A Book Obsession..: Grave Dance (Early Review)

Grave Dance (Early Review)

, by Kt Clapsadl

Grave Dance by Kalayna Price

Alex Craft #2

After a month spent recovering from a vicious fight with a sorcerer, Alex is read to get back to solving murders by raising the dead. Wither her love life in turmoil, thanks to the disapearance of Fae Investigation Bureau agent Falin Andrews and a shocking "L"-word confession from Death himself, Alex is eager for the distractions of work. But her new case turns out to be a deadly challenge.

The police hire Alex to consul on a particularly strange investigation in the nature preserve south of Nekros City. The strange part: There are no corpses-- only fragments of them. A serial killer is potentially on the loose, and Alex has no way to raise a shade without a body, so she will have to rely on the magic of others to find leads. But as she begins investigating, a creature born of the darkest magic comes after her. It is obvious that someone very powerful wants to make sure the only thing she fins is a dead end-- her own.

Alex has spent plenty of time recovering from the outcome of the showdown at the end of Grave Witch, and is more than ready to get back out there. She really needs the distraction from her messy love life and throws herself head first into her latest case. Problem is that there will be no easy solve on this one. They are only finding pieces of bodies, no where near enough to raise a shade. Her investigations put her front and center and she becomes the prime target. Someone wants her dead in a bad way and it will take everything she has to pull out of this mess alive, let alone in one piece.

In the aftermath of the Blood Moon in the last book, Alex has noticed some major changes in herself. Her fae heritage is making itself well know and is definitely complicating things. She has developed new abilities as well as some difficulty controlling her old ones. It is almost as if that showdown unlocked a door to her potential. The downside to that is she now has to deal with the implications of being fae without growing up knowing the "rules." Her new found sensitivity to iron as well as an inability to lie are all part of her growing pains. The lying in particular is going to be a very rough one as it will take time to learn to twist her words around in order to tell the truth yet mislead. That being said I have a feeling that once she comes into her own she will be more powerful than most of the fae put together. She just seems to be able to harness so much raw power as well as break down glamour whereas other fae cannot. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of her journey and hope she is able to stay true to herself.

Alex's love life could not possibly be more complicated. One of the side effects of the changes she is going through is that her body temperature has drastically lowered, to the point where most men cannot stand to touch her skin. In fact only two men can handle her "chill," but of course things aren't easy as she can't seem to really have either one of them. Death made the shocking love confession at the end of the last book yet for some reason he seems to be forbidden from doing anything about that. Falin on the other hand seems to care as well, but he disappeared right after the blood moon. Even if he shows back up, he is the winter queen's lover, so that puts a wrench in things as well. Typically love triangles only frustrate me, and while Grave Dance does do a little of that, I also feel that Kalayna Price did a really great job of keeping a good balance. I honestly don't know who I would pick as they both seem to genuinely care but are kept away by something/someone else by force. I can only hope that in time once Alex is ready to make a decision, she will be strong enough to claim the one she wants and won't suffer further heartbreak.

I really enjoyed Grave Dance, especially the new shift into all things fae. I've always loved books that center around the fae, but have found some of them to be a little overwhelming at times due to all the rules and hidden agendas. Kalayna Price did a fantastic job at keeping things detailed enough to feel realistic without ever once stepping over into the realm if too much information. I really felt like I was learning the rules of being fae right alongside Alex. I have greatly enjoyed all of Ms. Price's books, but Grave Dance has ratcheted her up into my top list of authors on "auto buy." If you haven't checked out the previous Alex book, Grave Witch, or her other series, The Haven books, you just don't know what you are missing. I know I eagerly anticipate her next release and hope to see many more in the future.

(Received from Publisher)

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