by Jesus Ibarra
Details on how to win a copy of Grave Memory at the end of this post.
Alex Craft returns in Kalayna Price’s third novel, Grave Memory, searching for the reason why people are committing suicide. More importantly, she is looking for answers as to why their shades don’t remember days leading up to the suicide. Alex is a Grave Witch so she can summon their shades, the last memories of dead people, talk to ghosts and soul collectors, and use her grave magic as a weapon. Alex is also dealing with the effects of her new powers that go beyond grave magic, and having Death pop into her life once again after several weeks of not being around.
The overall plot is actually a mash up of the first two books because, once again, Alex’s grave magic is front and center and something is wrong with the shades she is summoning. In Alex’s world faeries are out and magic is used readily by most. But for Alex, using her magic leaves her blind for a while, so using her new fae powers might leave her permanently blind. 
A lot of urban fantasy novels have a “magic comes at a price rule,” but these rules have always bugged me because often they are so severe that they limit the person using the magic. In this series, being blind is severe but it isn’t debilitating because Alex is resourceful and can manage to get around without her sight.
The other great thing about this book is that we get more focus on Alex and her relationships with her friends – especially since Alex isn’t pining over Falin, a fae, which is probably what I dislike about this series the most.
Another plus is more Death, who is probably my favorite character and a really interesting love interest for Alex. He is definitely more believable than Falin, since Alex has known Death her entire life and she only met Falin a few months ago. And, with more Death, we get to see more of the soul collectors and their mythos. We have had a few hints in the last two books about who they are and how they operate, but in this book a lot more is revealed and it is very satisfying.
The pacing and prose is especially strong here, much better than the last two books, and Death and Alex finally hooking up was completely satisfying and realistic considering they have known each other for a long time. This is a great urban fantasy novel and a great series to get into, and I definitely recommend it and will keep reading it.
Watch for an interview with Kalayna here in KRL coming soon!
We have extended this contest to August 11, 2012!
To enter to win a copy of Grave Memory, simply email KRL at life@kingsriverlife[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Memory”, or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen July 28, 2012. U.S. residents only.
The book sounds good.
We have a winner! Thanks for entering
Lorie Ham, KRL Publisher
Wow, this book sounds really good, Jesus. I have a soft spot for Urban Fantasy that has Death as one of the characters! -) And it’s good to see the author winking at the usual tropes, and not going all-out with the ‘magic comes at a price’ trope.