"The Knave of Graves" is the story of a creepy little guy laboring tirelessly to make bad situations worse.

Jeppo had great ambitions, but failed out of magician school and then had to return to his tiny hometown to be the caretaker of the local cemetery. This was long enough ago that you might think he'd have moved on, but no. He chose instead to mire himself in resentment, and tends his magical cemetery with magic rune walls that keep the dead from becoming undead while listening to "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" by Jim Croce.

There's a whole cosmology here, worldbuilding doled out in tasty pieces as you read. The world is vaguely eastern-European inspired, with tension between the vaguely Christian-but-not-Christian religion and occult forces of darkness.

The story really begins when Jeppo realizes that his cemetery is under assault by an evil entity determined to get the powerful bones of the saint in the central mausoleum. Unfortunately, Jeppo has made so many questionable choices in the past that he's effectively trapped himself between a rock and a hard place when it comes to fighting off this threat. He digs himself deeper and deeper, until finally events spin completely out of his control.

There are saints, immortal devils, runes and magic, petty local political squabbles, and an ever-increasing tangled web of lies. Jeppo remains unpleasant and off-putting throughout the whole book, but somehow by the end I was rooting for him. Even though it was pretty clear he did not learn any kind of lesson from these events.

Highly recommend to fans of unlikable protagonists and freaky necromantic magic.

Excellent!
I really didn’t expect this story and writing style to be so immersive but this one had me hooked. The world which this is set in was given some history, just enough to show how rich the world was. It’s hard to pinpoint the time and place of this but I really enjoyed that.

Jeppo has good intentions even if he does make some morally wrong choices. This was dark, but oh so funny at times. I’m still losing it at the geese!!

I absolutely loved this and will need to check out more of this author in the future!

Thanks S.J. Thank & Netgalley.
Overall, this is for fans of dark, character-focused fantasy with supernatural risks. The Knave of Graves offers a gripping, atmospheric tale anchored by a richly drawn protagonist and a morally complex plot. It’s less overt horror and more a tense, morally entwined gothic fantasy—perfect if you appreciate slow-building tension, moral ambiguity, and a dash of quirky humor..

Overall amazing fun read, quick and easy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Carthago Nova Press, and S.J. Shank for the chance to read this book.
Unfortunately, I really struggled to read The Knave of Graves, and ultimately decided not to finish it. The description of the book grabbed my attention and I was really excited to read it. Jeppo is the caretaker of the graveyard of his small town. He also uses some of the bodies to trade with a being/entity called Kuumasta. But there is another who is interested in the bones Jeppo guards, a warlock who goes by Mr. Borchega, a being Jeppo had originally thought was simply a man who he was going to sell amulets and charms to.
It is clear that the story is set in a bygone era and it shows in Shank's dedication to period accurate writing. This was the book's downfall for me. Conversations were stilted and the storytelling felted bloated and stodgy. It regrettably felt like I was back in school being made to read something for my English class. I think this is just a matter of taste though, I've always struggled with this kind of writing style.
It was a great concept that sadly missed the mark, for me.

This morally grey gravedigger has me sitting here unable to decide how to rate this book. Somewhere between 4 and 5 stars for sure.

This book is like a D&D story: somewhat cozy but somewhat dark, and entirely fantastical. I loved it.

The vibes:
- the aforementioned gravedigger
- his amulets and talismans with special properties
- the bones of saints
- a dark sorcerer
- questionable midnight deals with a night hag
- telling fortunes by method of…. snake readings ?
- shekels, potions, dark woods, and more

I kept asking myself, what trouble is this fool going to get himself into next? I guess an academy (of magic? sorcery? sheer mystical willpower?) flunkie is bound to make some questionable decisions. He really just needed a moral compass and it turns out that is a 10 year old girl who stops by his cemetery gate with a basket and a single goose egg.

A truly fantastic read. The author creates a detailed and immersive world that is slowly revealed to the reader. The characters are very human and realistic, while the supernatural elements of the story are genuinely creepy. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars

I found this really hard to put down. Thank god for ebooks. This was one I was reading on my phone whenever I had five minutes to spare because these characters would not leave me alone. I had to know what was going to happen next! I really enjoyed the interplay of folk magic, more organized religion, and the darker arts of the creatures of the night, and how those overlaid but didn't precisely correspond to good and evil. The society that Shank has created, where all these belief systems co-exist (and are all effective?) was fascinating. He did a good job of allowing the reader to absorb the mechanics of the magical/religious aspects of the story in an organic way that went hand in hand with the plot. Jeppo, the morally grey gravedigger/unsanctioned charm maker was difficult and frustrating at times but such a great point of view character. Literally the only thing keeping this from being a 5 star read from me is that I felt the ending was a bit abrupt.

Jeppo never intended to return to the small provincial town of his birth. His father's death has left the graveyard unattended, though, and Jeppo is called back to make good on the debt he owes. This is why the town paid his way at the Academy, after all: to refresh the phylactograms that ward the tombs; to keep them safe from spirits who cannot rest. But no love is lost between Jeppo and the townsfolk who look down on him for the work he performs. When a dark sorcerer proposes a trade for the saint's bones that lie within Jeppo's purview, his concern is not for his soul, but how the night hag he usually sells corpses to will react.