Grave Dance by Kalayna Price

Grave Dance by Kalayna Price

Release Date: July 5, 2011
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 400

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 himself, Alex is eager for the distractions of work. But her new case turns out to be a deadly challenge.

The police hire Alex to consult on a particularly strange investigation in the nature preserve south of Nekros City. The strange part: There are no corpses, only fragments of them. A serial killer is potentially on the loose, and Alex has no way to raise a shade without a body, so she’ll have to rely on the magic of others to find leads. But as she begins investigating, a creature born of the darkest magic comes after her. Someone very powerful wants to make sure the only thing she finds is a dead end—her own.

Okay, so before I say anything, I'll admit that only recently have I begun to delve into these specifically sci-fi and fantasy genres. This was sent along by publicists who have sent me plenty of YA books that I've enjoyed so I decided to give this a try. Well despite the fact that this is undoubtedly a sequel, I actually quite enjoyed it. Granted, my enjoyment and overall understanding of the plot could have been improved by a ten-fold if I had actually read the first book. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable read; Price has built up a complex world of human mortals, fae, and those in-between--and most importantly, how they all interact. I found most of it interesting and not overwhelming, most likely due to the fact that the story was captivating and thankfully not derailed by excessive detail of this alternate universe.

Alex is not your average girl, being able to raise the dead as shades and all, but her deeds from her past adventure about to catch up to her--and they just might reveal more about Alex herself than she is ready for. But she must forge ahead on the new murder case at hand, even as she has to tie up some loose ends, if she wishes to protect her friends--and herself--from danger. Of course having two handsome men, Death and a fae, Falin, coming onto her (possibly for more reasons than just physical attraction) just complicates things.

I liked the interactions between Alex and Death and Alex and Falin and the intricate story Price weaves was enough to keep me interested, even though I had not read the first novel. With that said, I would be very much interested in reading Grave Witch (the first Alex Craft novel) and the next book in the series whenever it comes out!