Wednesday, December 30, 2015

REVIEW: Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace



Shallow GravesFor fans of Holly Black and Nova Ren Suma, a gripping, hauntingly atmospheric novel about murder, revenge, and a world where monsters—human and otherwise—lurk at the fringes.

When seventeen-year-old Breezy Lin wakes up in a shallow grave one year after her death, she doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past. In life, Breezy was always drawn to the elegance of the universe and the mystery of the stars. Now she must set out to find answers and discover what is to become of her in the gritty, dangerous world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she finds is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.

Tense, complex, and wholly engaging, Shallow Graves is a stunning first novel from Kali Wallace. 





MY THOUGHTS
One year after her death, Breezy wakes up and digs out of her own grave. She doesn't remember how she died and she has no idea why she alive again. What she does know is killers. She's now able to tell who has murders someone and she has the ability to quickly kill them. Traveling away from her home, Breezy soon finds out that there others out there who aren't quite human and a cult intent and ridding the world of them.

I didn't know what to expect from this book, besides some creepiness. I make it a rule not to read the synopsis of a book right before reading the book, since sometimes spoilers are included. I thought that the beginning was very interesting. I was expecting the book to be about Breezy killing various murderers. As weird as it sounds, I though that was pretty darn interesting. I was thrown when the cult was thrown in and then the book felt less creepy dead girl thriller, but weird paranormal. For some reason, the introduction of other paranormals didn't do it for me. I later grew to like it and found a lot of it interesting, but it took a bit for me to get used to the new topic.

As for writing, Kali Wallace is a wonderful writer. I liked how the story moved and how there were flashbacks intertwined within the story. This wasn't really a mystery, but there was a mystery underneath about what happened to Breezy and I liked how that flowed. And as weird and dark as the story was, I did like it.

Breezy as a character was hard to connect to. Partly because she's dead and doesn't remember what happened to her. She can also easily kill people. You know, not really something you can easily relate to. She also felt oddly older, which shouldn't be the case. She's dead, not an immortal being that has lived centuries. Another thing I would like to mention is that Breezy is bisexual. What I liked about that in this book was that it was never made a big deal of, it just was.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I did like this book. It wasn't what I expected, but it was a very interesting and dark read. This book won't become a favorite of mine, but Kali Wallace can definitely write and if she writes any more YA, I will pick it up. If you're a fan of dark, paranormal reads that are definitely strange.

I hereby give this book
3.5 Stars
Meaning: I liked it, but it wasn't quite amazing.

1 comment :

  1. I love it when a book is beautifully written! I will sometimes pick up a book just because people say that it was beautifully written. I'm sorry that you didn't like the book more! I hope that you find another book that you love soon! :)

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