Shallow Graves | Kali Wallace
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books, January 26th 2016
Genre: YA, Mystery, Paranormal, the Undead
Pages: 360
Format: Ebook
Source: Katherine Tegen, via Netgalley
Breezy remembers leaving the party: the warm, wet grass under her feet, her cheek still stinging from a slap to her face. But when she wakes up, scared and pulling dirt from her mouth, a year has passed and she can’t explain how.
Nor can she explain the man lying at her grave, dead from her touch, or why her heartbeat comes and goes. She doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past.
Haunted by happy memories from her life, Breezy sets out to find answers in the gritty, threatening world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight, and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she discovers is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.
This book is WAY more fantasy than anticipated. I expected a ghost story grounded in contemporary mystery. And while it kind of is that, it really isn't. It's VERY paranormal, with ghouls and revenants and witches, and it's AWESOME.
Breezy is a great main character. Seriously dark, complicated, and she doesn't flinch from blood and murder. I love her. She's also bi, and has a Chinese father, and the diversity doesn't hurt this book one bit. As far as characters go, there's a thoroughly diverging bunch in this book. You have compassionate, down-to-earth ghouls Zeke and his brother (Jake? Jack? I forget), and major bitch Rain who's most interesting when she's manipulating, and Violet who is brainwashed by bad guys. And then you have the slew of white middle aged male villains. This book is angry about all the injustices today - racism, sexism, male privilege - and I LOVE IT. It's subtly angry though, which feels even cleverer and better.
More things I love about this book: the mystery surrounding Breezy's death, the thrilling chill of Breezy hunting down murderers, the monster-hunting assholes, the tension between EVERY single character in this book (it's so hard to tell who you can trust), THE SPACE AND SPACE FACTS. Anyone who knows me knows space and all things related are my favourite things in the whole world. It was such a delight to have stories and info about astronauts and planets throughout this book (and an even bigger delight to have equal mentions of female astronauts as male!)
My only complaints are it's a bit slow in the first half, and I had no idea where the story was going, but as they both serve the book, they're not real complaints.
Completely different to my expectations, but way, way better. I loved it.
(NOTE: The cover, the title, the blurb don't accurately represent this book at all.)
Characters ★★★★☆
Setting/world ★★★★☆
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