Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Their killer was there when I woke up. He was dead before I saw his face. I know what he did, but I don't know his name. 

It was an accident, the first time I killed. It was an instinct I didn't know I had. I had never made a choice.

The second time was on purpose.

So I go into the bookstore. 

I see this on the new release shelf.

I stare at it.

It stares at me.

I message Linnea to see if she's read it. She hasn't.

I debate for a while. Then, I finally just pick it up and find a corner of the store to read. 

It all went downhill from there. 

This is a very good monster book. At a glance, it is a mash up of a lot of different possible plots, all packed together. Was it a hit or miss? I'm thinking both. But I liked it.

Soooo.....

Stats:

Genre:  Paranormal. A sort of “monsterology” book

Feelings: A few here and there.

Cuteness: There was no romance! Some adorable friend-ships, though.

Fast pacing: More or less. It’s all over the place

Series: Not that I believe.

Read if you like: Monster type books. Think Jackaby meets Supernatural meets like…Warm Bodies. With elements of like....Dexter. And Minnow Bly. All smooshed together.

Content: A few mentions of sex, but none actually occurring. Some violence. Plenty of that good ole bloody factor.

Trigger warning? Loss of family. A few mentions of suicide.

(Note for more conservative people: Main character IS a bisexual character)

In summary... She’s pretty sure she’s supposed to be dead. After all, waking in a grave after being dead for a year is a pretty solid reason for thinking that. But now she simply can’t die, and some crazy cult is after her, and her only friend is a couple of ghouls and a nightmare.

Thoughts: Dirt. A lot of dirt. Dried blood under your nails.

Messages: Not a theme-heavy book, but some internal battles dealing with starting over, and revenge. 

Overall

Rating: 4/5

Spoiler Free Review

So. This book. While it was far from the atmospheric horror story I wanted and was expecting, putting that aside made me see that yes, I actually really did enjoy this book. Okay, it did have a pretty solid atmosphere, and there was some creepy stuff that went down. But. You have to understand, they compared this book to Holly Black and Nova on the back, so my expectations skyrocketed.

-The Characters-

Unfortunately, this character did not hold past the never-can-connect-to-main-character disease that I have. I definitely liked Breezy. She was funny, far from whiny, snarky, and realistic. She was a diverse character, the first bisexual that I’ve actually found in this genre so far. And I loved her backstory.

But. I just kind of didn’t care. But that’s my fault.

HOWEVER. The side characters.

The side characters.

Rain was so cool. I don’t have anything eloquent or insightful to say about her. She was just so cool. Her monster aspect was new and fascinating, and her interactions with everyone else amusing.

And Zeke. Hello yes I very much adored Zeke. He was the ghoul, the kind of very grumpy why-must-i-do-these-things kind of guy. Hated everyone. But did nice things because he begrudgingly didn’t want these people to get murdered. But then sulked some more. But not in the broody way. Just kind of the i-quit way. Also: he ate humans. So there’s that.

His brother was great too. Honestly both of them were so great. I wanted MORE of their relationship, because the snippets I saw of them were fantastic. I just really love brother relationships.

-Story, writing and plot-

This…was a cool story.

No, this book is not horror. It was advertised as such, but I don’t consider it that. I think this was a very well done book, by an author who I look forward to see more of. At first, I was a tad overwhelmed. I felt like Wallace had become very excited and thought LETS JUST PUT EVERY MONSTER EVER IN ONE WORLD.

But then, after I got passed the initial shock….I thought “Yes. Why not, though???” Because I love that type of monsterology book. All the monsters! All of them!

I just wished this was advertised as such.

And so, I think people should definitely read this. It’s funny, it’s entertaining, it’s a fun story.

What even was the plot of this book. I get it, Breezy wants to know why suddenly she’s a re-animated corpse. And why suddenly there’s like banshees and ghouls and monsters everywhere.

But then there’s that weird cult that’s got this twisted idea that they have to remove all darkness and kill monsters. Which is interesting. But it felt very underplayed. Both plots of the story were very interesting, but the pacing just felt…off.

Also: The ending wrapped up so fast. And so neatly. I’m pretty sure this is a standalone, and if so…color me a bit disappointed by the end. Not quite the Huge Conflict Climax I was waiting for.

-Other-

I really like characters. I love characters that have a distinct shape even when you know them for a few pages. I love when you can tell that the author developed each and every character. I like characters not think poorly of their families every page. I love families. I love monsters.

So, this book was a compilation of a lot of things I love. Even as it flopped in a few areas, this book was right for me. The negative reviews consist of people saying it is “too much” and while I can see where people are coming from…it wasn’t too much for me.

And so, overall, solid book. If you’re a fan of monsters GALORE…then this book is right for you.