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dragongirl271's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
“No one has ever interrupted her explanation and finished her deduction. She had to convince Delfina to be her detective partner. Or maybe marry her.”
This may be one of the most fun and creative concepts for a fiction anthology book that I've ever come across. Alkaf and Owen brought together 18 different authors to collectively tell a murder mystery, but also still kept it in a short story format. I loved listening to this book. I would 100% read again. I want a separate book that's just all about the making of this one. Give me all the behind the scenes information about this collaboration.
The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a YA fantasy murder mystery that takes place at a traveling magical school. A professor that many hated has died and 18 students, working both together and separately, decide to look into what happened. Each chapter follows a different student during a different hour following the murder and it's all so creatively done.
“...three steps to solving a murder: step 1- break into murder victims home. Step 2- ??? Step 3- solve climate change”
I love the humor. I love how well-developed each character is. I really love all the different types of magic each author designs (someone sign me up for the embroidery magic courses). This is just a gem of a book.
3rd-person POV following a different student each chapter.
Mixed pacing across the chapters.
This may be one of the most fun and creative concepts for a fiction anthology book that I've ever come across. Alkaf and Owen brought together 18 different authors to collectively tell a murder mystery, but also still kept it in a short story format. I loved listening to this book. I would 100% read again. I want a separate book that's just all about the making of this one. Give me all the behind the scenes information about this collaboration.
The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a YA fantasy murder mystery that takes place at a traveling magical school. A professor that many hated has died and 18 students, working both together and separately, decide to look into what happened. Each chapter follows a different student during a different hour following the murder and it's all so creatively done.
“...three steps to solving a murder: step 1- break into murder victims home. Step 2- ??? Step 3- solve climate change”
I love the humor. I love how well-developed each character is. I really love all the different types of magic each author designs (someone sign me up for the embroidery magic courses). This is just a gem of a book.
3rd-person POV following a different student each chapter.
Mixed pacing across the chapters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping, Transphobia, Ableism, Racism, Murder, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Classism, and Colonisation
pagebypaigebks's review against another edition
3.0
“Never stop defending your right to be who you are.”
I'd like to thank Penguin Random House for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I've also posted this review on Instagram and my blog.
Instagram Post
Blog Post
Content Warnings: racism, murder, ableism, death
I love boarding school settings and anything to do with magic schools so I had high hopes going into this one! The idea of following individual students each trying to solve a murder was intriguing. Unfortunately, since there were 18 individual short stories it was hard to keep track of all of the storylines and perspectives, especially since some characters make appearances in other stories. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if there were only 7 or 8 stories so that I could become more invested in each perspective. Due to the wide range of characters, there were also a variety of magical abilities and rules that needed to be explained in each chapter which caused the story to feel slow at times. However, I enjoyed the school setting and thought that it was really interesting that the school constantly changed locations.
Overall I loved the concept but would have enjoyed fewer characters to help the flow of the book.
I'd like to thank Penguin Random House for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I've also posted this review on Instagram and my blog.
Instagram Post
Blog Post
Content Warnings: racism, murder, ableism, death
I love boarding school settings and anything to do with magic schools so I had high hopes going into this one! The idea of following individual students each trying to solve a murder was intriguing. Unfortunately, since there were 18 individual short stories it was hard to keep track of all of the storylines and perspectives, especially since some characters make appearances in other stories. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if there were only 7 or 8 stories so that I could become more invested in each perspective. Due to the wide range of characters, there were also a variety of magical abilities and rules that needed to be explained in each chapter which caused the story to feel slow at times. However, I enjoyed the school setting and thought that it was really interesting that the school constantly changed locations.
Overall I loved the concept but would have enjoyed fewer characters to help the flow of the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Ableism, Murder, and Racism
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
First of all, I love the concept of this. I wish more short story anthologies were more collaborative stories like this because I feel like I'm more invested. I also think teens would be more drawn to them than the regular short story anthologies that are being published (of which there are too many in my opinion, but I digress!).
My main issue is I think there are a tad too many characters in this one. There's a lot to remember between the stories, and widdling it down to fewer authors (which means maybe they get to write more parts?) would help with the overall clarity. And maybe a character map if you're going to have this many characters.
The mystery intertwined with the fantasy though, I enjoyed that! I loved the magic school setting, too. Such a fun concept that just needs a little bit of tweaking to really put it over the edge.
My main issue is I think there are a tad too many characters in this one. There's a lot to remember between the stories, and widdling it down to fewer authors (which means maybe they get to write more parts?) would help with the overall clarity. And maybe a character map if you're going to have this many characters.
The mystery intertwined with the fantasy though, I enjoyed that! I loved the magic school setting, too. Such a fun concept that just needs a little bit of tweaking to really put it over the edge.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Murder, and Racism
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Gore
Minor: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Sexism
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Racism, Sexism, Ableism, Classism, and Transphobia
elizajaquays's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Anthologies are often hit or miss for me because I tend to like longer form stories where I have a chance to get to know and care about the characters. So when I saw that there was an anthology being edited by one of my favorite authors where the stories were all interconnected, I was intrigued!
The Grimoire of Grave Fates was expertly done, with each story from a different POV but with recurring characters as the school had to figure out who killed the school's most hated teacher... and more importantly, prove that it wasn't themselves or anyone they cared about.
The diversity of the contributors bleeds over into the book, bringing a wonderfully diverse cast of characters with representation across different gender identities, sexualities, and races.
I am so impressed by how well the stories wove together and built off of each other--this could easily have been a disastrous mess instead of the elegant masterpiece that it turned out to be.
Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this. I'm so excited to get my hands on a finished copy and see the final layout and design. So well done!
The Grimoire of Grave Fates was expertly done, with each story from a different POV but with recurring characters as the school had to figure out who killed the school's most hated teacher... and more importantly, prove that it wasn't themselves or anyone they cared about.
The diversity of the contributors bleeds over into the book, bringing a wonderfully diverse cast of characters with representation across different gender identities, sexualities, and races.
I am so impressed by how well the stories wove together and built off of each other--this could easily have been a disastrous mess instead of the elegant masterpiece that it turned out to be.
Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this. I'm so excited to get my hands on a finished copy and see the final layout and design. So well done!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Murder, Misogyny, and Racism
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