A Darkness Strange and Lovely definitely gets off to a bit of a slow start. I honestly had a very hard time getting invested in the beginning. The good news though is once the book gets going it really gets going. The second half of the book brings back everything I loved about the first book. Daniel included. Once I got to about the midway point I could not and would not put the book down. Now I'm left dying for the final installment. 
 Eleanor, for me, was a great heroine in Something Strange and Deadly. She was so strong and smart and thought her actions through. I felt like she lost that a bit in this one. Some of her decisions had me shaking my head. I just knew they would turn out badly. She keeps a lot of secrets and I hate when heroines keep secrets that don't need to be kept. I still love her, but I questioned some of her decisions. 
 Daniel is still one of my favorite characters. He made me crazy at times and there were moments I was really mad at him, but in the end I got it. I understood his actions even if I didn't always like them. In A Darkness Strange and Lovely we get a new character in Oliver. I'm not sure what to really make of him. There are times I really like him and then there are times I really hate him. In the end I think he is very very selfish. 
 While I was able to guess some of the plot twists in this one, there was still a good amount that took me by surprise. The mystery had me turning pages and wondering where the story would go. This one added a lot more necromancy and spirit energy which I found interesting. Although I did miss the zombies. They were there, but they were not as prominent in this one.