Review: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price

I read Grave Witch surprisingly easily. Kalayna Price delivers to the readers everything supposed to be in an urban fantasy novel - a criminal investigation, a tough and stubborn lead female character, tons of magic and cool men. I enjoyed reading the novel, but in retrospect I feel, as if I’ve eaten popcorn – there is something to chew on, but nothing to fill in the belly. Grave Witch makes a very pleasant, but not memorable reading.

Seventy years after the witches and the fae has revealed their existence, the political games in Necros city, USA, are exacerbating due to the death of the leader of the anti-magic Human First Party. The corpse of the late Governor Coleman is thoroughly examined in the city morgue, but only the Grave Witch Alexis Craft notices that there is something wrong. Firstly the skin of the body is carved with magical glyphs, which are visible only for Alex, then she can not raise the governor’s Shadow. Upon leaving the police department Alex survives an assassination attempt.
No one can be sure if the attack is related to Alex’s current case – a trial, in which she raises the Shadow of the victim in order to give witness, or not. Or maybe someone does not want a Grave Witch to poke her nose into the death of Governor Coleman.

Well, specially-appointed to the investigation of serial murders Detective Falin Andrews, certainly does not want to see Miss Craft around his cases. Except, she is the only one, who finds clues in the carcasses of the victims - the same glyphs, carved on the body of the governor.

I've never been much of a fan of the books about necromancy, so for me Grave Witch is the first urban fantasy novel on this topic (many years ago I’ve read The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells, but that's another genre.) According to several fans’ reviews I get that the themes in the book are not unique, so I trust them.

However, all of the reviewers agree with one thing - Death is certainly the biggest asset of the novel. In short, imagine Joe Black - slightly charming and romantic. Kalayna Pryce won me over to her cause in the moment, when it came apparent that Death has a sense of humor and drinks coffee. I liked Alex Craft and all supporting characters, because they are mostly authentic. At least in this novel there was none unexplained abnormal behavior.

Unfortunately, Grave Witch suffers from a very significant flaw. Although many skillfully delivered by the author descriptions build out the setting, at the end of the novel I was in a slightly WTF-condition. Normally all the fantasy worlds have some magical system, which requires a framework and laws, to which the characters comply. In this novel there are spells constantly used, but I could not grasp the rules. It felt like circus tricks - "We need a pigeon! Hop, the one in my sleeve will do.

The above said may not seem like a flaw, but it made me confused and disappointed. If the author succeeds to remedy this deficiency in the forthcoming second book in the series - Grave Dance, the level will jump up seriously, and probably I will not feel like I have eaten popcorn.


Rating: 4/5