Gravemaidens is about a girl named Kammani, who is a healer in her village. She’s been studying under her father, who was once the best healer in the land, until the village leader’s son died under his care. Kammani’s sister, Nanaea, is chosen to be one of the three sacred maidens to accompany the lugal, who is extremely ill, in death. Driven by the desire to prevent her sister’s death, Kammani tries to find out what’s wrong with the lugal and heal him of his ailments.
The story is a big mystery with a focus on secrets, betrayals, friendship, and family. I loved trying to figure out what was wrong with the lugal with Kammani, and seeing her relationship between her sister and friends grow throughout the story. I loved the characters. Kammani is fierce and determined, and her sister Nanaea was annoying, but she had her reasons and beliefs.
This story was wonderful until it ended on an unnecessary cliffhanger that is dragging it into another book. This book could’ve been the perfect standalone for me; however, there is a second book listed on Goodreads. Personally, I am going to pretend that this is a stand-alone and I will not be reading the next book.
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Gravemaidens has an interesting premise. What if you lived in a society where a woman’s death was glorified? What if it was an honor to be chosen to be buried with your ruler when they died? Welcome to Alu.

When Alu’s ruler falls ill, Kammani’s little sister, Nanaea, is chosen to be one of the “sacred maidens” to join him in the afterlife. Nanaea is over the moon about it. She gets to live and die the life of a queen. But Kammani sees the disguise behind this “honor” & will stop at nothing to save her sister from the grave.

There are plenty of other reviews covering the plot, so I’ll dive into the character development. Overall, the story wasn’t bad, but did trend toward juvenile. Kammani should be intelligent considering her vast healing knowledge. However, she made so many idiotic choices towards the end of the novel that half of me just wondered if Coon was trying to rush on the plot. The villain was so obvious, I wanted to hit this MC on the head. A very narrow-minded character, god bless her soul. She’s noble, but her IQ is questionable. She also refuses to accept she loves Dagan, her love interest, and spends majority of the novel leading him on. Aye.

And her sister was truly a piece of work. I enjoyed the realistic sister relationship (I have two sisters myself), but Nanaea was so utterly annoying. The caricature of a spoiled younger sister.

The love interest was a dedicated Kammani fan, but boring. I was waiting for some “umph,” but he was almost too wallflower-like. I feel like some may find the loyal, respectable, “friend turned lover” path appealing though, so to each his own.

What I did love: the fact that Kammani wanted to be the greatest healer- or an Az-u. Total girl power. Her destiny encompasses more than children (much like her neighbors). Or does it…

Anyway. I won’t give away the ending, but it wraps up everything in a pretty bow. Take from that what you will. My favorite part of this book was what it was based on - sacrifice in Ancient Sumer. I love it when writers read something from history, wonder, then build a world from it.

Overall, not a bad debut. Great pacing, predictable plot, and an interesting cast of characters. Not my cup of tea, but would definitely recommend for the older teens.

Gravemaidens: 3 stars

*I received this book from NetGalley for free in exchange for my honest opinions*

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

What a great read! I very much enjoyed the story, the characters, and the little world built. K was a great MC, fiercely determined and a little bit lost. I loved seeing her come to terms with her own feelings, life, etc. The supporting cast was also excellent and helped move the plot along. I very much look forward to the next book, since things left of at a turning point!

Young adult my a....well, if I finish that thought I won't be able to post this review to Amazon because they'll censor me. The line between what's young adult and what I consider graphic enough to belong on an adult shelf seems to be really blurred these days, but I guess I'm becoming that stodgy old lady. There are some really awful scenes of violence, literal tunic ripping, forced sexual assault encounters, just not stuff that I would let a child under the age of 15 if I had one, read.

With that said, as an adult, it was a great fantasy read. The basic premise is that the lugal *read, king* is dying, and when he does, he's entitled to 3 maidens fair to take with him to the underworld. It's supposedly a great honor. There's some really misogynistic and patriarchal bulls*it in this book, but the protagonist is a *fairly* strong woman, although she does more swooning than I'd like out a supposed great apprentice A-zu (this land's word for healer). Her father is murdered on the way to the palace to heal the lugal, so that her sister doesn't have to serve as one of the 3 gravemaidens to the lugal. It takes her FOREVER to figure out what's going on, which is slapping the reader's in the face from basically the 5th chapter. There's not a lot of subtlety in this book, and I could have done with a lot more world building, and more information on their gods/religion/leadership structure, but the dialogue and plot building is solid, the characters are well fleshed out, and the storyline itself is great. Definitely worth reading and I'm looking forward to how they plan on fixing where they left off at the end of book one.

This story is such a fun and fascinating one. The plot and characters kept my attention the whole way through! I think the characters were well done and developed well as the story progressed. Kelly Coon did an amazing job with her story world building and character developments!

Kammani is our protagonist and she is incredible! She was willing to do whatever she could to help her sister, Nanaea. Even though the Lugal is the one who caused heartaches on her family she still was determined to figure out what was going on with him. Her personality trait to help people overtook her thoughts on his wrong doings. Besides Kammani, we are also introduced to great secondary characters; Nanaea, Arwia, Dagan, and Nasu. They came in and out of the story, but each had great character development. I liked that the story didn't just have the protagonist solving all the problems, but that she did appreciate, accept, and encourage the help of her friends.

I also like the fact the romance was not at all a main focus in the story and played out as a secondary plot line. It slowly grew over the story, but you knew from the start where it was heading. I liked that way because it felt like a build up to when it finally happens!

The concept of the Sacred Maidens was insane and it was rolled out so throughly! Once we learned the main concept of it, I kept saying to myself how crazy it was. Who would want to be subjected to something like that?!

I'm so intrigued to see what happens next in this story and where it will end!

First and foremost as always, Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

Gravemaidens is a captivating, quick, can't stop until you're finished, kind of read. Kammani is an apprentice to her father, the country's best healer. But, when her sister is chosen as a Gravemaiden, she will do anything to prevent her from becoming one. There are so many twists and turns in this story. It's one of the better stories I've read this year. Please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this story when you can. It would make a wonderful beach read.

GRAVEMAIDENS is an intriguing YA (light) fantasy that completely pulls you in to this other world. Kammani is an aspiring healer in a world where women are undervalued. She lives with her father, once a great healer who was cast out in shame, and her younger and beautiful sister. Her father had failed to heal the Lugal’s (the ruler of Alu) son after he fell out of a window, and so their family wealth was stripped and their son (Kammani’s brother) was taken to work at the palace. Not long after, Kammani’s mother died, and her father turned to drink, leaving her to fend for her family by earning small coins as a healer, working as her father’s apprentice in his stead.

The current lugal is now on his deathbed, and they are choosing the three maidens who will be forced to die alongside him to marry him in the afterlife. Everyone sees this as a great honor, for they will be queens in the next life. However, Kammani does not see it this way and sees only the needless death. When her sister is chosen as one of the three maidens, Kammani is horrified and tries to decide how to save her. The clearest solution is to prevent the lugal’s death, making the death of the maidens unnecessary. As such, she works her way to become his healer and must figure out what is ailing him- or risk losing her sister to death.

The world-building here is really fantastic, and Alu came to life off the pages. There are also a lot of strong characters aside from Kammani. For instance, some of the secondary characters really develop during the story through Kammani’s eyes, such as the princess, Dagan, her childhood friend who wants to marry her, and Nasu, one of the palace guards.

Many of the plot twists were easy to see coming, but Kammani is young and they are more distant in her eyes. She feels like she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders, but this is mainly a burden she has chosen to carry. However, she is also slow to figure things that seem pretty obvious out, but this allows the secondary plots to happen. I still enjoyed every second of this page-turner (as evidenced by my late night/early morning review).

While the main plot is wrapped up, the ending does leave a great lead-in for the next book, and this leaves me eagerly awaiting what will happen next. I would add warnings for sexual assault, torture/terrible punishments, and suicide/murder.

I highly recommend this YA fantasy to people who enjoy THE SELECTION, THE RED QUEEN, and SHATTER ME. This is a fantastic debut, and I look forward to reading more from this talented author in the future! Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This was a very interesting story. I liked Kammani’s character and her willingness to sacrifice everything for her family. I liked that the love interest wasn’t the focal point of the story. Rather, it sat on the back burner while more important matters were handled, all the while he was there to support her when needed.

I liked that this story was of family and friendship. I absolutely adore when strong female characters are friends and support each other, rather than playing into the stereotype that girls can’t be true friends without cattiness and drama. (News flash, we can!).

No real complaints from me about this one. The ending was so twisty that it was hard to keep up with the new changes sometimes, but that’s okay with me because it kept me interested.

I look forward to reading the next one!

This review is full of spoilers. Read at your own risk.

The idea of this book came out better than the finished product, I guess. Three young maidens are chosen to accompany the dying Lugal (king? emperor? same diff) to the netherworld as his brides. Kammani, the main character, is dismayed when her sister Nanaea is chosen as one of those maidens, even though Nanaea is positively gloating and excited about it. Kammani decides she has to heal the Lugal so that her sister doesn't have to die. This is a noble goal, but if Kammani were honest with herself, it really has nothing to do with her sister and everything to do with herself, and if she'd just listen to her sister instead of dislocating a shoulder patting herself on the back for all her sacrificing, maybe no one would have ended up in a tomb. A plot that only gets set into motion because of the main character's idiocy really doesn't float my boat.

Kammani is one of the most infuriating main characters I've ever read. She has a savior complex and will not accept help from anyone else. She's madly in love with Dagan but won't admit it because she doesn't want to be a wife and mother, because apparently you aren't allowed to be a wife and mother and still be a healer, even though Dagan's mother is a wife and mother and is perfectly capable of healing people too. Dagan is like a puppy around her, following her around with his tail wagging like she'll eventually turn around and acknowledge that she's really rather fond of him and of course she'll marry him... And after Kammani's mother dies (before the events of this book, even though the actual event is written out in detail later in the book) apparently Kammani takes her comment of "You're the only one" as meaning she's the only person in the entire world who could ever possibly help her family and no one else on the planet is as good at that or as self-sacrificing about it as she is. I wanted to smack her upside the head before she even got to the palace.

She is also incredibly gullible. Dagan makes an off-hand comment about how is she sure the Nin (the princess) isn't the one poisoning the Lugal, and suddenly she's all gung-ho that the Nin is the one to blame and she goes off on a crazy single-minded quest to accuse this woman in public. Never mind that Uruku and Gudanna are horrible villains and very obviously hate her guts. Never mind that the person who ordered her thrown out of the window didn't *actually* sound like the Nin. Nope, let's go after the girl whose father is dying and who has shown nothing but eagerness for him to be healed, just because one time she looked like she was enjoying herself at a festival.

And all of this is nothing compared to Kammani's hare-brained plan, hatched in about thirty seconds after she escapes the palace, to sneak back into the palace and onto a platform in front of hundreds of people to accuse the Nin with something she found in her chambers, as if her word and the word of a soldier would prove a damn thing! And on top of that, the Lugal dies anyway right in front of everyone.

Then we get to see her and the other three girls thrown into the tomb anyway. Some weird-ass scene with the Boatman happens, everyone gets poisoned, Kammani tries to save them all, yadda yadda, she wakes up safe at Dagan's farm and now like 10 people get to go into hiding in a giant caravan, as if no one would notice a huge cavalcade of people leaving the city in broad daylight on stolen horses and oh they all just happen to be fugitives.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I wish I had enjoyed it more and was less annoyed by the MC and her terrible ideas. This just did not work for me.

Written by Kelly Coon, Gravemaidens follows Kammani and she tries to save the ruler in order to save her sister.

This book was wonderful from the get go. Beautifully written with characters that are compelling and that you just want to get to know (I'm looking at you, love interest), but one of the biggest things with this novel is how beautifully dark it is. Emphasis on each word individually. The premise is one that has been discussed as something ancient societies possibly used to do, and I really like the fact that it hearkens back to some of the really popular books of our day (think Hunger Games), but does a much better job of dealing with the issue straight on.

Kammani know she can't take her sister's place, just as her friends know how difficult it will be to stop this fate. But they believe in her, even if they do think she will fail. They are willing to go down with her.

One of the best novels of the year, this book provides (without any spoilers) so much to discuss and such an interesting look into what could happen. I can't wait to read the next novel in this series!

Premise: heroine's sister is selected to accompany the current ruler's corpse into the underworld. This is a great honor, even though it means the death of those women selected. Heroine must find a way to heal the dying ruler so that her sister is not sacrificed, much to the annoyance of the sister who is being treated like royalty.

The story takes place in a unique world that I never fully felt comfortable in, with characters that were almost extreme stereotypes in their behavior:

- Young and pretty heroine with no mother, sacrifices everything to care for her rather ungrateful family.

- Disgraced father who drinks his sorrows away.

- Immature & vapid beautiful younger sister who treats older sister dismissively until she has to bail her out when things go south.

- Mischievous friend who seems flaky but always manages to appear at the most opportune times to help strengthen heroine.

- Handsome young suitor who unselfishly supports heroine despite not having his feelings returned the way he hopes.

- Evil bad guys/gals with scary reputations that are concerned with power, revenge, and manipulating everyone and everything around them.

I had high hopes for this book although I found myself fairly restless throughout most of it. Very predictable story and the heroine, despite having healing knowledge, was none too quick in picking up on major clues, making for a frustrating and eye-rolling read.

I feel like so much more could have been done with this story to round out the characters and build out the world a little better instead of relying on a tired formula.

My favorite part was the insanely gorgeous cover art that the story never quite lived up to.

Strong female character who must selflessly take care of what’s left of her family. I tripped over many words/names but even without a glossary I pretty much figured them out. Would make an excellent movie!

4.5

Kelly Coons' The Gravemaidens is the start of a female-centric fantasy duology set in ancient times with superstitious kingdoms and virginal sacrifices. The youth of the characters and the conversational style writing absorbs you in quite easily when a young woman whose family has been shunned into poverty takes it upon herself to save her sister after she is one of four who are chosen to be sacrificed in honor of the recently deceased king. Using her wits and with the help of her best friend and her betrothed, Kammani zigs, zags, falls, and gets herself back up as she fights against her status and tradition. Well worth the read. Looking forward to book two, title and release date to be announced.

I did enjoy this book. Kammani's naïveté was hard to swallow at times, and her rush to save everyone no matter what was almost painful to read. I understand her drive, but she almost jumps to the craziest conclusions without much thought.
I loved how everything ended, with hope. Everything should end with hope. I look forward to the next addition of this series.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book, in exchange for an honest review. This will be available to purchase on October 29th.

I found this book really enjoyable. The setup wasn’t all that original- girl having to provide for her sibling , sacrificing her innocence in the process. Relationship drama with monetary, as well as class, obstacles to overcome. However, this was still a fun read.

Kammani is a healer, which I always find interesting in fantasy books, where the main character is often a fighter of some sort. It allows for a different character development and a sense of compassion, which adds something I think. I liked Kammani quite a bit, although every now and again I wanted to shake her. Her sister, on the other hand…wow, she was a selfish idiot. I really hated any part of the book with her in it. Of course, there’s also ye random hunky dude. I thought he was rather one-dimensional, but it didn’t detract from the rest of the story all that much.

There’s a whole “who’s the villain?” thing happening during part of the book. I felt that it was rather obvious but, again, this also didn’t detract from the book. Oddly enough, as I write this, I start noticing that there were several tropes that usually bug me. The writing just flowed well enough that it covered up most faults. Sometimes a book is just the right one at a specific time…I think this was one of those situations. I really needed a fun read that didn’t wring me out too much emotionally.

This was engaging, and I like that it’s a duology instead of a long-running series. I think the second book will be better than the first, now that the setup and the world have been established. I’d suggest this as a perfect read on a day when you just need a break from the usual routine.

Title: Gravemaidens

Author: Kelly Coon
debut in a duology

Genre: YA Fantasy/High Fantasy
416 Pages
Publisher:Delacrote Press

Release Date: October 29th 2019

This book was received as an ARC from NetGalley ,in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The start of a fierce fantasy duology about three maidens who are chosen for their land’s greatest honor…and one girl determined to save her sister from the grave. 
In the walled city-state of Alu, Kammani wants nothing more than to become the accomplished healer her father used to be before her family was cast out of their privileged life in shame. 
When Alu’s ruler falls deathly ill, Kammani’s beautiful little sister, Nanaea, is chosen as one of three sacred maidens to join him in the afterlife. It’s an honor. A tradition. And Nanaea believes it is her chance to live an even grander life than the one that was stolen from her. 
But Kammani sees the selection for what it really is—a death sentence.
Desperate to save her sister, Kammani schemes her way into the palace to heal the ruler. There she discovers more danger lurking in the sand-stone corridors than she could have ever imagined and that her own life—and heart—are at stake. But Kammani will stop at nothing to dig up the palace’s buried secrets even if it means sacrificing everything…including herself.”


Historical fantasy about three maidens who are chosen for their land's greatest honor..


GRAVEMAIDENS,
This is Author Kelly Coon’s first novel in epic historical duology.



One girl determined to save her sister from the grave...


sumptuous prose and atmospheric world building of ancient Sumerian Ancient World.




strong well developed characters and butof the ancient world

filled with such sumptuous prose and atmospheric imaginative world-building

supporting characters are definitely worth noting with interesting.

story of strength, courage, and loyalty... Kammani



About the Author:
YA author Kelly Coon is an editor for Blue Ocean Brain, a member of the Washington Post Talent Network, a former high school English teacher, ACT test prep book author, and a wicked karaoke singer in training. She adores giving female characters the chance to flex their muscles and use their brains, and wishes every story got the happy ending she's living near Tampa with her three sons, dashingly handsome husband, and a rescue pup who will steal your sandwich. Gravemaidens is her debut novel.

This is a great read. In a society where leaders who die are entombed with three young women as sacrifices, a young healer is trying to hold her father together after the death of her mother in childbirth. When her sister is chose to accompany the dying leader to the grave, the healer knows she has to cure him to keep her sister from dying as well. But the palace is full of intrigue and plots, and it takes skill, cunning, and a group of excellent friends to put together a plan to save all of the women. The world-building is good, the characters are strong and real, and the novel is filled with glittering details and bits of lore I found fascinating.

The Boatmans' Refrain


The river is wide
The river is deep

I take their souls to earn my keep
The end of day
Is the start of night

I bathe in horror, bask in fright
Three queens of beauty
Maidens fair
I'll hide their souls within my lair

For the river is wide
The river is deep
I take their souls to earn my keep


This is a great debut novel by the author! And the C O V E R... It's so enticing, beautiful and an open invitation on my book shelf!

After reading the first Chapter, I know I am in good hands and I am instantly hooked!

The story is about the tradition of the court for having 3 Maidens or rather, Gravemaidens as they were chosen to accompany the Royal King when he dies. Y E S, in the T O M B.

Kammani is the MC and her sister was chosen as one of the 3 Gravemaidens and she beautifully accepts this as she thought that this is such a "great honor". BUT Kammani does not seems to think so as she thinks that "something wicked this way comes" and she's eager to find out what this is!

description

But honestly, I just love Iltani - Kammani's bestfriend - and she's my girl for life!

EARC kindly provided by Netgalley, Delacorte Press and the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 amazing stars! I absolutely LOVED this book! It was written with so much depth and clarity! The storyline was riveting and unique. I can not wait to read more from this author! And the cover is beautiful!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Sometimes when you're on NetGalley and desperate for something to read, you start requesting random titles that sound 'kinda good' and <i>Gravemaidens</i> was exactly that. I asked for it because the plot seemed promising and fun and boy was I in for a treat. I was immediately swept away by the world and our main girl, Kammani.

Gravemaidens is about the daughter of a failed healer named Kammani. Her mother died and her abum, a once well-known healer, who fell out of favor with the ruling class, has turned to drinking sikaru and neglecting his duties as the healer. Kammani has taken on his responsibilities and has proven herself to be very capable as a healer. However, life cannot stay hunky dory and Kammani's sister, Nanaea, is chosen as one of the three maidens to accompany Lugal Marcus, the ruler, into the afterlife.

Her sister is overjoyed with the prospect but Kammani sees through the supposed glory and perceives it as a death sentence. Already torn apart about her father's declining status, the fact that her brother was taken away to serve in the royal palace after her father failed to heal the lugal's son, and the promise she made to her mother on her deathbed, Kammani is determined to save her sister from this fate. This chance comes after her father is summoned to the palace to care for the lugal's failing health and guardsmen arrive at their hut to announce that Kammani's father has died and she has been summoned to take his place. Grief-stricken, Kammani travels to the palace and undertakes the care for the lugal but she has no idea what is wrong with him. Relentless in her mission, Kammani after exhausting all her resources finally discovers that the lugal is being poisoned and that her father was murdered to conceal the truth. At this point, it seems that the lugal's daughter, the Nin Arwia, is the one behind these treacherous acts, however, Kammani must find proof as the forces at the palace turn against her and try to silence her.

There is so much that I love about this story, including the world, which seems distantly Egyptian/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern but without resorting to redundant stereotypes. Coon is able to accomplish this through minute details, such as the descriptions of the food and clothes. However, Coon really delivers with the relationships, romantic and familial. The relationship between Kammani and Nanaea, who are often at odds, was fleshed out and contained the perfect amount of bickering and touching moments. I also loved Kammani's best friend, Iltani, who was funny and flirty without being the cliche more adventurous friend. Their conversations actually made me laugh out well and Iltani worked as the perfect foil to Kammani's more serious nature. Lastly, the romance was perfect and very realistic without resorting to typical YA cliches.