Sadly this was in my Dnf pile (did not finish) give my notes I’ve finally found on the story, the storyline concept just was a drag for me and I couldn’t push through. Netgalley doesn’t offer a dnf star style option sadly so the one star shouldn’t hold merit.

Well…

That was boring.

I am not even going to bother writing my own summary of the book like I normally do, because not only did I already write this review and it deleted before my very eyes as I finished (pray for my sanity) but I am now doubly ready to move onto something with a bit more romance and pizzazz!

Let me first say, for the second time, this isn’t a bad book. The writing is fine, the pace is medium to fast, and you definitely move along through a story that has a beginning and an end. The problem I had was that it just didn't GRAB me. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters and I didn’t ever begin to truly care about them. I didn’t feel anything they felt, no matter how much they cried, or described how hungry or angry they were. They felt very two-dimensional and naive, which is a theme that followed the MC for the entire book.

Kammani is supposed to be a really responsible, hardworking, intelligent, gifted and driven character. She really does care for her family and works hard to provide for them, as she is the caretaker for both her father and sister. But for someone that has had to grow up fast, she acts like a child! She makes brash decisions without thinking them through and has zero regard for the consequences or who it might affect negatively. Her reasoning is always something dismissive to a friend of hers that sounds something like “I just have to” or “i have no choice”. She just comes off as very naive to me, which makes it so hard to believe the character this author is trying to sell me on.

I wish there was also more evidence or showcasing of her healer abilities. It definitely gets touched on and is brought up a lot, but her abilities with the lugal just seemed like basic nursing care that anyone could do. It wasn’t coming across to me what tricks, tinctures, formulas and ideas she had that were original that could have helped him. She got most of her ideas and help from other people, which makes me so confused why she is being praised for being so adept at her career.

But probably the most frustrating aspect of this tale was the romance.

Someone pleassseeee save us from girls who can’t use their words and make up their minds!

The romance in this story is dull, dreary, and basically nonexistent.

You have a nice, handsome, accomplished, excited and willing young man who voices his desires to Kammani and his intentions to marry her and what does Kammani do? She plays a game of cat and mouse, and not even a good one. She leads this poor boy on the entire book instead of telling him that she wants to focus on her career. She just gives him half, noncommittal answers to keep him around but not committing to him. It’s so sad to watch and my least favorite trope. And then towards the end, her change of tune is brought on suddenly and without a buildup. It was all just so…annoying.

I was really hoping this would be a dark, whimsical and thrilling tale but it fell flat. The saving grace was that it was easy to get through when I decided to sit down and read it, but it took a lot of pushing on my part to force myself to get it done. I had trouble remembering who was who due to the confusing names of people and items, but I got by well enough. All in all, not my favorite book by any means. But a decent story and one I was able to finish.

I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis held so much promise, but the book failed to deliver as much as I hoped for from it. I enjoyed it well enough, but with a few tweaks it could have been an even more enjoyable read.

I wasn't a massive fan of this book. I am not saying that it was bad but it just wasn't for me, the premise of the book was good and I feel that this will be a big hit for others but it was just not for me. The main character too is not someone you like and I felt that this was probably why I did not enjoy it as much.

I ssldt was not able to finish the wonderful book due to health reasons.
I really did love the forst 1/3 of it though before I was forced to put reading on the back burner.
It isnstill on my list to eventually be able to finish, now that my health is better and I'm able to start reading again.
And boy am I excited.
It had a great story and amazing characters that were relatable and pulled me in immediately.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. "The start of a fierce fantasy duology about three maidens who are chosen for their land's greatest honor...and one girl determined to save her sister from the grave." This sentence alone made me know I needed to read this. The story is a little predictable, but it is an enjoyable read still. I want to read the second book once it comes out. If you like young adult fantasy you should give this a read.

I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

This is a book that I’ve heard a lot about an author that I’ve heard a lot about and I have to say I enjoyed reading this fantasy book. There is something so magical about the way the author creates this world and this plot, you will fall in love with all of it and it will all feel so real as you read it. I thought the plot twist was very interesting and I appreciated the ending, this is part of a duology so I am very curious to see what happens in the second book.

“Gravemaidens” by Kelly Coon was absolutely a page turner that had my emotions all over the place. Recommend!

I did not finish this one. I received it as part of Indigo's teen SPOTM program and I DNF'd at about 20% in. The characters were not for me and I was finding it hard to enjoy it based on their personalities. I'm sure they grow through the book, but I wasn't able to stick it out.

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This has been on my TBR pile for so long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I really enjoyed the storyline and seeing the characters change throughout the story was a great character development. The plot was great and kept my attention. I'm glad I got the chance to read this and will be on the lookout for more in the future!

Kammani is a young girl following in her father's footsteps as the healer for her city. After her father was cast out of society for not being able to heal the son of the current ruler, he found solace in drinking, and Kammani was left to pick up the pieces and take care of what remained of her family. When her younger sister Nanaea gets chosen to be a sacred maiden to the dying ruler, Kammani makes it her mission to save her sister and right her family name. Little does she know that she is putting her own life in danger. This was an exciting fast-paced beginning of the Gravemaiden's duology. It had great character development and wonderful world-building. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC. 4 stars.

I wanted to love GRAVEMAIDENS. The premise made it sound like I would, and I went in with hope! But, it wasn't meant to be. This book was just... bland. The beginning felt like it came straight out of The Hunger Games in an eerily similar sort of way, not the similar where "if you like this book, you'll like this one." And beyond that, neither the story nor characters held my attention, feeling very surface level in depth. Against all the other YA fantasies out there, this one just didn't measure up for me and I left it unfinished after getting a little over halfway.

DNF
I tried to read this and lost interest. I ended up DNFing this novel; however, I do still want to try to finish reading it at some point in the future! I just don't think that now was the right time for me and this book.

You can always count on a character with two dead parents to be a healer of some sort in a fantasy. The world is violent, that much can be told from the story. Kammani has a full plate, between saving the king and her sister. The girl don't even really get to live. Will I be picking up another book in this series? I'm not sure. But I do think there needs to be some sort of longer timeline for the author

GRAVEMAIDENS is an intriguing YA (light) fantasy that completely pulls you in to this other world. Kammani is an aspiring healer in a world where women are undervalued. She lives with her father, once a great healer who was cast out in shame, and her younger and beautiful sister. Her father had failed to heal the Lugal’s (the ruler of Alu) son after he fell out of a window, and so their family wealth was stripped and their son (Kammani’s brother) was taken to work at the palace. Not long after, Kammani’s mother died, and her father turned to drink, leaving her to fend for her family by earning small coins as a healer, working as her father’s apprentice in his stead.

The current lugal is now on his deathbed, and they are choosing the three maidens who will be forced to die alongside him to marry him in the afterlife. Everyone sees this as a great honor, for they will be queens in the next life. However, Kammani does not see it this way and sees only the needless death. When her sister is chosen as one of the three maidens, Kammani is horrified and tries to decide how to save her. The clearest solution is to prevent the lugal’s death, making the death of the maidens unnecessary. As such, she works her way to become his healer and must figure out what is ailing him- or risk losing her sister to death.

The world-building here is really fantastic, and Alu came to life off the pages. There are also a lot of strong characters aside from Kammani. For instance, some of the secondary characters really develop during the story through Kammani’s eyes, such as the princess, Dagan, her childhood friend who wants to marry her, and Nasu, one of the palace guards.

Many of the plot twists were easy to see coming, but Kammani is young and they are more distant in her eyes. She feels like she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders, but this is mainly a burden she has chosen to carry. However, she is also slow to figure things that seem pretty obvious out, but this allows the secondary plots to happen. I still enjoyed every second of this page-turner (as evidenced by my late night/early morning review).

While the main plot is wrapped up, the ending does leave a great lead-in for the next book, and this leaves me eagerly awaiting what will happen next. I would add warnings for sexual assault, torture/terrible punishments, and suicide/murder.

I highly recommend this YA fantasy to people who enjoy THE SELECTION, THE RED QUEEN, and SHATTER ME. This is a fantastic debut, and I look forward to reading more from this talented author in the future!

While this book was definitely intriguing and has a great premise and a unique idea, I did have some minor hiccups with it. It would have benefiitted from some clarity as the world progressed. I don't think I would be able to recommend this as my teens can be kind of sensitive to violence. I also found it difficult to connect with the characters.

Gravemaidens is the book where I discovered I absolutely hate sibling tropes ugh not to take away from the world building which was honestly very good I just don't have fun reading when the main plot of the book is to save a stupid sibling that doesn't want to be saved.

I really enjoyed this book! It wasn't without its faults. I did find the protagonist to be a bit irrational at times. Her family is starving and she won't marry a more well to do boy that she cares for because she wants to work and support them? A bit fanciful of an ideology to put above survival, but oh well, I suppose. However, the story still worked well. I enjoyed it enough to read through it quite quickly. The world building could have used some work, but it was an interesting perspective.

This didn't up being a good fit for me - I have not been enjoying YA as much as I used to, so it feels unfair to criticize it for being YA