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.