Grave Dance—Kalayna Price

"So how do I hide what I am?"
"Right now? You don't. Your fae mien is undergoing a kind of metamorphosis."
Great. I guess I should be happy I hadn't woken as a cockroach. (248)
I can't resist a good Kafka joke.

I read the first in this series, Grave Witch, as part of the Vaginal Fantasy Rewind that I'm doing and was so enamored with it in general and with Alex Craft in particular that I binged on the two remaining published books.

A month after defeating a body-snatching sorcerer, Alex Craft is done with recovering and ready to get back to her life. After a semi-whirlwind romance with Falin Andrews, the investigator on the previous case, he has disappeared. And Death told her he loved her. Oh boy. But it turns out Alex has bigger problems than her love life when fragments of bodies start showing up and the police hire her to try and determine just what is going on.

I loved this sequel. There was a lot more development of the world, both in our real world and in Faerie. We found out that Nekros, where Alex lives, actually unfolded from the world after the Magical Awakening, and is located between Georgia and Alabama. We're told, "The first settlers in what would quickly grow into Nekros City noted that the stone bridge was already there, and that it was already old." (59) Then we got to venture into Faerie; although we heard a bit about it in the first book, Alex actually entered the world this time, met the bitchy Winter Queen, and then—big reveal—her great-uncle, The Shadow King. Turns out Alex's mom was fae too, and The Shadow King is Alex's mom's uncle.

We also got to learn more about Alex's background and powers, which was awesome. The start of learning about her planebending and her recently emerged fae nature was intriguing, and I'm sure will continue to evolve as the series continues. I enjoy that she doesn't just automatically know how to deal with the merging realities; I've definitely read some books where the character is just like, "Oh, I have new powers? Of course. I instantly have a firm grasp on all that that entails."

I just love Alex. She's the perfect amount of smartass for me. The romance angles in these books are compelling, but the storylines are solid without them; they are almost incidental. I do wish that she would maybe invest in some self-defense courses or something, especially as she seems to continue to wind up in dangerous situations. (Including in Grave Memory, the third book in the series.) 

I'm fully convinced that Alex's long-lost brother is going to show up one of these days, especially because they keep mentioning him. I really thought she might run into him in Faerie or something like that, but that didn't happen. Regardless, I'm looking forward to whenever he makes an appearance.

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