Book Review: Grave Memory by Kalayna Price

Grave Memory
Author: Kalayna Price
Series: An Alex Craft Novel
Publication: Roc (July 3, 2012)

Description: When the dead need to talk, Alex Craft is always ready to listen…

As a Grave Witch, Alex solves murders by raising the dead—an ability that comes at a cost, and after her last few cases, that cost is compounding. But her magic isn’t the only thing causing havoc in her life. While she’s always been on friendly terms with Death himself, things have recently become a whole lot more close and personal. Then there’s her sometime partner, agent Falin Andrews, who is under the glamour of the Winter Queen. To top everything off, her best friend has been forever changed by her time spent captive in Faerie.

But the personal takes a backseat to the professional when a string of suicides occur in Nekros City and Alex is hired to investigate. The shades have no memory of the days leading up to their brutal endings, so despite the very public apparent suicides, this is murder. But what kind of magic can overcome the human will to survive? And why do the shades lack the memory of their deaths? Searching for the answer might mean Alex won’t have a life to remember at all…

My Thoughts: I enjoyed this third adventure in the life of Alex Craft, grave witch. Alex is currently without a boyfriend with Death pulling a disappearing act and Falin being under the Winter Queen's command to avoid her. But lack of boyfriend doesn't mean lack of adventure.

Alex is busy trying to get her new business off the ground. She has found a very seedy location for her office and stumbled onto her first case when she comes upon a suicide where the ghost tells her he didn't commit suicide. Unfortunately, everything looks like suicide. It isn't until similar cases start piling up that Alex begins to find out what is going on. A being from another plane is taking over humans, sucking the life out of them, and turning them into ghouls.

Besides trying to track down a being no one else can see and no one knows how to stop, Alex is hiding her fae heritage from most of her friends and also learning about her new powers as a planeweaver. Her ability to see into the various planes is useful for her new case but is still very damaging to her vision. One thing I really like about this series is that the extra-ordinary powers that Alex possesses all come with costs.

Both her relationships with Falin and Death have their costs. The second book in this series shows the bad effects when a soul collector and a witch get together. It lets Alex know that her relationship with Death is doomed. But Death was her friend since she was five years old, long before they had any romantic feelings for each other. Alex misses her friend. And, since Falin is oathbound to serve the Winter Queen, Alex can't trust anything about her relationship with him. He must put the Winter Queen first and Alex doesn't want to have anything to do with the Winter Queen.

This was another exciting episode in the life of Alex Craft. I can't wait to read more.

Favorite Quote:

It said something about my life when a heavily armed official accused me of causing magical havoc and I had to wonder which incident she meant. That being the case, I didn't bother to guess. If being the daughter of the most devious manipulator I'd ever met had taught me anything, it was when to keep my mouth shut. I wasn't about to volunteer information she might not already have.

I bought this one for my Kindle. You can buy your copy here.