Audiobook Review – Grave Witch (Alex Craft, Book 1) by Kaylana Price (4/5 stars)
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 336 pages
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: October 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-0451463807
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Alex Craft series
Source: Audiobook through Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars
This is the first book in the Alex Craft series. The fourth book in this series, Grave Visions, is expected to release in August 2013. I have had this urban fantasy series on my shelf to read forever. It was a fun read; I enjoyed the humor and Alex’s interesting Grave Magic.
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was decent but not spectacular. The narrator’s voice sounds a little bit…mushy and wasn’t like I pictured Alex being. The narrator also had a bit of trouble with differentiating some of the male voices. Still overall the narrator did a good job conveying character emotion, and it was a decent listen.
Alex Craft is a Grave Witch who is on the rocks with the rest of her family and struggling to make ends meet. When Alex is asked to investigate a high profile murder things start to get complicated. She is attacked by a Shade and then someone tries to murder her. Good thing she is on good terms with Death and that she has the tough cop, Falin Andrews, to back her up.
This was a very enjoyable urban fantasy, I liked it. There is humor in here, some great characters, an intriguing world and I enjoyed Alex’s grave witch magic. The story is very much an investigative urban fantasy, there is a case of serial murders that must be solved and it involves black magic and fey.
Alex is a snarky character with a great sense of humor, some incredibly intriguing magic, and a problem with making ends meet. She also has a habit of taking guys home to ward off the grave chill, which has gotten her into trouble more than once.
Alex was a very fun character to read about, she is engaging and she knows how to ask for help when she needs to. Yeah, she does some kind of stupid things, but it is all highly entertaining.
The next wonderful thing about this book is the character Death. He loves wearing jeans, seems to have a soft spot for Alex, and turns up at the worst times to claim souls. Him and Alex have some wonderful banter and he is a delightfully mysterious. I can’t wait to read more about him in future books.
Helping out Alex is investigator Falin Andrews. While I didn’t like him as much as Death in the beginning of the book, he grew on me as a character. I enjoyed his interactions with Alex and all of the crazy secrets that were revealed around him.
I liked that the plot had multiple levels. The main story is resolved, but a lot of side storylines involving Alex’s background and the surrounding characters remain unanswered.
Overall a solid urban fantasy read, I enjoyed it. I liked the humor throughout, the interesting magic, and all of the mysteries surrounding our characters’ backgrounds. There was a solid mystery that was solved and it had a number of interesting fey and magic elements involved. I would definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy investigative urban fantasy. I plan on continuing the series and am looking forward to reading Grave Dance.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Audio Book Challenge
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge
– TBR Pile Reading Challenge
