Heaven's Graveyard, also known as, a book perfect for readers like me. I adored it from the beginning to the very end!

Big fan of Grace Curtis !!

This was so good. I feel like they’re slowly becoming a fan favorite of mine 😍

Heaven’s Graveyard is a sapphic fantasy with a touch of mystery. Coda is a doctor researching a mythological figure that she believes really existed, when she finds some evidence she rushes back to her home city, to show her mentor. Set amongst of backdrop of brewing war between church and state, this story packs a lot in.
I loved that the story revolved around mostly female characters, male characters only appear in supporting roles, it made my feminist heart happy. Cod is great, her character is autistic-coded, though no explicit diagnosis is given, but scenes where she fails to understand social nuance or respond in a way other people deemed appropriate felt authentic to me. I enjoyed the complex relationships between the characters, Cod and her ex, Sparrow, Cod and her academic rival Thal even Cod and her mother, though we mostly saw that through flashbacks.
The world-building was great, detailed without feeling too heavy or with large chunks of exposition. I enjoyed the mythology which was a key aspect of the plot.
Warning, there is an animal death. It was necessary for the plot but I still found it a tough read.
If you are interested in female-lead fantasy stories, I recommend giving this book a go!

4.5 ⭐
This book is a surprising blend: part archaeological thriller, part queer myth, part powerful reflection on war, family trauma, and what it means to be neurodivergent in a world that often makes no room for difference.

The protagonist isn’t trying to be a perfect heroine. She’s disoriented, often unaware of the bigger picture around her and that makes the narrative feel incredibly intimate. She’s entirely focused on herself, her fears, the pain she carries, and because of that, the outside world feels blurred by her own confusion.

It’s a hard book to categorize, but one that truly stands out with a heartbreaking mother-daughter relationship and a deep love for mythology that comes through on every page.

Side note: I requested the ARC for the cover and the title.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of Heaven's Graveyard! I'm rating it 4.5 stars.

I was sold on Heaven's Graveyard as soon as I saw it described as a "sinister lesbian history mystery" in a science fantasy world. It was somehow exactly as described and not at all what I expected, and I had so much fun reading it!

Heaven's Graveyard is part sapphic thriller novel, part archaeological mystery, and part a story about humanity's tendency towards war. And, it's a story about child-parent relationships, being neurodivergent, and whether we run away from or stay to confront difficult situations.

I haven't read Idolfire, which is set 2,000 years earlier, so my review will be entirely focused on Heaven's Graveyard.

This book makes a lot of chilling points about warfare and religion, and I loved that about it. At the same time, I found it sometimes frustratingly lacking in details — but that was because the protagonist didn't pay any attention to current affairs. She was constantly surprised by what was going on and never asked people questions about themselves or their backgrounds, so I also understand why us readers didn't get more information. All the same, I kind of wish someone had given the protagonist a talking-to and filled her in a bit on things so that we could have learned about it. For me, I think that would have been enough to make this a five-star read.

I also adored our queer, autistic-coded protagonist who is so passionate about the myth at the heart of this mystery, and who also cares so deeply despite others not seeing it. Cod's relationship with her mother and how that affects her sense of self made me cry.

Maybe it's because I'm also an archaeology geek, but I also loved the mythological aspects of this novel and the magic system.

I want more! What an excellent stand alone fantasy full of mystery and magic. The world building is great, I’d even argue that there could be even more. I do appreciate the pacing of this story overall, as some fantasy can become too muddled with details. The first half of the story is more of a slow build up with discoveries. The latter half, Act 2, ramps up and we see a satisfying flow of events. I enjoyed Cod as a character, but I wish we got even more relationship building with Thal and Sparrow.

Heaven’s Graveyard was a well written, fast paced fantasy with interesting lore.

If nothing else, I respect the fact that Curtis decided this stand alone could also techncially tie in to her previous novel by setting it in the same setting, just a millenium or so down the line, which is an absolutely ballsy choice. We get a fantasy world on the verge of war, and an archaeologist professor who is trying to find her missing professor, who is slowly drawn into an Indiana Jones esque conspiracy involving possible weapons of the gods, nation building mythos, and nations manuevering to try and come out on top. We also have a reveal of an arch nemesis whose epistolary forms a good part of the back of the novel, and gives us some A++ yearning letters. Also the imposition of the second person POV for the god adjacent POV is a really nice touch. Hell of a flex of a novel, and highly recommended when it comes out next summer.

Cod our main character had a rough life, throughout the book, she finds out how much she has been liked to or "mislead" if you would like a less angry word - even by her own mother. And actually at the end you find out why and the wherefores' of what happened.

But when she was a child she found a book of fairy tales that she took to be of "real life" and the book is about her meeting the author of said book and then her work in archelogy and museums etc. "he calls her back home" but is dead when she gets there.

Turns out that the book wasn't about make believe, she finds out what true friendship means, she grows as a character and makes up with her mother in the end. Great story - it kept my interest.

I’ve read every Grace Curtis book and up until now «The Floating Hotel» was my favourite. Written with love and confidence, it truly moved me. This is my new favourite by Grace not just for the spectacular writing but also for the surprising plot and engaging read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me dream about space.

4.5 ⭐️ This was such a fantastic read! Beautiful and witty writing, brilliant and well fleshed out characters and an epic plot with really great world building! Highly recommend this one had the best time with Cod 💕

An incredible read.

First to the publishers, thank you for allowing me an advanced reader’s copy. It was an amazing opportunity to read this story and review it before it comes out.

As a Ghibli-lover, any book that gives remote-Ghibli vibes are immediate favorites. The best storytelling is always done in the small moments. The world-building and characterization are immediate and masterfully done. I loved the writing style and small moments written into the story that makes everyone and everything feel so real.

I don’t feel like I needed to have read Idolfire to understand Heaven’s Graveyard. In fact, I’m excited to piece together the bits sprinkled throughout the story when I do read it.

Cod is a beautifully written neurodivergent character who I can still identify with.

Foreshadowing is blatant at times but done so masterfully that I didn’t mind it. It added to the story rather than subtracted.

Finally, love is woven through the story and expressed so poignantly, it expressed things I’ve struggled to put a name to myself in my own life.

I loved every second of reading this book.

On the surface, Heaven’s Graveyard is a murder mystery revolving around an ancient fable. Beneath it runs a poignant story of grief, loneliness, and the struggle of finding a place to belong.

Coda ran from her past, cutting off everyone and burying herself in research over a lifelong obsession while trying to suffocate her self-loathing. She built a solidary life. Yet when push comes to shove, she finds herself craving companionship.

I had expected a rug pull, but the fall still hurt. Act II came in a rush. Or rather, I lapped it up in a single sitting and was left with a bittersweet ending that continues to tug at my heart.

Though Heaven’s Graveyard features the key character from Idolfire, which is now on my TBR, it offers sufficient worldbuilding that flows with the current narrative, giving us a clear sense of the world.

While most of Heaven’s Graveyard was written from Cod’s pov, we’re also exposed to Sparrow’s thoughts through her letters and a fun interjection from a god.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read set in a curious world with an intriguing magic system. I’m looking forward to reading Idolfire soon.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-ARC.

I loved this book so much! I didn’t realise it was in the same universe of Idolfire and I kept making connection like ‘Wow that’s so fun to reference your own work like that’… Turns out it’s because it’s in the future of the same universe. So this was nice, because Idolfire was one of my favourite book from last year.

I already said that last year, but I really like Grace Curtis’ writing style. And it was so nice to go back to it! It really pulls you in the story. And I loved that it evolved with the setting. Idolfire writing style felt like an epic story. Heaven’s Graveyard felt more modern, if still a bit old school. You could feel the setting in the writing style, if that make sense?

The universe is just so well build. The magic feels dangerous, and the whole ambience is dark, you wonder where the danger will be coming from. And honestly, I was blindsided by its origin! Even if it actually make sense looking back. The betrayal from that twist was intense!

I loved the characters and how they called back to Idolfire in some ways. I truly need to reread them both back to back at some point! The characters were well written, and their motivations so different. I wish we had some more times with some characters, the cast was very small. But it worked with the story.

The ending felt a bit rushed, I think. Like the resolution might have needed a bit more explanations, not a blink and it’s done moment. The build-up saved the moment though, so I’m not even mad. This book was a crescendo, as the story progressed, the tension and stakes were higher and higher, until it just popped!

Anyway 10/10, loved it! Totally recommend to everyone! Maybe read Idolfire and Heaven’s Graveyard back to back? I know that’s what I’ll do on a reread.

5/5⭐️
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for granting me this ARC! This was everything I wanted it to be and so much more!

First up, here’s a few Content Warnings:
Animal death/murder (Graphic)
Violence (Graphic)
Injuries (Moderate)
Religion/Religious Violence (Moderate)
Murder (Minor)
Death (Minor)
War (Minor)

Quick note: I found a few editing mistakes throughout the book, with sentences cutting off or words missing, but since I read this as an ARC that is to be expected.

MINOR SPOILERS! Now, let’s get into it.
First of all, I LOVE the characters. Coda feels real and honestly relatable in many aspects. She is flawed, sometimes ignorant and awkward and just so memorable. Her flaws impacted the book in all the perfect ways and I love how she grows throughout the book. I also liked Sparrow and Thal for very different reasons, which I can’t really get into without spoilers 😅 I love Marr. I yearn for a Mentor/Father figure like him. Hated Hani.

The relationships in this book were so interesting. Sparrow and Coda have such a complex and unique relationship. It made me want to hit and hug them at the same time 😭 Thal and Coda clash a lot with their different ideals and beliefs, which made their dynamic so much more interesting. I definitely enjoyed the queerness of it all ☺️
Marr being a Mentor and Father figure made me so sad and I wished we had gotten more of him with Coda 😭 The relationship between Coda and her mother was also so complicated and well written. The discussions on a mother’s love hit me harder than expected. The exploration on what it’s like to have a child you didn’t want and how it can destroy your life and make you bitter towards your own child. I loved it and yearned for a redemption (Thanks for the Epilogue).

The worldbuilding was honestly a little confusing at first because we are just thrown into the world, but once I got the hang of it, I was obsessed. I wish I had a map to look back on every once in a while, but maybe the final version of this book has it. The world is really complex, with many different places and people, who had their own beliefs and opinions. The world felt so alive and that was really exciting to me. The atmosphere felt heroic and vibrant, but also dangerous, which matched the world so well.

On that note, politics and religion being on opposite sides of a War felt very realistic and scary. I loved how thought-provoking it was, with neither side being fully good nor fully evil (but both being definitely more bad than good). I loved and hated how it mirrored big parts of our world and it made me think a lot. Both the Alliance and the Church are after power and using their own ways to try and get it, but in the end, their aren’t that different.
Also the magic system being connected to worship was genius. It felt like a perfect symbol for weaponized religion/beliefs/worship, because it literally made objects of worship into weapons.

The plot twists were so good and I was genuinely flabbergasted. This book is not afraid of changing course and it took me by surprise (in the best way). Some parts of the plot felt kind of convenient and info dumpy, but that didn’t really bother me.
Both the plot and the characters also made me think about justice and what’s right or wrong. With many of these characters doing things that make you wonder what justice means to them and what they think is right/wrong. Like, how can you think that’s okay?
The pacing is was really fast (at least to me) and felt slightly unbalanced sometimes. Specifically the journey that happens later in the book, feels a little too fast/short to me. It didn’t take me out of the story, but I did notice it.
The writing style was captivating and a little chaotic (just how I like it).
The murder mystery aspect was very simple, but enjoyable.

I’m definitely going to pick up Idolfire as soon as possible 😭

Actual Rating: 4.5

Lesbian archaeologist discovers proof of lost civilization and mythic figure? YES. Gaslamp fantasy setting with murder mysteries and missing artifacts? DOUBLE YES. Magic: it's real?? Again, yes. This is the way to my heart.

This is for fans of The Mummy (1999) who fell in love with Evie and thought "what if Rick was a girl though". Cod and Sparrow make the perfect duo - one deeply unlikable (by the people she meets), one a smooth talking rogue with a business card - and Thal is the perfect counter to Sparrow as a lawful-good academic whose emotional distance lends her perhaps a bit more wisdom on certain matters.

The pacing is slow in some areas, but for an adventure/mystery novel I think it worked out really well, giving plot points a chance to breath and really draw out any tension that might be building.

As somebody who briefly worked at an archaeological field school, the moments where Cod was wrapped up in Doing the Archaeology rang so true for me, there is something absolutely magical about stepping into a space and letting an ancient sonder take over - I don't know if the author has any actual experience working with archaeologists, but she absolutely nailed Doctor Canalluny. Sure not all of us are out here pulling a Heinrich Schliemann in Troy, but we all have our Nivelas and Aleyas to a certain extent (mine was finding the original packed earth flooring of a pre-Inka storehouse!).

I didn't realize until I got to the end that this is a thousands-of-years-later sequel (my bad, it literally says that in the description) so I'm about to start Idolfire and will report back on the ultimate opinion - is it cooler to read like an archaeologist who gets isekai-d into the past, or should you read it in chronological order?

The Verdict - While I don't know that it truly matters which order you read them in, I do think you need to read both. I know in the future when I reread (because after Idolfire I know I will) I'll be doing so in chronological order.

A big thank you to DAW and NetGalley for allowing me access to an eARC of Heaven’s Graveyard.

I’ve only read one Grace Curtis book (Floating Hotel) and from then, I knew that they were going to be an insta-read author for me with just how well they write and develop deeply flawed and relatable characters.

Though I will say, I regret not reading Idolfire before reading this ARC. While Heaven’s Graveyard can absolutely be read as a standalone and the events of Idolfire are so far into the past (2000 years) so as to be considered near mythical during Heaven’s Graveyard, there are certain aspects of the magic and historical characters I would have better appreciated, and I suspect there is a certain level of tragic irony I couldn’t appreciate because of it.

Coda, an exceptionally autistic-coded archaeologist, is happy to chase any leads regarding her historical hero Aleya Ana-Ulai. Everyone else is happy to write her off as a myth but a letter hinting at a breakthrough from her mentor summons her home to begin investigating the ruins of a slumbering magical city underground, only to find her investigations stymied by murder, war and various other shenanigans…

As suspected, the characters are superbly written and with such detailed backgrounds, I feel a prequel (closer to the present than Idolfire) novella would work marvellously here regarding the tenuous relationship between Coda and her childhood friend, Sparrow, and her complicated relationship with her academic mother (whose story is told in flashbacks and almost warrants a novel of her own!).

The plot touches heavily on how academic discoveries rarely occur in a vacuum and are often twisted to assert present day politics, religion and military aspirations, and never for the better. The sticky web of interpersonal relationships is seen through Coda’s eyes and her habit of taking most things at face value (in an immensely relatable/autistic way) creates an eerie unreliable narration of the story, such that the plot twist really felt like a knife to the heart. Even though there wasn’t as much archaeology as I wanted, the plotting gave very heavy vibes of the war and politics in The Laws of Magic series by Michael Pryor and hubris and greed of humans from Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

I look forward to devouring Curtis’ backlog of books!

4.5 stars rounded to 5 stars.

This is a good story.

When Cod was a little girl, she found a book of myths and fell in love with a hero of ancient times, a princess named Aleya.

When she grew up she became an archivist at a museum, a historian. What if she can prove that Aleya was real?

Cod’s world looks like steampunk fantasy, except that the magic is not there any more, if it ever was. It’s a world that feels lived in and real, in ways that made me want to dive right into this book, curl up with it. It reminded me of Katherine Addinson’s universe, not that these worlds were alike – but they were alike in how they made me feel.

Cod is a difficult person. She puts people off. She doesn’t do people well. She obsesses about things. There are also layers upon dark layers in her past, we are peeling them back gradually. News of historical discovery from an old friend makes her rush off to her home country, among gathering political clouds.

This book is an emotional roller-coaster of mystery, ancient legends and ancient magic, complicated relationships, flawed people, a touch of horror, scary adventures, very high stakes and characters discovering their awesome moral core. There was also a plot twist that took me utterly by surprise, I think I jumped.

It took me quite a while to read this book, because of reasons that have nothing to do with my enjoyment. This meant that I got to inhabit this universe and follow Cod’s journey for a long time, and I am happy about it. This book pushed all the right emotional buttons and felt very precious to me.

Quotes I liked:

”Cod was in her nest. She was reading. Building the nest had been the work of an entire afternoon. A pillow here, a blanket there.” (Me: my kind of person.)

”But without someone external to do the work of doubting her, Cod felt she had a duty to doubt herself.”

”…it hurts that I won’t be able to hold your hand through your old age the way you’ve held my hand through mine. I wish I could return the favour. It’s a hard thing, growing old.”

Many thanks to NetGalley and DAW books for the free e-book!

4.5 stars.
I had a wonderful time reading this "lesbian history mystery" lol. We follow Cod, who has been summoned from her university job as an archaeology professor by her mentor with the message that something big has been found. For Cod, that means it is something to do with Aleya, a historical, magical figure that is only legend, but she and her mentor believe truly existed. Once there, Cod learns of her mentor's untimely death. The story unfolds from there when she also runs into a former flame, Sparrow, who is a traveling salesperson, and her mentor's newest protegee Thal, who despises Cod.
Although all of the characters are their own variety of prickly and/or unlikeable, I really liked them all, Cod especially. She reminds me a good bit of Neema from the Raven Scholar as they are both determined and focused on their specific interests and are mostly disliked by their peers. I really liked the depth of Cod as a character. She had a kind of tough life that we get to see in flashbacks. I also really liked watching her grow and change in the ways she relates to people. I really liked learning about Aleya through her. I definitely think that I will go back and read Idolfire, but I don't think it mattered that I hadn't before this one.
Heaven's Graveyard was really well thought out and put together, in my opinion and I am intrigued to try other books from this author.

I absolutely adored this and highly recommend it. I have been singing its praises to everyone I know and my coworkers! I am incredibly excited to own this after the pub date and will be reading Curtis' backlist.

This is the world created by Idolfire AND the world created by its lack. It’s also the story of one scholar’s obsession with history and one rogue assassin’s obsession with her. And, it’s a story about the havoc that obsession can create, both with its absorption and with the damage that its single-mindedness scatters like rain.

Let’s unpack that a bit, shall we?

Heaven’s Graveyard takes place in the same setting as the author’s earlier book, Idolfire. But this is not a sequel. Instead, this is that same world, centuries later. So far distant that the broken scraps of a dead empire that was the world of Idolfire, a world where magic is still a force in the world and at a time when wishes still had power in all the worst, cursed ways – has now become a gaslamp world at about the level of technology as our late 19th century. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells would have felt right at home.

Their technology rules. Maybe not our kind of tech, but tech all the same. And, like many a tech-based world, magic is considered a myth. A story for children. But literal magic isn’t the only thing that’s disappeared. So have the larger-than-life heroes of legend.

And that’s where Coda Canalluny (who very much insists on being called just “Cod” for reasons that become clear in the story), Doctor of Archaeology, curator at the Asha Civic Museum, comes into the picture.

Or rather, it’s where she came in as a child, when she discovered Professor D. Marr-Ahava’s book, Ashan Myths for Children and fell in love with the legendary Aleya Ana-Ulai. The hero of a tale so old that it had passed into myth. A story about standing up and defying a queen, undertaking a dangerous world-spanning quest, falling in love and having to give up that love for the good of the kingdom she came to rule.

A story about bringing back the magic that was stolen from her people by breaking into the lost ruins of a formerly world-spanning empire, and bringing her people’s most powerful artifact back home where it belonged.

People in Cod’s world, in Cod’s own profession, are sure that Aleya’s entire story is a myth. Because there is no magic in their world. (OTOH, we know it’s all TRUE, because it’s the story in the book Idolfire. Cod’s world is the world that was made out of Aleya and Kirby’s sacrifices for both of their widely-separated peoples.)

Cod is obsessed with proving that Aleya really existed, and that all the stories about her quest to the fabled capital of Nivela are historic truth and not merely mythological hyperbole. She’s spent her career trying to prove her hypothesis – just as her mentor has done.

So when she receives a ‘wire’ from that mentor, claiming a momentous discovery, Cod rushes back home, the last place she ever planned to return to, only to find that her beloved teacher was murdered mere hours before her arrival.

She’s certain his death has to do with his discovery and their shared quest. She just doesn’t know who or how or why. And she is so desperate to discover the truth of everything that she can’t see the threat standing right by her side until its far too late.

Escape Rating A-: Heaven’s Graveyard is linked to the previous book, Idolfire, in multiple ways – but I think it stands alone all the same. The stories are told in the same way, that the current quest is a result of an incident in the mythological past that no one in the stories present believes to have been true. Idolfire looked back at Nivela in its prime and Heaven’s Graveyard casts its eyes back at the quest to find the ruins of Nivela that no one believed existed then – and believe even less now.

Idolfire was not a story of Nivela itself, we didn’t need to know whether the legends that Aleya and Kirby followed were true or not. We just got caught up in them following that thread. Likewise here, we need to know what is believed in Cod’s today about what happened in the past. We don’t need the details of that past to follow along on this quest.

To be fair, there are moments that have a lot more resonance if you do know Aleya’s and Kirby’s story from Idolfire. But you don’t HAVE to know to get into Heaven’s Graveyard. Cod’s quest to find her mentor’s murderer and the truth of his potential discovery is more than enough story for one book.

As much as Heaven’s Graveyard is about Cod’s search for the historical Aleya and for the contemporary murderer, underneath that it’s a story about obsession, and that story starts with Aleya’s mother, a scientific genius who was obsessed with making space travel feasible. Vivette Canalluny’s career was cut short by poverty and single-motherhood. The birth of Coda was the literal ending, or coda, to all her dreams. Cod grew up in the shadow of her mother’s intellectual obsessions, her neglect, and her eventual madness.

So Cod mostly raised herself, knowing that she was a constant disappointment to a mother who resented her every breath. In her turn, Cod retreated into her own intellectual obsession with Aleya, and neglected the people around her in favor of her own obsession. Never realizing that her lover was obsessed with her and was willing to do anything to have her. Or get her back and use Cod’s obsessions as a way of punishing her while feeding, in turn, her own obsessions for money and power.

Because while Cod is looking for vindication of her theories, her frenemy Sparrow is following right behind her, looking for the power that Aleya brought home to her kingdom. Because power is a weapon that Sparrow can use and sell without a care in the world about the price the world will pay for the war she’s intending to arm on both sides.

I think the above represent the largest threads in this story, but they’re not the only ones. It’s a murder mystery wrapped in an epic quest filled with questions about how history gets remembered and what qualities turn a life into a legend and who gets to decide the legacy of that legend.

I don’t think ‘fun’ is the right word for this story, because it gets kind of deep and goes to some sad places. But it is absolutely compelling in all of its searching and questing for all the truths that Cod has hidden from herself and the truths that have been hidden from her along the way. The sapphic romance in Idolfire was a tragic one because Aleya and Kirby knew from the beginning that they could only be together in death. And they were. The sapphic romance in Heaven’s Graveyard isn’t so much tragic as it is utterly misguided and completely one-sided – at least until Cod finally opens her eyes to the world that’s been around her – and her own obsession – all along.