Kelly Coon

In the walled city-state of Alu, Kammani wants nothing more than to become the accomplished healer her father used to be before her family was cast out of their privileged life in shame.

When Alu's ruler falls deathly ill, Kammani’s beautiful little sister, Nanaea, is chosen as one of three sacred maidens to join him in the afterlife. It’s an honor. A tradition. And Nanaea believes it is her chance to live an even grander life than the one that was stolen from her.

But Kammani sees the selection for what it really is—a death sentence.

Desperate to save her sister, Kammani schemes her way into the palace to heal the ruler. There she discovers more danger lurking in the sand-stone corridors than she could have ever imagined and that her own life—and heart—are at stake. But Kammani will stop at nothing to dig up the palace’s buried secrets even if it means sacrificing everything…including herself.… (más)

This review was guest posted on Ity Reads Books: Gravemaidens

Cast out of nobility for failing to save the ruler’s dying son, Kammani’s father spends his nights befuddled by alcohol. Having trained under her father, Kammani continues to heal when her father cannot. As the ruler of Alu falls ill, sacred maidens are called to accompany him into death. When Kammani’s sister is selected as a maiden, Kammani will do everything in her power to heal the dying ruler. But Kammani’s sister, Nanaea wants nothing more than to repair her family’s honor by being a maiden. An unknown illness plagues the ruler and Kammani must battle both the unknown and the spite from her sister. But as she begins to unearth hidden truths within the palace, she will realize there is much more at stake.

Gravemaidens read at an even pace, not holding too many twists or turns. I guessed a few of the plot reveals before they occurred, but it was still an entertaining read. Kammani’s character kept me reading. She was dedicated to the healing arts and was extremely different from the usual YA protagonist who chases after love. While Kammani acknowledged that she did feel attracted to Dagan, she was responsible enough to know that she had an important job to do.

This book does touch on cruelty towards women, as the world of Alu contains men who see women as beneath them. There are moments of abuse, but once the structure is established it dances on the edge of this theme. Men leer at the woman and make lewd suggestions throughout the novel to remind the reader of the dangers Kammani could be in if caught alone.

But despite everything she has to face, Kammani is determined to save her sister. Even if Nanaea fights against it every step of the way. The age difference between the two was so clear when Nanaea bickered with Kammani over being a maiden. And yet through it all, Kammani’s love for her sister was so clear to the reader.

I’m intrigued to see where the next book leads. Given where the characters end up, I am puzzled as to how the series can continue. But Kelly Coon must have something planned, and I can’t wait to see what it is!… (más)

Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Gravemaidens duology. I got an eGalley of this book from NetGalley to review.

Story (3/5): This was a well done conclusion to this duology. This was decently written and kept me reading. I did feel like there wasn't anything special in here though, events just kind of played out as expected. There were also a lot of repetitive plot devices...make a plan to kill the king, oh it doesn't work and people die, make another plan to kill the king, oh...that didn't work either and people died...repeat over and over. This book does resolve everything nicely but the ending was just eh...

Characters (3/5): I never found the story or characters to be all that compelling. They just didn’t inspire or really engage me. I feel like Kammani made a lot of the same mistakes over and over and didn’t grow much as a character. I feel like Dagan was very supportive but was disappointed that he just sat back and watched Kammani make the same mistakes over and over again.

Setting (3/5): The setting was a pretty basic middle eastern based fantasy setting. We do venture outside of the kingdom of Alu briefly but it didn’t really give me a good feel for the world outside of Alu. The world-building could have been a lot better.

Writing/Drawing Style (3/5): This was technically written fine. It kept me interested and I wanted to know what happened in the end. However, I just didn’t find myself intrigued by the world or really rooting for the characters….it just didn’t suck me in. It was perfectly fine….everything was just...fine. I was disappointed that the theme of the Boatman wasn’t carried through the story a bit more consistently. He was in the story here and there and played a bit role at the end but wasn’t woven into the story that well...he was almost more of an afterthought.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was a bit disappointing for me, it kept me reading but I never really felt engrossed in the story. It did a good job of wrapping up the story and tying up loose ends but didn’t really blow me away with it’s creativity. It ended up being a nice basic fantasy story about overthrowing a tyrant that had a middle eastern flare to it.… (más)