way who I hope we get to see in future book installments.
Overall it was a well formed mystery –although I had a good idea who the bad guys worked for I had no idea who the bad guys were till the end – one of my favorite things with a mystery is not guessing the outcome from the beginning. The ending of this book is very sweet too – Valerie’s got quite the man in her life.
February 27, 2012
Less humour and more tension in the 2nd in the series, as Valerie kicks zombie ass this time. I'm sure I've met the Newby brothers at a Black Sabbath concert.
September 4, 2022
I'd really like more of the adventures of Val Stevens
November 14, 2020
It is a fun, fast paced romp, enjoyable. But the book is, just like the first part, very badly copy edited. It's rife with spelling/grammar mistakes that should have been caught.
Things like 'an church' or missing words entirely. It's very distracting.
Things like 'an church' or missing words entirely. It's very distracting.
July 20, 2016
For those who dig the action of urban fantasy but roll their eyes at the obligatory romance, this might be what you've been looking for. In book 1, the romance was very low-key, and barely features at all in book 2. I think you get about 5 pages of romancey type stuff, and none of it is the high-tension "will they or won't they" relationship. While it's a nice change of pace to escape the angst and sexy times of a pair of supernaturals thrown together, I actually kind of wished for more of a buildup to the little that was there, as otherwise it feels like it's coming out of nowhere.
Val's friends and allies from Shade Fright are back: everyone from the Yoda-like DT to "Bill," the ghost of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King. In addition, there are some very colourful new arrivals, including my personal favourite, Reaper, who I'm excited to say will be getting his own spinoff novel soon.
There's a lot of action going on in Funeral Pallor. From beginning to end it's a fast-paced ride not unlike a roller coaster; you've only just managed to catch your breath before the next bit swoops in and carries you off, and you can't always tell how quickly those loop-de-loops will go.
This is the kind of sequel you could pick up and read without having knowledge of the first book, and while it does leave one minor loose end dangling, stands alone strongly enough you're not going to go out of your head until the next book arrives. And there is a third Valerie Stevens novel in the works, in which I'll be looking for the resolution of my one loose end.
Val's friends and allies from Shade Fright are back: everyone from the Yoda-like DT to "Bill," the ghost of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King. In addition, there are some very colourful new arrivals, including my personal favourite, Reaper, who I'm excited to say will be getting his own spinoff novel soon.
There's a lot of action going on in Funeral Pallor. From beginning to end it's a fast-paced ride not unlike a roller coaster; you've only just managed to catch your breath before the next bit swoops in and carries you off, and you can't always tell how quickly those loop-de-loops will go.
This is the kind of sequel you could pick up and read without having knowledge of the first book, and while it does leave one minor loose end dangling, stands alone strongly enough you're not going to go out of your head until the next book arrives. And there is a third Valerie Stevens novel in the works, in which I'll be looking for the resolution of my one loose end.
December 1, 2010
This was a case of the wrong book at the wrong time. While I read this in print, I was also reading an e-ARC of a book I ended up loving to bits. So pretty much anything it could've come up against couldn't compete, and unfortunately Funeral Pallor ended up looking worse for wear. Bad luck.
But for what it is, it's a good time. I'm not usually one for magic, but forget Harry Dresden - I'd rather hang out with Valerie Stevens. She doesn't need to kick arse to be strong - she just is. She's an affable lass with friends in...well, not high places, but together they get the job done. This episode has a curious case of people being zombified BEFORE death, but the most awesome thing in this novel is that Caroline the zombie EMBALMS HERSELF. That is gold, and I'd love to read more about that kind of weird shiz.
Valerie makes new allies - middle-aged metal-heads and a dude named Tim Reaper - but I didn't warm to them. And all the firearms and weaponry didn't appeal to me, either, but I'm not comfortable around gun-nuts.
But for what it is, it's a good time. I'm not usually one for magic, but forget Harry Dresden - I'd rather hang out with Valerie Stevens. She doesn't need to kick arse to be strong - she just is. She's an affable lass with friends in...well, not high places, but together they get the job done. This episode has a curious case of people being zombified BEFORE death, but the most awesome thing in this novel is that Caroline the zombie EMBALMS HERSELF. That is gold, and I'd love to read more about that kind of weird shiz.
Valerie makes new allies - middle-aged metal-heads and a dude named Tim Reaper - but I didn't warm to them. And all the firearms and weaponry didn't appeal to me, either, but I'm not comfortable around gun-nuts.
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July 2, 2010Woohoo!! Can't wait to read tthis!!!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews