From the second I stared reading this book, I knew that it would be one of THOSE books. The kind you forget to sleep or eat to read. The kind you start asking everyone if they have read it yet.

It’s a novel take on the “magical school” subgenre. First, it’s centered around a murder mystery. Second, it is presented as short stories that all work together. It’s magical - both literally and figuratively.

I want to note that the book is also inclusive, with the very first story having a NB main character (and more…I won’t provide spoilers). Further, it’s inclusive in that matter of fact way that the best books are - where the marginalized aspect isn’t there for shock or awe, but just as part of the story.

This book wrapped me in a hug and I delighted. I think that it hits the nail on the head for the YA market as well. I plan to get a physical copy for my middle schooler once it comes out.

At its core, this is a book that revolves around a murder mystery that is being solved. But alongside that, readers are introduced to characters who have varying magical abilities, a plethora of skin tones and cultural backgrounds, and a range of physical appearance and abilities. This is markedly different from other books focused on magical schools, particularly because the character types in this story are often less visible than the more “mainstream” protagonists who have been written about previously. It is remarkable how well this novel works given its many contributors and characters, and there is something markedly compelling about trying to figure out exactly what happened in their midst and why. This is a wonderfully unique and inclusive addition to library collections for young adult readers.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars

Okay, writing nerds: Did any of you play the writing game “Round Robin” when you were younger? Heck, maybe some of you still do. You know, you start a story, then you fold the sheet of paper over so only the last line or so is visible, and the next person in the circle only has those two lines to go off of to continue the story…and so on until the circle is completed and you see how the story played out under those limited circumstances.

That’s part of the vibe I got while reading The Grimoire of Grave Fates. An overarching concept story, each of the chapters done by a different author (which gives it an almost-anthology feel due to the variations in each author’s writing style and voice), and each author carrying their assigned character through the story with only the limited knowledge of what’s already happened in the story prior to their chapter to guide the way. It’s a sophisticated game of Round Robin, with Margaret Owen and Hanna Alkaf playing the roles of (essentially) comperes: checking for continuity and other possible goofs so that, when the individual chapters are collected from the contributing authors and put together, the story blends almost seamlessly into a single compendium made of many disparate parts.

The most important part of this book, which I didn’t realize when I requested it, is that the release date on the first Tuesday of June (HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!) was not coincidental: The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a book where every chapter is written from the POV of a marginalized member of society. Minorities, disabled people, LGBTQ people, mentally ill people, and even a young criminal who’s no stranger to jail. Not only that, but more than one allusion is made about the school in this book (Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary) that likens it to the Hogwarts of the transphobic JKR’s brain (and points out how inaccessible castles like that are to the disabled), and the central mystery of the book centers around the murder of a professor at the school who is somewhat like Snape, if Snape cared about money.

(But, the castle also wins points for being able to fly like a gyroscope and Howl’s Moving Castle is mentioned. So mad props.)

See, I get what Owen and Alkaf were trying to do. I don’t know if it’s my age (I read YA all the time, but this felt like maybe it was made for the younger section of the YA set–maybe closer to 13 than 16-18?), but this book felt a little simplistic in the writing and ran too long for my tastes. It’s not the book was bad; it’s just that the book seemed to go on far too long and I started to feel like Owen and Alkaf were just trying to shoehorn in as much diversity as possible.

By all means: Do that. We need diversity. We want diversity. It’s necessary. The more diversity there is on bookseller websites and library bookshelves and home bookshelves the less excuses there will be to take them down. I’m all for publishing diverse reads in ever genre and every format possible.

Will that change my mind about how I rate this book, though? No, it won’t. But I can tell you this is a book I’d recommend to someone like my 13 year-old niece. She’d probably give it 5 stars and a place of honor on her bookshelf.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the creators/editors. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Amateur Sleuths/Disability Representation/Fantasy/Gothic/Boarding School/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Romance/Mystery/Paranormal Fantasy/Standalone Novel/YA Fantasy/YA Fiction/YA Mystery/Young Adult

4/5 ⭐️
This collection of short stories was fun with this overarching plot surrounding the murder of their bigot professor at this magical school. However, it was the students that made this story unique. Each short story was in a different students perspective, and each one were characters who probably wouldn’t be the main character in these kind of stories. Every student was in some form marginalized, whether it was their sexuality or gender or race or their disability or magic. It had it all. Because it was short stories, it was a little heavy handed in telling us details that I would’ve preferred was shown. But then, there was a limited time to give us both these unique characters and their struggles, along with moving the plot forward.
Overall, very good. I was definitely surprised by the end, but it might have had to do with the sheer amount of details and characters given to us. But I still enjoyed it, and would recommend this to many other readers to see how being inclusive in fantasy is possible and can be done without being offensive.
Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Publishing for providing an advance reader copy of this audiobook for my honest review.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a murder mystery at a magical school that tells a story through 18 different students each written by a different author. It’s such an ambitious and interesting concept and I absolutely loved the collaborative spirit and diverse authors and characters. As I read further I wondered how it could possibly all come together and was really impressed at how the different characters interacted and connected in each chapter. Such a cool idea!

I keep notes when I read so I was able to keep track of the different characters and clues but if someone is not taking notes I can see how it may get confusing to keep track of everything and everyone and how things connect. Another thing was that in an anthology there can sometimes be stories that don’t hit for the reader, but for me this anthology had the opposite problem where I wanted to continue with many characters to see where their story went. However, in the end I think it works leaving it up to the readers imagination as well since the main plot points are all resolved and you know these characters will continue on their journeys.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This had more going on than I could wrap my head around. I loved that it took place at a magical school and everyone’s magic differed. The idea of a traveling school was cool. Add in a murder mystery and you have a very intriguing story. Downside? A lot of characters to keep up with. That’s only a negative for some people, not everyone.

This book had great potential, but unfortunately did not meet my expectations as I had hoped. I feel as though the big picture of what happened and what was going on got lost in all the characters and back stories. I feel as though it would have been better if there were less characters to follow through with. It wasn’t a terrible read, just mediocre in my honest opinion.

A magic academy type story that is different from others: each chapter is told from a different student's perspective (and written by a different author) and they are from very different backgrounds, beliefs, gender identification, physical abilities, sexual preferences--and even questionable identification as human. They also have a wide variety of baggage: from prejudice, bias, colonialism, child abuse, homophobia, among others.

I love the diversity and the different authors. My only problem is that there are too many. Eighteen to be exact. And each one only gets one chapter. It is hard to keep them straight. I think it would have been stronger if there were less characters and a few more chapters for each character. It also interrupts the flow. When the story is rushing towards the climax of exposing a murderer and lives are at stake it is diluted when each new chapter has to include the backstory of a new character instead of getting on with the action. Plus, there are so many threads left dangling of the backstories of the characters. It begs for a sequel even though there is no indication that there will be one.

That being said, it is an interesting story with action, good characterization and many innovative types of magic. It shows the struggles of an institution to change and be better, and there will always be those that think it should be the way it was. It has a great deal of diversity that makes it stronger and there can be many "chosen ones." And the chosen ones never do it alone.

It is well worth a read and you just might find some new authors you would like to spend more time with. I would love to see a sequel to this and see where some of these storyline go. There is a lot of good stuff here and potential for more.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

It all begins with a murder at the prestigious Galileo Academy for the best and brightest young wizards where each of them will try to discover who killed Professor Septimius Dropwort, who was not exactly the most beloved by his students. As we try to discover the murderer we will meet a variety of characters with special abilities, personalities and inclinations. I think this last point is probably what made it difficult for me to get completely caught up in the story, since I got lost with so many characters and their abilities. There were times when little things that they said or happened seemed very interesting to me, but then another character with another ability came out, and another one and so on and so on that in the end it made my head spinning and I didn't enjoy it as I wanted to.
Maybe in the future I will reread it if my reading group picked it up at some point and hopefully then my opinion will change and I will increase the stars.
If you have it on your list to read do so, I always say let everyone form their own opinion and that can only be achieved by reading it without someone else's opinion influencing it.
Until next time and happy reading.

Let's start with the positives of this book, the representation is wonderful, mental health, disabilities, LGBTQIA there's a little something for everyone.

The premise and structure are amazing, a chapter for each character seeing how they weave together, how the story unfolds, and all the details of the murder it's a wonderful idea.

The world-building is wonderful, a magic school that allows everyone in, that believes magic is there for everyone, it made my heart happy, and speaking of a happy heart that covers is just breathtaking.

Now for the things that just didn't work, to me this just isn't YA, it almost reads as a tween book, I realize there are some dark and heavy subjects but it just doesn't read as YA.

While the representation is phenomenal it got to a point where keeping all of the characters straight gets to be difficult, and takes away a lot of the magic that the authors tried to put into this one.

Overall it's not a bad book, it's actually a good book, there were just a couple of things that didn't quite work for me.

Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this E-Book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was so excited about this story and I really wanted to love it but sadly I had to DNF it.
The story started out really well and I loved the first 2 chapters but despite the attempt at diversity, the red herrings in each chapter just dragged and lost impact. The first 2 characters were my favorites, but the writing wasn't as intense and edgy as a story with diverse characters would have been, except for Wren and Diego - the writers did a great job portraying these two characters.

The Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary welcomes magic wielders from all walks of life and from around the globe, and the school itself travels periodically from one place to another to ensure universal awareness and understanding. Though the school may not be perfect, the people who study there ultimately find a connection to others with similar interests and build a family of sorts. But when one of the school’s most disliked professors is murdered one evening, many of the students are tied together in a more sinister way. And as evidence comes to light, more questions arise about who may be responsible for the murder and whether they will strike again.

This is a fascinating and compelling approach to the magical community specifically because it revolves around the solving of a murder mystery as opposed to the learning of magic. The story unfolds in pieces and parts, incorporating traditional narrative with text messages, emails, police transcripts, and more. Each segment gives readers additional clues to work with as they solve the mystery alongside the protagonists, and guilt can be placed in more than one character as the plot progresses. In addition to the multifaceted style of the book’s presentation, it is also written by a variety of authors who bring their own experiences to the mix. The story holds together well, and this multitude of voices makes each of the characters more individualistic and unique.

At its core, this is a book that revolves around a murder mystery that is being solved. But alongside that, readers are introduced to characters who have varying magical abilities, a plethora of skin tones and cultural backgrounds, and a range of physical appearance and abilities. This is markedly different from other books focused on magical schools, particularly because the character types in this story are often less visible than the more “mainstream” protagonists who have been written about previously. It is remarkable how well this novel works given its many contributors and characters, and there is something markedly compelling about trying to figure out exactly what happened in their midst and why. This is a wonderfully unique and inclusive addition to library collections for young adult readers.

I love "whodunit" murder mystery and books about magic, so when i read the summary I was super excited to read it and appreciate the advance reader copy from Netgalley. The diverse cast had so much representation, which I love reading about characters similar to myself. Each character was written by a different author, giving it a fresh perspective every chapter. I loved the little police evidence included throughout the book. I have never read a book done in this style before so I enjoyed the change of pace, it was very new and creative.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a captivating collaboration between Margaret Owen and Hanna Alkaf, weaving a tale of magic and mystery. This novel follows the journey of eighteen unique heroes, each with their own individual strengths and weaknesses, as they discover the power of self-respect and band together to enact change within their school.

Through the pages of this enchanting book, readers will be transported to a world of wonder and intrigue, where the impossible becomes possible and the unimaginable becomes reality. With its intricate plot and well-developed characters, "The Grimoire of Grave Fates" is a must-read for anyone who loves a good mystery and a touch of magic.

So, if you're looking for a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you feeling inspired, look no further than The Grimoire of Grave Fates. This novel is a true masterpiece and a testament to the power of imagination and the strength of the human spirit.

I appreciated what the authors were doing with this book. Especially with how the world of Harry Potter has really become an unsafe space for the transgender community. I loved that they were trying to make amends with an all inclusive magical school, but I just could not get into this one. The premise was certainly interesting with the different POVs and mixed media format, but for some reason, I just did not connect with the story or any of the characters. I do think a lot of other readers will very much enjoy this one and maybe I’ll pick it up again in the future and feel differently, but for now, it just wasn’t for me.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates is an anthology-style magical murder mystery set at a school for sorcerers, with each chapter written by a different author. I've never read anything like this before!

I have pretty mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, I'm super impressed that they managed to pull this off so well (or at all, honestly). There's also fantastic diversity and some very cool magical elements, especially with certain chapters (thread and sewing magic?!).

On the other hand, through no fault of the individual authors, I found this hard to sink into. Because every chapter introduces us to a new POV character and a new twist on magic and world building, it felt like each chapter was starting the book over and required re-grounding. This affected the pacing of the mystery, too. Additionally, some of the chapters grabbed me much more than others--but because of the throughline of the mystery, I couldn't just skip the pieces I wasn't into as I normally would when reading an anthology. I also found it a touch implausible that every single student hated the murder victim so much and that every single one of them felt like they alone did not belong at the academy.

That said, this is a really cool project and I would recommend reading it to see how it's pulled off!

Book Name: The Grimoire of Grave Fates
Author: Margaret Owen, Hanna Alkaf

ARC
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for an ARC of The Grimoire of Grave Fates

Stars: 1.75
Spice NA

Middle-Grade YA Bridge
Standalone
Plot-centric with some pacing issues
Multi-POV
High Fantasy Murder Mystery
Howls Moving Castle But Make it Hogwarts then kill the bigoted professor

- Topics
- LGBTQ Representation
- Racial Representation
- Authority & Corruption
- Proving Yourself
- Karma IE They had it coming
- Tropes
- Forbidden Magic
- Coming of Age
- The Chosen One
- Proving Yourself
- Subverting Stereotypes
- Thoughts.
- The use of an educational “flyer” to world-build in the beginning … brilliant
- Each chapter is told by a different author = Experimental and intriguing.
- Concept > Execution
- So much info-dumping
- Socio-political statements >Commentarty/nuance
- Lack of Nuance
- Statement-making not exploration of themes characters and world-building.
- AMAZING MAGIC SYSTEMS (I want to know more about so many characters) IE SMOKE WITCHES!!!!
- Concept over execution
- For such a Young YA the ultimate concept that the victim had it coming because they were bigoted was very problematic - it lacks nuance and building for a better world. He was a villain don't get me wrong however the rhetoric of they deserve to die constantly being pushed is extremely problematic for young readers. This took the book that ultimately could have been 4 to 1.

I loved how unique this book was. I loved being able to learn about each student and who they are. I was a little disappointed that we didn't circle back to the characters at the end and the ending was a transcript. I would have loved just a little more of each character. This could honestly be a series following each character. Also if I'm correct I'm pretty sure this book is marketed as kids fiction. From my experience working in a book store I think this book fits in a little bit better in the teen fiction category.

First, thank you for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I unfortunately DNF. The different styles from the different authors really threw me for a loop and I just couldn't get into the story. I do think this book is meant for younger readers than me.

Give it a read yourself and see if you like it. I hope you all do enjoy it.

Absolutely loved this book it has everything you are looking for it’s full of adventure, trouble, murder and of course action packed you really do not want to put this down. These students are all different and they work together as they solve the mysterious death at Galileo Academy.
I am amazed at how the 18 different authors were able to put this together in this spectacular magical world. You truly never know people. You will need to read this to find out more - I do not want to give away and more secrets.
I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves reading about magic and paranormal..