Meghan's Reviews > Gravemaidens

Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon
Rate this book
Clear rating

by
2935175
's review

it was ok
bookshelves: young-adult, arcs, netgalley, fantasy, published-2019, read-2019

Thank you Netgalley and Delacorte Press for a copy of Gravemaidens in exchange for an honest review.

Rants, Raves, and Reviews
Oh boy, okay. I know part of this is my fault: I was swayed by a gorgeous cover and the promise of a dark story. I already have a rough relationship with YA fantasy, and I am starting to realize that YA fantasy that promises to be dark and disturbing is even worse for me. Does this book promise that? I mean, it’s called Gravemaidens. There is discussion of danger lurking and the ferryman between the world and the afterlife. It just seems like it should be macabre.

Unfortunately, this book is just….kind of boring. I have trouble staying in a story when I don’t care for the main characters, and this book didn’t really have any characters I loved or that stood out. Kammani thinks and talks repeatedly about how she’s had to grow up too quickly and take care of the house after the death of her mother and the fall from grace, but it is so much telling and not a ton of showing. This causes her to come off as more whiny throughout the entire book, rather than more Katniss, I guess. I got strong Katniss-esque vibes, but without much of what I love about Katniss. Hunger Games has downtime to show the hardships of District Twelve, while Gravemaidens just keeps telling you they’re there.

While Kammani comes off as whiny, her sister comes off even worse. Every time Kammanmi and her sister are together, the fight and are awful to each other. I would have almost appreciated a story of Kammani reluctantly saving her sister because it was her mother’s dying wish or something, rather than this. We are told why she wants to save her, but really overall, it never makes sense below a surface level.

There are plenty of other throwaway characters to be sure: the one note best friend, the one note “boyfriend,” the questionable princess, and the questionable guard-friend. It unfortunately just doesn’t mesh ever. There isn’t a love triangle, but the love story doesn’t make sense. Kammani is annoyed every time her “betrothed” offers to help because she takes it as pity, but ….why? Oh, and two other Gravemaidens.

Also, she is dead set on saving the king in order to save her sister. But so much of the time she's at the castle she's at parties, acting like it is so hard for her to get away. Or she's whining about saving him....but doesn't spend enough time actually trying anything??

Final Thoughts
Overall, this book had unfortunately flat characters, an obvious twist, no real world building outside of made up words. It could be something more, but unfortunately it just isn’t. And it really is kind of bad when I can't make enough work for a collage, mostly out of fear that I'll appropriate the wrong culture.
flag

Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read Gravemaidens.
Sign In »

Reading Progress

May 3, 2019 – Shelved as: to-read
May 3, 2019 – Shelved
May 3, 2019 – Shelved as: young-adult
May 3, 2019 – Shelved as: arcs
May 3, 2019 – Shelved as: netgalley
May 3, 2019 – Shelved as: fantasy
May 3, 2019 – Shelved as: published-2019
October 5, 2019 – Started Reading
October 8, 2019 –
page 21
5.05%
October 9, 2019 –
page 55
13.22%
October 10, 2019 –
page 88
21.15%
October 11, 2019 –
page 113
27.16%
October 13, 2019 –
page 205
49.28%
October 15, 2019 – Shelved as: read-2019
October 15, 2019 – Finished Reading

No comments have been added yet.