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A review by storytimewithlily
Grave War by Kalayna Price
2.75
Defintiely not my favourite of the series, but still ended well.
Spoilers ahead for my view on the entire series:
(but if you're up to the last book I assume spoilers don't matter)
Although I liked each individual book (particularly the ones focused on witch magic instead of fae magic) the overall story for the series was a bit lacking. And because the overall story was a lacking it made the final book which was supposed to tie up all the loose ends feel a bit lackluster.
Things I didn't like:
- Why did we spend so much time on Alex's relationship with Death? We all knew Falin was end game and having her in a relationship with Death felt like stalling. And in the end Death didn't even play much of a role in the overall story. He became an ex machina for several books and then just disappeared in the final. Surely if we were going to spend so much time with him and even have Alex in a relationship, there must be some kind of payoff in the final book that cements their friendship over romantic relationship. And that scene in the car does not count.
- Why was her brother the planebender? Like I knew it was coming, it was fairly obvious since they kept mentioning how her brother had disappeared and then the planebender never took off his hood, but it didn't mean anything? He didn't play any big role in the last book. It was almost like the author had planted this in the beginning and then got to the end and went 'oh yeah I forgot about this, let's just wrap it up real quick and move on'
- The final battle was so short. Like Alex went on this cool journey meeting all these different people and making new friends/allies and then almost none of them come into play in the final book. Most of her friends are in the mortal world I guess just waiting to die, Nori just stops being involved less than half way through the book, what about all the independent fae Alex had met and helped and befriended on her journeys? Surely in the last book she could pool her resources and get the fae to help her?
Things I'm not sure I liked or not:
- Alex becoming the High Queen. Again it was fairly obvious that her dad was the High King, but why did she need to become the High Queen? I guess it makes sense, she goes on this journey and learns about her heritage and then inherits the position, but I don't know if I liked it. Honestly I thought she was going to become the Winter Queen and that was going to be how she saved Falin and I was pleasantly surprised that Falin became the Winter King instead.
- Merging with Faerie. This kinda ties in with my mixed feeling about Alex being the High Queen. I think maybe I would have liked it if she merged with Faerie or even, as a planeweaver, was able to interact with Faerie in a way no one else could, but she didn't become Queen or even merge with Faerie to do it.
Things I did like:
- The characters. Particularly Alex and Falin. I liked them and I liked them together. I just wish the other characters had been utilised better in the final book.
- The murder mysteries. I think this is where Kalayna Price really shined. She made interesting and creative murder mysteries tied in with her world and worldbuilding, like the body snatcher or the ghouls or the necromancer
- I really liked the witch magic and wished we could have explored it more (but with how the series was going I guess it made sense to explore fae magic more even though Alex never learns how to use fae magic by the end of the series??!!)
Okay so I think we can all agree that I liked the series but I have serious grievances with the last book.
Spoilers ahead for my view on the entire series:
(but if you're up to the last book I assume spoilers don't matter)
Although I liked each individual book (particularly the ones focused on witch magic instead of fae magic) the overall story for the series was a bit lacking. And because the overall story was a lacking it made the final book which was supposed to tie up all the loose ends feel a bit lackluster.
Things I didn't like:
- Why did we spend so much time on Alex's relationship with Death? We all knew Falin was end game and having her in a relationship with Death felt like stalling. And in the end Death didn't even play much of a role in the overall story. He became an ex machina for several books and then just disappeared in the final. Surely if we were going to spend so much time with him and even have Alex in a relationship, there must be some kind of payoff in the final book that cements their friendship over romantic relationship. And that scene in the car does not count.
- Why was her brother the planebender? Like I knew it was coming, it was fairly obvious since they kept mentioning how her brother had disappeared and then the planebender never took off his hood, but it didn't mean anything? He didn't play any big role in the last book. It was almost like the author had planted this in the beginning and then got to the end and went 'oh yeah I forgot about this, let's just wrap it up real quick and move on'
- The final battle was so short. Like Alex went on this cool journey meeting all these different people and making new friends/allies and then almost none of them come into play in the final book. Most of her friends are in the mortal world I guess just waiting to die, Nori just stops being involved less than half way through the book, what about all the independent fae Alex had met and helped and befriended on her journeys? Surely in the last book she could pool her resources and get the fae to help her?
Things I'm not sure I liked or not:
- Alex becoming the High Queen. Again it was fairly obvious that her dad was the High King, but why did she need to become the High Queen? I guess it makes sense, she goes on this journey and learns about her heritage and then inherits the position, but I don't know if I liked it. Honestly I thought she was going to become the Winter Queen and that was going to be how she saved Falin and I was pleasantly surprised that Falin became the Winter King instead.
- Merging with Faerie. This kinda ties in with my mixed feeling about Alex being the High Queen. I think maybe I would have liked it if she merged with Faerie or even, as a planeweaver, was able to interact with Faerie in a way no one else could, but she didn't become Queen or even merge with Faerie to do it.
Things I did like:
- The characters. Particularly Alex and Falin. I liked them and I liked them together. I just wish the other characters had been utilised better in the final book.
- The murder mysteries. I think this is where Kalayna Price really shined. She made interesting and creative murder mysteries tied in with her world and worldbuilding, like the body snatcher or the ghouls or the necromancer
- I really liked the witch magic and wished we could have explored it more (but with how the series was going I guess it made sense to explore fae magic more even though Alex never learns how to use fae magic by the end of the series??!!)
Okay so I think we can all agree that I liked the series but I have serious grievances with the last book.