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Grave Dance (Alex Craft #2)

by Kalayna Price (Goodreads Author)

4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 · rating details · 6,594 ratings · 479 reviews

Whoever said dead men tell no tales obviously never met Alex Craft.

After a month spent recovering from a vicious fight with a sorcerer, grave witch Alex Craft is ready to get back to solving murders by raising the dead. With her love life in turmoil thanks to the disappearance of Fae Investigation Bureau agent Falin Andrews and a shocking “L” word confession from Death him...more

Mass Market Paperback, 371 pages

Published July 5th 2011 by ROC

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Oct 08, 2011 Natasha rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the second installment in the Alex Craft series by Kalayna Price.

When I first read Grave Witch, I knew I'd love this series. The characters are fantastic and complelling and the storyline is always gripping. Alex Craft is a unique character. She's a grave witch who can speak with the dead. She's also on Death's sweet side and spends more time with him than the usual person. Oh, and death's image we all have in our head. It's wrong. He's not the cloak and reaper staff death, he's the tigh...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Rane rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

For me the second book of a series tend to be the deal breaker. If the first book in the series rocked, you want the second book to follow that hype or if the book was good you hope that the second book improved to save the series or if the first book was bad and still thought there may have been a thread to save it, it's usually the second book to save the day.

Grave Dance had it's moments and did improve somewhat from it's predecessor while at the same time carrying the weaknesses that hinde...more For me the second book of a series tend to be the deal breaker. If the first book in the series rocked, you want the second book to follow that hype or if the book was good you hope that the second book improved to save the series or if the first book was bad and still thought there may have been a thread to save it, it's usually the second book to save the day.

Grave Dance had it's moments and did improve somewhat from it's predecessor while at the same time carrying the weaknesses that hinder the first book along with it.

When a new case comes up, Alex's new gift give her a greater insight when she uncovers some bad magic in use and lots of body parts- mostly left feet. With her new powers acting up and tearing into planes themselves,she's forced to rely on those new powers when herself and her friends are being suddenly attacked by odd creatures and with Falin suddenly back she doesn't know where his heart lies and not forgetting the confession of love of the soul collector Death...

Price left us with alot of unanswered questions that remain unanswered while presenting us more of the world and the new effects Alex's gifts have on not only the world but the planes. In Grave Witch Alex rely on her magic to get her out of alot of jams. Alex though relied on it a little to much at times, instead of using some leg work and her mind, Alex tended to walk in blind to many situations that could have used just a little more thought. There was bits of her brilliance that were quickly overshadowed by her just fumbling around.

The story had alot of dead end trails that lead no-where or went so off the beaten path that the main focus of the story, the case was put on the back burner that it was jarring to find the focus of the story back on the cae.

What bug me the most was the lack of character growth in many and all of the characters. After the events of Grave Witch I felt Alex most of all should have been more caution in her actions, but this never showed.
The love triangle between her, Falin and Death was flimsy at best with nothing really growing or truly changing.

The true highlight of the book was the world building. I loved how Price really built the story and the magic and now the fae courts. There's been a war brewing for sometime and alot of it is coming to head.

Alex Craft still has alot of potential in it and that will make me end up perhaps checking out the next in the series. But that's a BIG "perhaps"

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Sep 27, 2011 Melindeeloo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, magic, fae-fairy-faery-elves-pixies, witches-wizards-mages-sorcerers

Grave Witch Alex Craft is called in to consult on a series of serial killings, but this time her ability to raise the shades of the dead is not going to help much, since there's not enough of the victims left to work with but when she uses her grave sight to try to find the rest, she instead ends up stirring up things for the unaligned Fae in Neckros City - and not in a good way.

I liked Grave Dance every bit as much as the first book Grave Witch, well, maybe even more. There are more of the Fae...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Veronica G. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, female-protagonist, love-triangle, fae, paranormal-romance

Grave Dance is the second in the Alex Craft series and as of right now the series looks to end at three books unless the author's contract is extended.

This book takes place roughly one month after the end of the first book. We find that Alex is doing a little better financially as more jobs are coming into her one woman PI agency, Tongues For The Dead, due to her notoriety from book one's events. But Falin, her fae agent lover from the first book, has been incommunicado during the intervening mo...more Grave Dance is the second in the Alex Craft series and as of right now the series looks to end at three books unless the author's contract is extended.

This book takes place roughly one month after the end of the first book. We find that Alex is doing a little better financially as more jobs are coming into her one woman PI agency, Tongues For The Dead, due to her notoriety from book one's events. But Falin, her fae agent lover from the first book, has been incommunicado during the intervening month. And as for the other possible love interest, Death, nothing new has happened on that front since his love declaration at the end of book. But who needs men because Alex still has the support and love from her wonderful group of friends: Caleb, Holly, Tamara, and Roy - the ghost that I think I forgot to mention in my review of book one. And of course, PC, her beloved Chinese Crested.

I gave the fist book four stars but downgraded this one for two reasons. The first is that it tended to drag in some spots. I believe that this book came in at almost 100 pages longer than book one and I'm not sure that the extra pages were needed. Some of the descriptions, expecially for the magic, tended to be a bit wordy and some of Alex's investigative work just wasn't all that exciting. It was still a solid book and a good successor to book one.

This go 'round Alex finds herself drawn into the investigation surrounding the discovery of multiple left feet around town. That's it. That's all that's left of the bodies, just the left foot of scores of victims. Unfortunately for Alex, the genetic memory in a single left foot isn't enough to allow her to raise the victim's shade, which sucks when you're a grave witch and that's your speciality. So Alex has to fall to other talents to solve the mystery. Along the way she discovers new, expanding powers that are directly related to her newly discovered heritage. We also learn more about the fae, the Winter Court, and how Alex may or may not fit into all that.

The second reason that I only gave this book three stars is because the author did what I had been hoping against hope that she wouldn't do. She went the way of the dreaded romantic triangle. And let me just say that I LOATHE romantic triangles. I fail to see why so many authors in this genre choose to fall back on such a lazy plot device. But here we go again. Falin makes a startling appearance and by book's end we learn that his month long absence wasn't exactly his idea. We also learn something about his history and why a relationship with Alex would be a difficult thing right now despite the fact that it seems to be what he wants. On the other side we have Death. And I know that he has his fans but he's just not doing anything for me as a character at this point simply because we are now two books in and he's still the one-note character that he started out as. He seems to be in the story just to serve as the romantic foil and that just annoys me. For example, there's the scene where Alex is fighting the bird constructs and Death and two other soul collectors show up to help even though Falin and Caleb are already there helping her. This would be fine, except that later on Alex is fighting a gryphon construct that is twice her size and she's all alone. And Death is a no show. Which tells me that the author is writing him in specifically to add supposed tension to scenes when Falin is present. This theory is further bolstered by the fact that there was no movement in the Death/Alex relationship for the month between book one and book two depsite the fact that Falin was MIA and Death had Alex all to himself. So I find this whole triangle aspect of the story to be one huge drag. I wish the author hadn't gone there but she did, unfortunately.

My other personal quibble with Death - on top of being mostly a carboard cutout character - is that he's known Alex since she was five years old. FIVE. And now that she's whatever age she is (23-24?)he wants to get into her pants? There is just an ICK factor there that I can't get around.

This was a solid book but could have been even better without the triangle drama and pissing contest between the two men, and with tighter storytelling. It's still a good read, especially if love triangles don't bother you, but for me my enthusiasm for the third - and potentially final - book is waning. (less)

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Jul 15, 2011 Jen (In the Closet With a Bibliophile) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

4.5 stars

Sometime this year I found that I am completely in love with Kalayna Price's work. Grave Witch (review HERE), the first of her books I read, saved me with it's delicious writing and brilliant characters. The Haven series (BOOK 1 review, BOOK 2 review) was a genius take on shape shifters and contained such an intense development of characters that I couldn't help but fall in love with all of them for their different eccentricities.

So it stands to reason that Grave Dance, the second in th...more 4.5 stars

Sometime this year I found that I am completely in love with Kalayna Price's work. Grave Witch (review HERE), the first of her books I read, saved me with it's delicious writing and brilliant characters. The Haven series (BOOK 1 review, BOOK 2 review) was a genius take on shape shifters and contained such an intense development of characters that I couldn't help but fall in love with all of them for their different eccentricities.

So it stands to reason that Grave Dance, the second in the Alex Craft series would be equally high on my love chart. And so it was. Price starts off with a confused if not somewhat, slightly hurt Alex. With Death announcing his - completely unexpected - feelings at the end of book one, Alex doesn't know where things stand and to top it off, Falin, the Winter Queen's assassin - someone Alex may or may not have feelings for - has up and left without any sort of goodbye. Plus, there are a bunch of left feet laying about and no one seems to be able to tell where the rest of the bodies are...even the feet. It's as if the bodies never existed to begin with. Alex must use her strengths as a Wyrd Witch, using her grave sight and her ability to function between the realm of death and life, to find the mystery behind these left feet.

My very favorite thing about these novels in particular is the involvement of death and Death. With an intense plot and storyline, Price weaves a novel of suspense and curiosity. The involvement of Death, in his jeans and black t-shirt, only adds to the brilliant makeup of the story. His dark and mysterious appearances and the evident feelings he has for Alex, deepens the plot and makes the reader salivate at his very existence. Death's darker presence in the book only seems to add to his bad boy persona, as the collector of souls, it's his job to take that bit of life from those who are at death's door - and he isn't sad about it in the slightest. The genius of a destined killer who retains his gentleness in regards to Alex, softens our hearts, as the reader, and pushes our buttons in all the right ways.

Grave Dance is a magnificent piece of fiction that adds significantly to the original story of Alex Craft that was started in Grave Witch. Price has created a story of witches, magic and fae with just the right touch of death to make the entire book just this side of dark and just that side of magical. With characters and relationships given the development they deserve and world-building that makes the reader feel like they are winding their way through Nekros or hiding from the Winter Queen in Faery, the addiction for Alex Craft only intensifies. Small details bound up around every bend making the story seem even more real with darkly delicious sub-characters and original evilness, Price crafts an air of reality in this magical world of Alex Craft - Wyrd Witch.(less)

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Aug 20, 2011 Shelley aka Gizmo's Reviews rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-releases, genre-urban-fantasy

*Rating* 3.0
*Genre* Urban Fantasy

Grave Dance is the second novel in the Alex Craft series by Kalayna Price. A month has passed since Alex confronted and eliminated the evil and devious Coleman (Grave Witch), and ended up not only saving her sister Grace, but rescued Rianna her former roommate and best friend from witch school.

Rianna, known as the Shadow Girl, was presumed to be dead for the past 4 years. She was actually turned into a challenging by Coleman and spent hundreds of years stuck in F...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Carolyn F. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book, paranormal-romance

Good book although the run/chase scenes seemed a little too long to me. I wish there would have been more about her friend Rianna and the castle that Alex is a part of. The romance in this book is pretty nonexistent, some kissing but Alex doesn't know who to give her affection to.

This series is good enough that I'll be reading all the books in the series. 3-1/2 stars.

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Jul 11, 2011 Christina rated it 4 of 5 stars

While I still really enjoyed this book I didn't like it as much as the first book. This book felt rushed, there was no real downtime for the story to build. It also felt all over the place & the case Alex was working was just there to give all the other seemingly random things a platform. Second book not as great as the first but still liked it. I am looking forward to learning more about the Collectors & that part of the universe.

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Feb 27, 2013 Christi Snow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My Review:
I'll admit, this book took me forever to get through, but that's just because I haven't had much audio time this month. The problem was, I also have it in print and I can't tell you how many times I picked up the print book to finish it. But I hate to waste my audiobooks like that, so I stuck with it and it was so worth it. Emily Durante's narration of these books is just phenomenal. I love the inflections she uses on the voices...just perfection!

This book was the second installment of...more My Review:
I'll admit, this book took me forever to get through, but that's just because I haven't had much audio time this month. The problem was, I also have it in print and I can't tell you how many times I picked up the print book to finish it. But I hate to waste my audiobooks like that, so I stuck with it and it was so worth it. Emily Durante's narration of these books is just phenomenal. I love the inflections she uses on the voices...just perfection!

This book was the second installment of the series...and I ADORE this series. It's so original and so creative. I really just love it. Alex is a Grave Witch which means she can communicate with the souls of the dead, but it comes at a huge physical cost to her. She's losing her eyesight and seems to be getting progressively colder throughout these books. Every time she uses her gift, she seems to become less a part of this world.

But, you know, as if that wasn't stressful enough, Alex has a WHOLE lot of other things going on that came at the end of book #1................ don't continue reading if you don't want spoilers from book #1!
*She's learned that she's at least part Fae and that she may have inherited part of the Fae kingdom which puts her in the eyesights of the other Fae rulers.
*She has the romantic interest of two men.....NEITHER of whom are actually available. There's Falin who belongs to the Winter Queen as her lover and assassin. Then there's Death, who is, you know...Death, so that kind of makes him unavailable too.
*Her childhood friend is back, Rhianna, but just a whisper of what she used to be after being imprisoned in Fae for 200 years.
*Her landlord, Caleb, is also Fae, but he's an independent from the Fae courts. But having Alex in his home has brought him under attack too.
*Then there's the whole investigation into the murdered feet and constructs that keep showing up.

Yeah, Alex is dealing with a lot, but I love her character. She goes into everything with a willingness that most people wouldn't have. She's scared and worried and not a person to jump into adventure, but it keeps coming at her and she keeps attacking back. She just does it and you can't help but love her for it. I can't wait to jump into book #3's audio....so good!
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Jan 04, 2013 Kathy Davie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, urban

Second in the Alex Craft urban suspense series set in a mythical town and revolving around Alex, a wyrd witch disowned by her family. It's been a month since Grave Witch .

My Take
I am loving this series! Price takes our expectations of Faerie and the fae and mixes them up with human society to create an intriguingly fresh world. Nekros City seems to exist independently of the rest of the world. It certainly wasn't in existence over fifty years ago! Yet, I don't feel a lack.

Price has a great rang...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Twiggy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, fantasy, magical, fae

Things have gone fairly well for Alex in the month since events in book 1.

Unfortunately this starts to change when she is called in to help the police investigate a series of murders when a number of severed left feet are discovered. Soon after she is attacked by a construct made of witchcraft and glamour in the middle of a main street causing public consternation when a hole in the aetheric emerges.

Since the events of book one, Alex's Fae heritage has become harder to ignore and she starts to...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, fae, fun, good-worldbuilding, kick-ass-heroine, uf, witches

I'm surprised. I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. I thought it'd be just another mediocre UF book to get my UF fix, but it turned out to be up there in the books I really like. The plot was really interesting and is still twisting and turning with just the right amount of mystery (though at a few points, it almost felt like she just threw in every plot device....but somehow I wasn't annoyed as I normally am...). I like her as a character, I like how she handles things, no whini...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Fangs for the Fantasy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Since the much publicised events of Grave Witch, life has got much better for Alexis. She has steady work, her name is well known (a mixed blessing) and things are much less desperate than before. But she also has some odd repercussions from it – a ghost sidekick for one, and her newly awakened fae blood means she has to do some more adjustments to help her round the iron-saturated world and dance around the fae codes of obligation and language.

But a quiet life can’t continue as the police call...more Since the much publicised events of Grave Witch, life has got much better for Alexis. She has steady work, her name is well known (a mixed blessing) and things are much less desperate than before. But she also has some odd repercussions from it – a ghost sidekick for one, and her newly awakened fae blood means she has to do some more adjustments to help her round the iron-saturated world and dance around the fae codes of obligation and language.

But a quiet life can’t continue as the police call her with a curious case of disembodied feet which even she can’t raise a shade from. Further investigating quickly leads to the fae – which pulls her hip deep into fae politics where the Winter Queen is looking to snatch up the independent fae however she can. Alexis’s new status as feykin puts her more at risk; her new people can make demands of her and have expectations of her should her fae blood become known. Then there’s her developing magic which makes her in high demand among the courts – and the subsequent pressure for her to pick a side.

As if that weren’t enough, the Soul Collectors are also involved, magical glamour monsters are running rampant through the streets and seem to be targeting her, her best friend is caught in the cross fire, she may be in the middle of police politics, one of the fae agents is gunning for her, her old friend and now fae changeling wants her to inherit a castle and her long absent lover, Falin has reappeared with very conflicted loyalties.

It’s complicated to say the least.

I love this world. I really really love it. The fae and their courts are always a favourite of mine. The different magic systems, the Soul Collectors, the difficulties of fae language and the web of obligations around them – it just has so many elements I love

I can also feel that it’s really well built – just the way the different law enforcement agencies with their various acronyms are described makes me sure of it. The different and detailed way magic works, the different planes of existence and, so far, everything being extremely consistent. It’s a rich world, a deep world and a very well put together world. It’s one of those worlds that makes me think that Kalayna Price has books upon books of notes into which she’s poured a lot of effort to make sure her world works.

And there are a lot of unique elements – I love the idea of the Awakening causing these new lands to open up. The fae are very very vivid and the magic system is extremely original, being powerful but with limits and rules. And the use of Grave Sight – of death sight and reaching the land of the dead without the usual Necromancy trappings of zombies et al is really new and very different from anything else I’ve seen before.

The one complaint I have stems as much from love of the world as any legitimate unhappiness. I want to know more. I still feel that there’s a lot that hasn’t been explained that I desperately want to know. Like what being a Wyrd witch as opposed to just a witch actually means. What are the other courts of fae? Who and what is the High King? Even all the acronymed police forces left me a little confused because they were introduced then used so quickly. I wanted to know more – a lot, lot more. I’m not sure if more information could have been pushed into this book – but I wanted it and still want it.

And that’s aside from in-story mysteries like Alex’s family history – her deceased mother and her mysterious father. Then there’s the plot questions – how will Alex react to the courts? What will she do with her castle? How will Holly manage her addiction? What will her relationship with the FIB and police force be now? Cliffhangers, questions and mysteries leave me hungering for more.

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Sep 30, 2012 Sheyla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Grave Dance is the second book in the series. It begins a month after book two has ended.

Alex is recuperating from her last battle. Falin is MIA. She has been recruited by the police to help with a case. The cops have recovered parts of different bodies, to be more specific the left feet. The feet are found in the Sionan River. She is able to find more using her grave sense and uncovering their glamour.

Her landlord and friend, Caleb asked her to help another Fae. Because of her new abilities she...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Sandy Williams rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Loved this! And that's saying a ton considering that, lately, for me to enjoy something, it has to have a heavy romance plotline.

The worldbuilding in this book is phenomenal. I don't remember being so impressed on the first book. I had to go back and look up my review for it, but uh, apparently, I didn't review it on Goodreads? I'm pretty sure I was reviewing books here back in 2010. I have no clue how I skipped reviewing this. My memory is that I liked it a lot.

Anyway, as I said, I loved this....more

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Sep 01, 2012 Ashley (The Bibliophile's Corner) rated it 5 of 5 stars

My one suggestion to you, do not start reading this book only to set it down for a week. I made that mistake and I must admit, I forgot over a third of the plot from the first bit of the book and the rest of the book gives you even more plot and twists and turns and flip flops, it gets ridiculous. In a good way though. I love intricate plots, especially when things all come together in the end. Which, Kalayna did in the end.

Alex Craft kicked ass, as always. She has quite a knack for getting hers...more My one suggestion to you, do not start reading this book only to set it down for a week. I made that mistake and I must admit, I forgot over a third of the plot from the first bit of the book and the rest of the book gives you even more plot and twists and turns and flip flops, it gets ridiculous. In a good way though. I love intricate plots, especially when things all come together in the end. Which, Kalayna did in the end.

Alex Craft kicked ass, as always. She has quite a knack for getting herself into all sorts of trouble, but has her abilities and amazing friends to support her. If you read my review of Grave Witch, my one problem was that I didn’t get enough of her other friends Tamera, a medical examiner and sensitive, Holly, a kick ass attorney, and Caleb, Fae and artist. In Grave Dance, we got a lot more of them. Though still not as much with Tamera as I’d like. This book definitnely involved Caleb and Holly more.

***PARTIAL SPOILER***

One of my favorite additions to this series are the Fae courts. As Alex discovered in Grave Witch, she is a feykin. Meaning she has Fae blood in her. It’s amazing the subtle changes that Kalayna added to Alex’s character, such as not being able to lie, her sensitivity to iron, and being able to see through glamours. The scenes that took place in the Fae World were brilliant. We are introduced to the Winter Court and the Shadow Court. The Winter Court I always imagine as the White Witch’s castle from Narnia. The Shadow Court was described as having a gothic feel with flying buttresses and spiral towers. The contrasting courts were set up wonderfully.

***END PARTIAL SPOILER***

Death and Falin present just as much confusion for Alex as they did in Grave Witch. I love that Death is invisible to everyone but Alex, it presents an absolutely hysterical scene when Falin and Alex are in the midst of a steamy kiss session. Death and Falin’s pissing contests throughout this book are incredibly amusing. But this one, sadly, has even more confusion, especially the tragic twist at the end. Which I will not spoil or even partially spoil.

As for what I didn’t like, honestly, I was thoroughly impressed with this book. As a sequel, this book was very well done. I can only hope that Kalayna Price will continue this series. So if you haven’t read Grave Witch yet, go buy it and buy Grave Dance too. You will not be disappointed.(less)

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Aug 22, 2012 Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars

Grave Dance, the second installment in the Grave Witch series, was a very pleasant continuation on the first book. Price doesn't waste a lot of time on summary or rehashing old events, something I enjoy. The books could almost be read as stand-alones, since I couldn't even remembered what happened in the first book but had no trouble following along in the second.

In Grave Dance, all the characters are present from the first book, but characters like John the detective take a backseat. The main...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Zeenat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Synopsis: After a month of recovery, Alex is still dealing with the aftermaths. First she finds out she is fae, then Death said he loved her, and Falin Andrews disappears. She throws herself into work, and they have a case for her that involves, feet. Lots of them . . .

Review: If I really like the first book, I am bound to love the second book. and I LOVED Grave Dance. The problems I had with the first book disappeared in this book.

In this book, we really delved into the Fae world, and saw wha...more

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May 25, 2012 Jenn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, fae

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed GRAVE DANCE. I’d forgotten how much I liked GRAVE WITCH until I re-read it a while ago (and then dared you to read it) and I think GRAVE DANCE was even better than its predecessor!

GRAVE DANCE begins with Alex still dealing with the aftermath of GRAVE WITCH. We learn that Falin, her love interest, took off shortly after everything in the first novel, and Alex hasn’t seen him since. Alex is also trying to figure out how to deal with the fact that Death loves her...more

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May 17, 2012 Samantha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Originally published @ Calliope's Domain - http://calliopedomain.blogspot.ca

Book: Grave Dance

Author: Kalayna Price

Series: Alex Craft

Publishing stats: July 5th 2011, Penguin Group (USA)

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Cover Blurb: After a month spent recovering from a vicious fight with a sorcerer, grave witch Alex Craft is ready to get back to solving murders by raising the dead. With her love life in turmoil thanks to the disappearance of Fae Investigation Bureau agent Falin Andrews and a shocking “L” word...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Dianne Socci-Tetro rated it 3 of 5 stars

Grave Dance: An Alex Craft Novel – Kalayna Price

This is the second installment in the Alex Craft series and I’m on the fence with it. The world building is interesting, but the character growth for our protagonist is pretty much nil. Alex is a frustrating character in that she never seems to ask questions before she does something fairly stupid in almost every chapter.

Death is making more of an appearance in this second book that he did in the first novel, but we still have no clear picture of...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Seanean rated it 3 of 5 stars

http://librarytalker.blogspot.com/201...

Left feet suddenly start showing up in Fae territory. Just left feet. Nothing else. And Alex Craft is called in to try and get a read on them. Unfortunately, even though Alex can now see across multiple realities without really trying, she still can't see the memories of the dead that once wore them.

She's also dealing with magical constructs trying to kill her and the Queen of the Winter Court suddenly has become very interested in claiming all the Fae in...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Novels On The Run rated it 4 of 5 stars

MICHELLE'S REVIEW:

RATING: 4 DESIRABLE DEATH & FALIN STARS!!!

Grave Dance , book 2 in the Alex Craft series brings some new characters. We venture further into Faerie territory and Death and Falin are vying for Alex’s attention, even though for one of them it is forbidden and for the other one, he is technically taken by the Winter Queen, complicated...much.

Alex literally has fae blood on her hands and she has caused a stir in the Winter Queen’s court.

Alex is juggling new property, friends wh...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Three Crow Press rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review by ocdReader

I love the books about the fae, and while I didn’t expect that of this series…we are in the world of faerie an awful lot here! It is wonderful. I don’t really know what it is, maybe seeing the same type of fae depicted in such different ways by different authors. The differences are fascinating to me.

Alex Craft raises shades of the recently deceased. She is a grave witch and helps out the police in homicide investigations. The world of faerie has “come out” to mankind years be...more Review by ocdReader

I love the books about the fae, and while I didn’t expect that of this series…we are in the world of faerie an awful lot here! It is wonderful. I don’t really know what it is, maybe seeing the same type of fae depicted in such different ways by different authors. The differences are fascinating to me.

Alex Craft raises shades of the recently deceased. She is a grave witch and helps out the police in homicide investigations. The world of faerie has “come out” to mankind years before, because they needed the belief of humans to keep them from fading away. It has been one month since the last book and Alex’s life is humming along, except that she hasn’t seen Falin (her love interest from Grave Witch and the Winter Queen’s knight) in all that time. Alex is called in to assist the police. Left feet keep turning up and she is hoping to help find the rest of the bodies. It goes nuts from there. In fact, there are so many seemingly disparate elements that Alex bumbles about unsure of what leads where. It was crazy and the action heats up because EVERYONE, faery courts, family, friends, magic users etc. wants a piece of what Alex can bring. (It is a tiny bit reminiscent of some of the Cassie Palmer books action style.) Magic constructs are attacking her and anyone near her. She finds she is linked to faerie in ways she never imagined, and then becomes linked in more ways. Her body and magic are changing since the last book and she has a whole bunch of secrets from her friends and family. It was entertainingly delicious. As a side note, this is the first book that has gotten me to appreciate the not saying Thank you or Please to the fae, implying a debt. Many stories have conveyed that information, but few have illustrated it so well.

Because there is so much action which goes in different ways, it is hard to know what is going on or to keep up. The nearly has as much difficulty as Alex does. However, it effectively masks, along with a little misdirection, what is really going on so we are all surprised when the culprit is revealed. There are many new issues and loose ends that make the next book very exciting to contemplate including castles, new relatives, faery courts, the nightmare realm and her planeweaving abilities, just to name a few. I really enjoyed the first book, Grave Witch and I very much enjoyed this one. There are many elements that are similar to other series I have read, but Price does a really good job of differentiating Alex’s world. The fae creatures we get introduced to are scary, yet at the same time the reader can empathize with their desire to remain independent and free. Her characters are great and the secondary characters are being fleshed out further with each book. Alex can see through most glamour now, so we find out some interesting tidbits here and there. Plus there are a bunch of new introductions. The new characters slow the action down a little bit and we are given a lot of information, but there are some very interesting new players in this world!

I really enjoyed this book and the series in general, they are a solid addition to the urban fantasy genre. I give Grave Dance 4 stars. I am definitely going to book push these on friends and family.(less)

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Jan 03, 2012 Mei-Lu rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is my second Alex Craft novel in 48 hours and my only regret is I have to wait until July before I can read the third one.

I'm really impressed with author Kalayna Price's chops. Very often in an urban paranormal novel of this type, the plot is merely a delivery system for romance and smooches. (Oh, don't judge. Like the plot in the most recent Mission Impossible was anything but an excuse for batsh*t stunts. I just saw that movie two weeks ago and I can barely remember the plot.) But Price...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Particle_Person rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, ghost-story, has-romance, mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 15, 2011 Kristina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Grave Witch, Alex Craft is called in to consult on a series of serial killings, but this time her ability to raise the shades of the dead is not going to help much.Ther just isnt enough of the body left to raise a shade..in fact all that is left..are left feet! She seems to blindly go through the case and ends up stirring up more trouble than it's worth. The un-aligned fae are in danger and so are her friends..it seems Alex just cant do much right.

With death(thats what she calls her soul reaper...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Felicia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-paranormal, vaginal-urban-fantasy

Well, I loved the first book and stayed up too late reading it, and last night I did the same thing. There was loads of new information in this installment about Alex's new powers, about the world of Faerie, lots of character tension and secondary characters (who I'd like to see even more of). Of course the love triangle is still super yummy, in fact yummier than last book (and boy does this author know how to cliffhanger a book, yeesh!).

I will admit the dudes are a bit 2-dimensional hunk-ville...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Kale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You know you have issues when your back up is a six pound dog and Death's minions.

High off her 15 minutes of fame after raising a shade on tv, business is booming at Tongues for the Dead. Unfortunately for Alexis Craft it seems like everyone wants a piece of her. The Nekros PD and independent fey want Alex to find a killer, the Winter Queen and Shadow King are trying to recruit her, mortal magical skimmers want to use her, while Death and Falin are trying to woo her.

Alexis Craft is up to her n...more You know you have issues when your back up is a six pound dog and Death's minions.

High off her 15 minutes of fame after raising a shade on tv, business is booming at Tongues for the Dead. Unfortunately for Alexis Craft it seems like everyone wants a piece of her. The Nekros PD and independent fey want Alex to find a killer, the Winter Queen and Shadow King are trying to recruit her, mortal magical skimmers want to use her, while Death and Falin are trying to woo her.

Alexis Craft is up to her neck in.... Feet? Well, no one said her job was uninteresting. Alex is on the case of a serial murderer with a serious right foot fetish. Because only finding feet wasn't weird enough, they all had to be left feet. Unfortunately Craft can't raise a shade from foot alone, and any attempt Alex and her buddies at the NPD have made to find the bodies has yielded nothing. Literally. Like the feet only ever existed without an entire body. Of course this is only one of Alex's on going problems. It seems the Blood Moon ritual has awoken her Fey Soul. Craft is now finding it increasingly more difficult to lie, she is also developing a very annoying intolerance to iron, and her powers as well seem to be growing. Alex can now see across multiple plans of reality at once. This new ability not only makes her a hot commodity, it also puts her life in danger. But it's not like homicidal attempts are anything new for Alex. Especially when an abnormally high number of imaginary magical creatures keep trying to kill her. If the bad guys don't succeed her would be lovers might. Falin Andrews reappears after being MIA for a month, and the love triangle heats up with a little deathly drama as Mr. Muerte shows his interest and tries to keep the Queen's Bloodied Hands off Alexis.

Alex is going to have put her dancing shoes on to tango with the fey as she journeys into Fairy. To save her friends and herself she'll have to be quick witted and clever, while solving a few murder mysteries in the process, and finding the killers along the way.

Wow. Kalayna Price has really raised the bar in Grave Dance. The second installment of the gritty urban fantasy was packed with intricate storylines that keep you guessing until the end. Just when I thought Price had established her heroine she added layers to Alex's abilities and identity to create an even richer character. I really like how everything came together, as well as hints to future complications. Price planted a few plot points involving family, and lovers that I am looking forward to reading about. Grave Dance wasn't as fast paced as Grave Witch but there were a lot of action scenes. Alex's love life is still slow building and light compared to everything else, but what little of it there was, definitely leaves you wanting more.

Fans of the Fey genre will love this installment, since Grave Dance shifts the witchcraft focus to a predominantly more fairy one. But don't despair if your like me and like the witchy aspect, there's still plenty witch in Alex Craft. Overall this is a great sequel, another page turning edition that will leave you pining for the next edition.(less)

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Aug 11, 2011 Holly McLaughlin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

I really like the Alex Craft series so far. I personally feel that the author's strong point is her characters - even the side characters are interesting. The story is definitely fast-paced, a little morbid, and easily sucks you in.

I love when Death is an actual character, and I look forward to learning more about him and side characters like Caleb and some of the other fae. There's really a lot for the author to explore, so I hope she keeps it fresh and interesting.

The folklore her world is b...more

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About Kalayna Price

USA Today Bestselling author Kalayna Price writes the Alex Craft Novels, a new dark urban fantasy series from Roc, and the Novels of Haven from Bell Bridge Books. Her works have been translated into several languages and are available (or have been contracted for release) in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Poland, Russia, and Germany. Kalayna draws her ideas from the world around her,...more

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Quotes from Grave Dance

“If you're going to carry a dagger, you need to learn to use it."
I frowned at him. "I know how to use it. I stick the pointy end in things I don't like.” — 51 people liked it

“His shoulders sagged as he stepped back. Then a half smile made the edge of his lips crook. " You're mad at me."
"And that's amusing because?"
The half smile spread into a lopsideed grin, and he stood up straighter. "You wouldn't be mad if you didn't care. I'm onto you, Alexis."
Oh, that insufferable, arrogant--” — 39 people liked it

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Grave Dance (Alex Craft #2)

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