Undead and Unfinished [Hardcover]

"I should have realized that an innocent quest for fine leather footwear would have ended up with me in hell and the Antichrist freaking out..."

As usual, Betsy Taylor's life is a mishmash of disasters, especially since her sister happens to be the Antichrist. But unfortunately everything explodes in a big splattery boom in "Undead and Unfinished," which seems to be half "Christmas Carol" and half chick-lit version of Dante's "Inferno" -- and Davidson seems to have changed her mind halfway through the book about what she was writing.

Betsy has her usual array of problems -- Sinclair is being moody, Satan is dropping in uninvited, and Laura is having bizarre pains and blackouts (she ends up naked "on the spoon"). It turns out that Laura is sort of suffering from withdrawal from Hell, and the only remedy is to take a tour of Satan's domain and exercise some of her demonic powers.

Of course, Betsy comes along for the ride -- and soon she and Laura are going on a wild careening trip through time and space. Specifically, stuff that will shape the life of the Vampire Queen, her family and friends, taking her to 1600s Salem, the 1920s, and the start of the series... as well as a terrifying glimpse into what is to come.

Simply put, "Undead and Unfinished" has some truly awesome moments, and Davidson even fills in some backstory gaps that have never really been dealt with, such as Sinclair's history. And it has the usual pop culture references and deliciously fluffy humor (such as Betsy sacrificing something precious to her in order to summon the devil, instead of the usual virgin).

But "Undead and Unfinished" feels like Davidson was never entirely sure what kind of book she wanted to write, so she threw all her ideas in a blender and hit "liquiefy" -- so we end up with a book that makes instant jumps from cute to serious, and from serious to horrifying. And while the future scenario is both ghastly and fascinating, Davidson cuts away from it too quickly and Betsy doesn't seem half as upset by it as she should be.

Most of the book is Betsy and Laura romping through time, including an interlude in Puritan Salem that (while fun) feels like filler. What's more, the trip to Hell and Laura's problems are forgotten pretty quickly, and most of the plot from the first several chapters (Sinclair's anger, Betsy's Thanksgiving rants) is pretty much swept off the table in favor of very slow-moving jumps through time.

"Undead and Unfinished" is an unsteady mishmash of the slow, the dark and the light -- and while Davidson introduces some fascinating twists, the book itself is a scattered mess.

As a huge fan of Mary Janice Davidson's Betsy series I have to say this book let me down. I look to this author, and this character, to make me laugh and bring me out of a funk when I'm down. All this book gave me was some serious Betsy whining, which is a trademark of hers, but this was to the extreme and just made me more annoyed with the character than amused. As well, the story took a very dark and awkward turn near the end that was neither entertaining or enjoyable. All the characters I love from these books have been turned on their heads (which I realize was the point) in a confusing and odd way. I'll continue to read this series but I'm not actually looking forward to the next book. The witty word-play, sacastic banter and crazy antics were lost and I'm not sure if they'll be back if this book is any indication of what's to come. I'm sad!

The Good : the background stories for Eric Sinclair and Tina were great but what I really enjoyed was the future. I like Queen Betsy novels more than, say, Anita Blake and that is one of the reasons why. This serie, even after 9 books, has a core story (a purpose for the heroine) that justifies the serie to spawn on so many books. To the other serie's defense, it's a really really tough feat to accomplish.
For the lovers of Queen Betsy first hilarious and lofty novels like me, I understand that you would feel dismayed at the rising body count and tragedies. However, I think it is a logical turn of events.
You can't have a marriage last forever and a vampire monarchy being about bunnies and daisies all the time.
Not if you want to keep your audience awake and faithful anyway.

The Bad : the storyline. It's bad because it's confusing and the last 3 or so novels take a lot of time and unnecessary painful blabla and unsignificant events before FINALLY getting down to business. I used to laugh to Betsy's blabla.
Not in the last 3 or so novels though.
Maybe the plan is to make us move from loving the human and then young vampire Betsy to appreciate the future Queen Betsy ? The pratical and old and cruelly unemotional Queen Betsy ?
Because it is working.
Queen Betsy the emotionally devoid felt like fresh air in the end.

The Ug... : I think what I dislike the most since starting this new wave of Queen Betsy novels is how the end is this rushed mismatch of events trying to answer enough questions to save the day. Or book rather.
It's not outright ugly because for me it does save the book. By the skin if its teeth.