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myfrogmonster's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I grabbed this to read after a short story in this series appeared in an anthology. I loved the idea in this series. A Noir style mystery with a very interesting twist. What I discovered with this book was that shorter was better. This full length story dragged on. As much as I loved the concept it moved painfully forward. I kept looking at the percent complete on my kindle and sighing. It's not bad, I liked the story, the characters, and the entire concept. It's just Looooonnnnnngggggg.
simiray's review against another edition
5.0
Grave Beginnings is probably the most misleading title that a book could ever have. There is absolutely nothing Grave about the Beginning of the Grave Report series. This book was the first experience I had with Urban Fantasy, and it made me fall in love. So much so that it has added a few new authors to my to-read list.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the paranormal that has become so popular. This could have been a story taken right from the pages of a Supernatural script with a whole new spin on the world. It's fantastic. You must try it. The witty and caustic remarks of the main character Vincent Graves never ceases to disappoint in providing unlimited amusement, and the leading lady, Detective Camilla Ortiz helps keep him in line in their race to find out what is killing people in a modern every-day world that is not so every day.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the paranormal that has become so popular. This could have been a story taken right from the pages of a Supernatural script with a whole new spin on the world. It's fantastic. You must try it. The witty and caustic remarks of the main character Vincent Graves never ceases to disappoint in providing unlimited amusement, and the leading lady, Detective Camilla Ortiz helps keep him in line in their race to find out what is killing people in a modern every-day world that is not so every day.
lauranisbet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ranas_books's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Alright, so, while I enjoyed listening to this audiobook, I was pretty much disappointed with it in general. The story itself is pretty solid. A paranormal detective that shifts into the body of the person he's investigating the death of is a cool concept. However, the dialogue and often the private monologue in the book are lame, cliché and cringy most of the time. While his soul is old, Vincent speaks and thinks like a teenage boy, which is funny but also annoying.
aly36's review
4.0
This book was interesting. I really liked the character of Ortiz. Graves is ok but I hope we will learn a little more about him in the next few books. I think the concept of the books is good. I liked the other characters we met as well. I will be excited to what is next on Vincent Grave's adventures.
arebstock's review against another edition
4.0
Well Vincent is definitely not Harry and R.R. Virdi definitely isn't Jim Butcher but this was still a pretty good book.
adam_marcus's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
chelsea_not_chels's review against another edition
3.0
More reviews available at my blog, Beauty and the Bookworm.
Grave Beginnings is an interesting book for several reasons, the primary one of which is that it's kind of tearing up the indie world and receiving rave reviews. It's a paranormal mystery starring Vincent Graves, a soul who can't remember who he really is because he's inhabited so many different bodies in attempting to figure out what supernatural force killed the person, and how to kill it in return. I've seen people liken it to the Dresden Files, of which I have only read the first one and didn't really care for it, but apparently if you like those, you'll like this. On Grave Beginnings, I am divided.
I did not like the first half of this book. Graves grated on my every nerve with his pop-culture references and snark. I don't have anything against snarky characters in general, but Graves just seemed so insufferably smug about his smart-alec ways that I kept putting the book down and walking away just to master my patience with him. Considering I had a self-imposed deadline on reading this book, that wasn't exactly good. But the concept of Graves is pretty cool; I mean, he picks up skills and memories from all of the bodies he's inhabited, and they've obscured his own identity to the point that he can't remember anything about himself, not even his real name--Vincent Graves is a psuedonym he's adopted to suit his position. But his "boss," a mysterious supernatural guy who goes by Church (or maybe is just called Church by Graves?) encourages him to try to reclaim his "life," as it is, by starting a journal. Presumably the book is what Graves eventually records in that journal. This whole setup appealed to me even when Graves himself didn't, so I kept reading.
And then I hit 50% in the book, and something strange happened. While Graves retrained his snark and some of his smugness, much of that aforementioned smugness diminished, and the pop-culture references that had so annoyed me pretty much disappeared; there were only one or two in the entire second half of the book, whereas in the first half they were everywhere. This greatly improved my reading experience. What also probably helped was that, in the second half of the book, he starts working with another character who I think helped to rein him in to tolerable levels. Once Graves became tolerable, the whole book became a heck of a lot better, and I read the second half in one sitting.
Other highlights of this book: Virdi can write a darn good action scene. Whether it's burning down a building or fighting a supernatural being, I think the fight scenes were one of the best parts here. Graves doesn't exactly specialize in combat but he's adept at using the environment to his favor, and his "partner" Ortiz ends up being pretty handy on her own. She befuddled me somewhat as a character--she's a federal agent but jumps straight into solving supernatural mysteries without really questioning it. Sure, she wants information, and I can understand some of her logic, but I would think there would be a bit more denial involved. Then again, a lack of denial seems to be a staple of paranormal mystery books, so maybe that's only to be expected.
One more thing--this book needs another round of edits with an eye to homophones, comma splices, and grammatical structure, particularly regarding dialogue. Comma splices abound here, and there are a bunch of instances of homophones being used incorrectly including its/it's, their/there, and beared/bared, though in fact the proper word in the "bared" case would have been "bore." In regards to dialogue, there are a lot of instances of doing the whole "Blah blah blah." He said. thing. There's also an abundance of ellipses; those could be labeled stylistic, far more than other issues, but reducing them and replacing some with simple periods instead could have made the impact of a lot of those sentences greater. Overall, another round of edits could have lent this a bit of polish that I found lacking.
In the end? I think it's a mixed bag. There are some really cool elements here that I think Virdi does a good job of playing up, but Graves on his own annoyed me and there was a certain degree of polish missing from the book. I know the second book is out now, so it'll be interesting to see how this proceeds--whether Graves resumes being a smug jerk who I can't stand or if he remains tolerable, and if the editorial issues are resolved.
3 stars out of 5.
Grave Beginnings is an interesting book for several reasons, the primary one of which is that it's kind of tearing up the indie world and receiving rave reviews. It's a paranormal mystery starring Vincent Graves, a soul who can't remember who he really is because he's inhabited so many different bodies in attempting to figure out what supernatural force killed the person, and how to kill it in return. I've seen people liken it to the Dresden Files, of which I have only read the first one and didn't really care for it, but apparently if you like those, you'll like this. On Grave Beginnings, I am divided.
I did not like the first half of this book. Graves grated on my every nerve with his pop-culture references and snark. I don't have anything against snarky characters in general, but Graves just seemed so insufferably smug about his smart-alec ways that I kept putting the book down and walking away just to master my patience with him. Considering I had a self-imposed deadline on reading this book, that wasn't exactly good. But the concept of Graves is pretty cool; I mean, he picks up skills and memories from all of the bodies he's inhabited, and they've obscured his own identity to the point that he can't remember anything about himself, not even his real name--Vincent Graves is a psuedonym he's adopted to suit his position. But his "boss," a mysterious supernatural guy who goes by Church (or maybe is just called Church by Graves?) encourages him to try to reclaim his "life," as it is, by starting a journal. Presumably the book is what Graves eventually records in that journal. This whole setup appealed to me even when Graves himself didn't, so I kept reading.
And then I hit 50% in the book, and something strange happened. While Graves retrained his snark and some of his smugness, much of that aforementioned smugness diminished, and the pop-culture references that had so annoyed me pretty much disappeared; there were only one or two in the entire second half of the book, whereas in the first half they were everywhere. This greatly improved my reading experience. What also probably helped was that, in the second half of the book, he starts working with another character who I think helped to rein him in to tolerable levels. Once Graves became tolerable, the whole book became a heck of a lot better, and I read the second half in one sitting.
Other highlights of this book: Virdi can write a darn good action scene. Whether it's burning down a building or fighting a supernatural being, I think the fight scenes were one of the best parts here. Graves doesn't exactly specialize in combat but he's adept at using the environment to his favor, and his "partner" Ortiz ends up being pretty handy on her own. She befuddled me somewhat as a character--she's a federal agent but jumps straight into solving supernatural mysteries without really questioning it. Sure, she wants information, and I can understand some of her logic, but I would think there would be a bit more denial involved. Then again, a lack of denial seems to be a staple of paranormal mystery books, so maybe that's only to be expected.
One more thing--this book needs another round of edits with an eye to homophones, comma splices, and grammatical structure, particularly regarding dialogue. Comma splices abound here, and there are a bunch of instances of homophones being used incorrectly including its/it's, their/there, and beared/bared, though in fact the proper word in the "bared" case would have been "bore." In regards to dialogue, there are a lot of instances of doing the whole "Blah blah blah." He said. thing. There's also an abundance of ellipses; those could be labeled stylistic, far more than other issues, but reducing them and replacing some with simple periods instead could have made the impact of a lot of those sentences greater. Overall, another round of edits could have lent this a bit of polish that I found lacking.
In the end? I think it's a mixed bag. There are some really cool elements here that I think Virdi does a good job of playing up, but Graves on his own annoyed me and there was a certain degree of polish missing from the book. I know the second book is out now, so it'll be interesting to see how this proceeds--whether Graves resumes being a smug jerk who I can't stand or if he remains tolerable, and if the editorial issues are resolved.
3 stars out of 5.
barb4ry1's review against another edition
3.0
I like simple entertainment. Especially when the job becomes stressful, targets insane and my brain starts to short-circuit. RR Virdi’s debut offers a pleasant respite from the corporate life or overly nuanced literary fiction. I love the premise.
The Grave Beginnings is a story about Vincent Graves, a soul without a body who works / is forced to work for a certain Church - a mysterious and intriguing figure. Vincent temporarily inhabits the bodies of people killed by monsters and use them, their minds, bodies, skills, and memories to solve their murders. The more he does it, the more he loses his memories and because he’s been doing it for years, he barely remembers his original identity.
He always works on a tight schedule as Church gives him a countdown tattoo - an hourly timer branded into the body he wears that decreases in time by the hour for his case. The book doesn’t treat itself too seriously and contains A LOT of darker humour, funny quips and pop-culture references.
This time he ends up in the body of Norman Smith, freshly deceased curator of the American Museum of Natural History. As he tries to figure out what killed Norman, he deals with creepy paranormal creatures, but he also meets Special Agent Camilla Ortiz who turns out to be a rather interesting woman and a valuable ally.
I find the idea brilliant and the execution mostly satisfying. Vincent is perfectly likeable. I appreciate his sharp wit, determination, and resolve. Graves, pictured as a sardonic, smartass soul that never misses an opportunity to make a joke makes a good POV. I liked his narration and distance to danger, especially when he doesn’t try too hard to be too funny. Unfortunately, things get over the top in places and the focus on funny slows down the action or kills the tension.
While secondary characters were nicely sketched, I wouldn’t call them believable, but it’s fine as long as they entertain. Camilla Ortiz and Church both have distinct traits of character and make the story more nuanced. Unfortunately, Vincent interactions with Camilla are filled with repetitive descriptions of her staring icy daggers at him or giving him a deadly look. They banter offers some quality in places, but seriously lacks it in others.
The story feels linear and rather simplistic and the final confrontation with the mysterious monster lacked tension (they killed him but he survived so they killed him again but he survived in which case they killed him again but he, well, yes; you guessed right; he survived).
While Grave Beginnings has flaws and feels cheesy in places, it also entertains. I’ve read it in two sittings. It makes a perfect read for a longer commute. I think RR Virdi’s storytelling has good flow, especially when he doesn’t try too hard to make a reader crack. I liked it enough to start the sequel immediately after finishing the book.
The Grave Beginnings is a story about Vincent Graves, a soul without a body who works / is forced to work for a certain Church - a mysterious and intriguing figure. Vincent temporarily inhabits the bodies of people killed by monsters and use them, their minds, bodies, skills, and memories to solve their murders. The more he does it, the more he loses his memories and because he’s been doing it for years, he barely remembers his original identity.
He always works on a tight schedule as Church gives him a countdown tattoo - an hourly timer branded into the body he wears that decreases in time by the hour for his case. The book doesn’t treat itself too seriously and contains A LOT of darker humour, funny quips and pop-culture references.
This time he ends up in the body of Norman Smith, freshly deceased curator of the American Museum of Natural History. As he tries to figure out what killed Norman, he deals with creepy paranormal creatures, but he also meets Special Agent Camilla Ortiz who turns out to be a rather interesting woman and a valuable ally.
I find the idea brilliant and the execution mostly satisfying. Vincent is perfectly likeable. I appreciate his sharp wit, determination, and resolve. Graves, pictured as a sardonic, smartass soul that never misses an opportunity to make a joke makes a good POV. I liked his narration and distance to danger, especially when he doesn’t try too hard to be too funny. Unfortunately, things get over the top in places and the focus on funny slows down the action or kills the tension.
While secondary characters were nicely sketched, I wouldn’t call them believable, but it’s fine as long as they entertain. Camilla Ortiz and Church both have distinct traits of character and make the story more nuanced. Unfortunately, Vincent interactions with Camilla are filled with repetitive descriptions of her staring icy daggers at him or giving him a deadly look. They banter offers some quality in places, but seriously lacks it in others.
The story feels linear and rather simplistic and the final confrontation with the mysterious monster lacked tension (they killed him but he survived so they killed him again but he survived in which case they killed him again but he, well, yes; you guessed right; he survived).
While Grave Beginnings has flaws and feels cheesy in places, it also entertains. I’ve read it in two sittings. It makes a perfect read for a longer commute. I think RR Virdi’s storytelling has good flow, especially when he doesn’t try too hard to make a reader crack. I liked it enough to start the sequel immediately after finishing the book.