I loved this book! I will be recommending it to all my young adult readers! Thank you for this opportunity to connect books to their readers.

Title: Gravemaidens

Author: Kelly Coon

Series: The Gravemaidens

Rating: 3.75/5 stars

Likes

I really enjoyed this book! I felt like the plot was unique and gave me vibes from different types of mythology that I know. And mythology is always my thing! It was loosely inspired in my opinion but I appreciated that. I think it's wonderful that this will be a duology because, as of the end of this book, it seems like we need to know what happens next! I've found that I much prefer duologies to trilogies or series, so that's also a small plus in my book. Kammani was a great main character. I felt connected to her and I felt her care for her sister. I'm going to go out on a limb and say she was kind of like Scarlett from Caraval towards Tella! Nanaea, on the other hand, I didn't like and I'll talk more about her later. That passion Scarlett has for protecting and saving her sister is evident in Kammani as well. I really appreciate in a book when the female character is some sort of intellectual and she is a healer. She is so smart, which makes her feel like a strong character in the sense of the plot and independent on standing on her own. As a healer, she needs to know so much about diseases, healing, poisons... all of that stuff. I felt like her mysterious detective side also came about in this book as she was trying to figure out what was happening at the palace. I liked the romance in this book. It's definitely a side plot but it was that classic 'boy next door' vibe and it didn't feel forced at all. I enjoyed the progression and how the boy fit into the story as well. The twists in this story were also good! You thought one thing one true and the next chapter it was the opposite, in terms of the big mystery and climax in the story. 

Dislikes

I didn't really like Nanaea at all. I felt like she was kind of airheaded and brainwashed at times, which was most likely the point, but she annoyed me. Much like Tella annoyed me in the first Caraval book, but then I grew to love her even more in Legendary. So I'm kind of hoping the next book is told in Nanaea's point of view?! Either way, she wasn't my favorite but she was more tolerable at the end of the story. I toyed with my rating on this one for sure. I felt the last 25% was the best part of the book and picked up the pace and action quickly, which kept me very engrossed. But I felt parts of it were a little slow and there was some backstory thrown in there that I would've wanted to know about earlier. I do wish there was more world-building! I was curious about the traditions of the country and how it fit in to the main story plot. I ended up giving it a 3.75 star rating because I enjoyed it more than just being neutral about it but I wasn't completely blown away.

Recommendation

I'd recommend this book to fans of different types of mythology as well as those who enjoy a strong family-inspired fantasy!