A big thanks to Netgalley and Random House for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was the perfect book to follow Margaret Owen's Painted Devils, because it was just more Margaret Owen!

The Grimoire of Grave Fates by Margaret Owen and Hanna Alkaf is a YA fantasy murder mystery anthology that consists of many authors but one interconnected story. Including the likes of: Cam Montgomery, Darcie Little Badger, Hafsah Faizal, Jessica Lewis, Julian Winters, Karuna Riazi, Kat Cho, Kayla Whaley, Kwame Mbalia, L. L. McKinney, Marieke Nijkamp, Mason Deaver, Natasha Díaz, Preeti Chhibber, Randy Ribay, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Victoria Lee, and Yamile Saied Méndez. Each story gave their designated character a unique voice, and a new opportunity to add a special flair to a familiar story.

I loved this book, and certainly looking forward to checking out more by the authors I'm less familiar with.

An edge of your seat emotionally thrilling ride from beginning to end. Highly entertaining, emotionally thrilling, action packed magical adventure filled with interesting charters and landscape that was so hard to put down.

Thank you Netgalley for the free copy I received a of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book! I first heard about it from one of the contributors and I was really impressed by how well each perspective blended into the overall story.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates is an anthology with 18 authors, 18 points of view but one location, the school of magic, The Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary. Everything starts when a hated professor is found dead and everyone has their own reasons for wanting to know who did it.

This was one of the best anthology I've ever read. I just loved that it was all linked together and that it followed an intrigue throughout the book. I also loved the characters kind of crossing over. I honestly just enjoyed this so so so much. I could not stop reading. I just wanted to know everything. I also really liked all the points of view, all eighteen authors brought something different and just as captivating from one chapter to the next. I also really liked the setting of the school, layered kept being added to it, just a great time from beginning to end. I could not recommend this more.

Intertwining short story collections are always a lot of fun, and it's exciting to see more of them coming out! I think that this concept in particular is really unique, and will be able to grab quite a few readers who otherwise don't tend to read short stories.
The way almost every short story allowed for cross overs and hints at the other characters, and the way they build off of each other to pass along clues and information like a relay race was well done and definitely keeps you invested!

I thought the transitions between the stories were really unique too and gave the whole thing more depth. It was cool to get info outside of these specific POVs, and in different formats than the stories themselves. It definitely helped make the school feel more expansive and demonstrated well how the murder was actually effecting everyone there, even characters we don't hear from personally.

There are also a lot of cool ideas in this! Some of the characters were really amazing, and I would've loved to have stuck with longer, but all had me convinced they could've been legitimate main characters in their own full-length stories.
The myriad of magical cultures and abilities were great, and I was really impressed by these totally new feelings ideas, like magic channeled through incense, embroidery focused magic, and the new takes on necromancy.

As in all anthologies, some stories are weaker than others, and that also meant that while my attention waned from that itself, there were also some moments that seemed at odds in the flow of the over arching story or just totally unnecessary.

Also, though it's a feat to really herd all these many stories, characters, and styles into one solid direction and I commend it being done, I was hoping the mystery itself would have the room to be given some more payoff. The reveal didn't really feel built up to, it was much more back and forth, being led around the room, and while I do think there could've been a good ending that would have made that journey feel wrapped up, I don't think it was the one we're actually left with.

This was one of the most brilliant works I've ever read in the sense of how well thought out it was. There was such a diverse cast of characters with different ethnicities, races, sexual orientation and gender identity, abilities, and disability (positively represented).

This novel is organized by Margaret Owen of Little Thieves fame, and Hanna Alkaf who is also an accomplished young adult and middle grade novelist. They asked to collaborate with 18 authors of diverse background and experience to each write a chapter of the story with the narrative of their unique character. Each of these characters are connected, their stories aligning as they try to solve a murder on their magical campus.

One of the coolest things about this novel is that it gave the energy and magic of reading Harry Potter for the first time, but is Trans and non binary friendly (full of awesome, strong characters with diverse gender experience). The magical school has gargoyles and tunnels full of magical creatures, making me want a whole series exploring this wonderful world and all the adventures the student body could get up to.

One of the most amazing things I loved about this book is the amount of intersectionality when talking on the issues of colonialism, exploitation, transportation, Islamophobia, racism, and sexism. All of the hidden (and not so hidden) commentary on these topics felt very authentic and informative. I found myself wanting justice for each of the characters for the wrongs they faced

Also importantly. This is a mystery and I did not guess the perpetrator of the murder until one of the last few chapters. Because of the way the narrative switches between students it leaves you guessing who could have actually done it.

Please Margaret Owen and Hanna Alkaf, make this into a series. This is the best read I've had this year and I desperately hope to see more of these amazing characters.

Enter the world of the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary where a professor has been murdered. When everyone is a suspect, it will take viewing things from 18 different perspectives to get to the bottom of this mystery.
This story was one hell of a roller coaster ride. While I know that this is technically an anthology it didn’t feel that way to me as each student was able to have a distinct voice sheerly from the fact that they were all written by different authors. I truly enjoyed how I felt that I was simultaneously reading a murder mystery and 18 different journeys of self-discovery. I definitely had a few POVs that I enjoyed a bit more than others but didn’t have any that felt like they dragged down the story. I also really enjoyed the level of diversity that this story was able to weave in without anything feeling forced; another benefit that I believe came from the wide range of authors. The story did end up leaving several questions unanswered which was a bit frustrating. Overall, a rather interesting take on a murder mystery.
Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

From the second I stared reading this book, I knew that it would be one of THOSE books. The kind you forget to sleep or eat to read. The kind you start asking everyone if they have read it yet.

It’s a novel take on the “magical school” subgenre. First, it’s centered around a murder mystery. Second, it is presented as short stories that all work together. It’s magical - both literally and figuratively.

I want to note that the book is also inclusive, with the very first story having a NB main character (and more…I won’t provide spoilers). Further, it’s inclusive in that matter of fact way that the best books are - where the marginalized aspect isn’t there for shock or awe, but just as part of the story.

This book wrapped me in a hug and I delighted. I think that it hits the nail on the head for the YA market as well. I plan to get a physical copy for my middle schooler once it comes out.

At its core, this is a book that revolves around a murder mystery that is being solved. But alongside that, readers are introduced to characters who have varying magical abilities, a plethora of skin tones and cultural backgrounds, and a range of physical appearance and abilities. This is markedly different from other books focused on magical schools, particularly because the character types in this story are often less visible than the more “mainstream” protagonists who have been written about previously. It is remarkable how well this novel works given its many contributors and characters, and there is something markedly compelling about trying to figure out exactly what happened in their midst and why. This is a wonderfully unique and inclusive addition to library collections for young adult readers.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars

Okay, writing nerds: Did any of you play the writing game “Round Robin” when you were younger? Heck, maybe some of you still do. You know, you start a story, then you fold the sheet of paper over so only the last line or so is visible, and the next person in the circle only has those two lines to go off of to continue the story…and so on until the circle is completed and you see how the story played out under those limited circumstances.

That’s part of the vibe I got while reading The Grimoire of Grave Fates. An overarching concept story, each of the chapters done by a different author (which gives it an almost-anthology feel due to the variations in each author’s writing style and voice), and each author carrying their assigned character through the story with only the limited knowledge of what’s already happened in the story prior to their chapter to guide the way. It’s a sophisticated game of Round Robin, with Margaret Owen and Hanna Alkaf playing the roles of (essentially) comperes: checking for continuity and other possible goofs so that, when the individual chapters are collected from the contributing authors and put together, the story blends almost seamlessly into a single compendium made of many disparate parts.

The most important part of this book, which I didn’t realize when I requested it, is that the release date on the first Tuesday of June (HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!) was not coincidental: The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a book where every chapter is written from the POV of a marginalized member of society. Minorities, disabled people, LGBTQ people, mentally ill people, and even a young criminal who’s no stranger to jail. Not only that, but more than one allusion is made about the school in this book (Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary) that likens it to the Hogwarts of the transphobic JKR’s brain (and points out how inaccessible castles like that are to the disabled), and the central mystery of the book centers around the murder of a professor at the school who is somewhat like Snape, if Snape cared about money.

(But, the castle also wins points for being able to fly like a gyroscope and Howl’s Moving Castle is mentioned. So mad props.)

See, I get what Owen and Alkaf were trying to do. I don’t know if it’s my age (I read YA all the time, but this felt like maybe it was made for the younger section of the YA set–maybe closer to 13 than 16-18?), but this book felt a little simplistic in the writing and ran too long for my tastes. It’s not the book was bad; it’s just that the book seemed to go on far too long and I started to feel like Owen and Alkaf were just trying to shoehorn in as much diversity as possible.

By all means: Do that. We need diversity. We want diversity. It’s necessary. The more diversity there is on bookseller websites and library bookshelves and home bookshelves the less excuses there will be to take them down. I’m all for publishing diverse reads in ever genre and every format possible.

Will that change my mind about how I rate this book, though? No, it won’t. But I can tell you this is a book I’d recommend to someone like my 13 year-old niece. She’d probably give it 5 stars and a place of honor on her bookshelf.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the creators/editors. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Amateur Sleuths/Disability Representation/Fantasy/Gothic/Boarding School/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Romance/Mystery/Paranormal Fantasy/Standalone Novel/YA Fantasy/YA Fiction/YA Mystery/Young Adult

4/5 ⭐️
This collection of short stories was fun with this overarching plot surrounding the murder of their bigot professor at this magical school. However, it was the students that made this story unique. Each short story was in a different students perspective, and each one were characters who probably wouldn’t be the main character in these kind of stories. Every student was in some form marginalized, whether it was their sexuality or gender or race or their disability or magic. It had it all. Because it was short stories, it was a little heavy handed in telling us details that I would’ve preferred was shown. But then, there was a limited time to give us both these unique characters and their struggles, along with moving the plot forward.
Overall, very good. I was definitely surprised by the end, but it might have had to do with the sheer amount of details and characters given to us. But I still enjoyed it, and would recommend this to many other readers to see how being inclusive in fantasy is possible and can be done without being offensive.
Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Publishing for providing an advance reader copy of this audiobook for my honest review.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates is a murder mystery at a magical school that tells a story through 18 different students each written by a different author. It’s such an ambitious and interesting concept and I absolutely loved the collaborative spirit and diverse authors and characters. As I read further I wondered how it could possibly all come together and was really impressed at how the different characters interacted and connected in each chapter. Such a cool idea!

I keep notes when I read so I was able to keep track of the different characters and clues but if someone is not taking notes I can see how it may get confusing to keep track of everything and everyone and how things connect. Another thing was that in an anthology there can sometimes be stories that don’t hit for the reader, but for me this anthology had the opposite problem where I wanted to continue with many characters to see where their story went. However, in the end I think it works leaving it up to the readers imagination as well since the main plot points are all resolved and you know these characters will continue on their journeys.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This had more going on than I could wrap my head around. I loved that it took place at a magical school and everyone’s magic differed. The idea of a traveling school was cool. Add in a murder mystery and you have a very intriguing story. Downside? A lot of characters to keep up with. That’s only a negative for some people, not everyone.

This book had great potential, but unfortunately did not meet my expectations as I had hoped. I feel as though the big picture of what happened and what was going on got lost in all the characters and back stories. I feel as though it would have been better if there were less characters to follow through with. It wasn’t a terrible read, just mediocre in my honest opinion.

A magic academy type story that is different from others: each chapter is told from a different student's perspective (and written by a different author) and they are from very different backgrounds, beliefs, gender identification, physical abilities, sexual preferences--and even questionable identification as human. They also have a wide variety of baggage: from prejudice, bias, colonialism, child abuse, homophobia, among others.

I love the diversity and the different authors. My only problem is that there are too many. Eighteen to be exact. And each one only gets one chapter. It is hard to keep them straight. I think it would have been stronger if there were less characters and a few more chapters for each character. It also interrupts the flow. When the story is rushing towards the climax of exposing a murderer and lives are at stake it is diluted when each new chapter has to include the backstory of a new character instead of getting on with the action. Plus, there are so many threads left dangling of the backstories of the characters. It begs for a sequel even though there is no indication that there will be one.

That being said, it is an interesting story with action, good characterization and many innovative types of magic. It shows the struggles of an institution to change and be better, and there will always be those that think it should be the way it was. It has a great deal of diversity that makes it stronger and there can be many "chosen ones." And the chosen ones never do it alone.

It is well worth a read and you just might find some new authors you would like to spend more time with. I would love to see a sequel to this and see where some of these storyline go. There is a lot of good stuff here and potential for more.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

It all begins with a murder at the prestigious Galileo Academy for the best and brightest young wizards where each of them will try to discover who killed Professor Septimius Dropwort, who was not exactly the most beloved by his students. As we try to discover the murderer we will meet a variety of characters with special abilities, personalities and inclinations. I think this last point is probably what made it difficult for me to get completely caught up in the story, since I got lost with so many characters and their abilities. There were times when little things that they said or happened seemed very interesting to me, but then another character with another ability came out, and another one and so on and so on that in the end it made my head spinning and I didn't enjoy it as I wanted to.
Maybe in the future I will reread it if my reading group picked it up at some point and hopefully then my opinion will change and I will increase the stars.
If you have it on your list to read do so, I always say let everyone form their own opinion and that can only be achieved by reading it without someone else's opinion influencing it.
Until next time and happy reading.

Let's start with the positives of this book, the representation is wonderful, mental health, disabilities, LGBTQIA there's a little something for everyone.

The premise and structure are amazing, a chapter for each character seeing how they weave together, how the story unfolds, and all the details of the murder it's a wonderful idea.

The world-building is wonderful, a magic school that allows everyone in, that believes magic is there for everyone, it made my heart happy, and speaking of a happy heart that covers is just breathtaking.

Now for the things that just didn't work, to me this just isn't YA, it almost reads as a tween book, I realize there are some dark and heavy subjects but it just doesn't read as YA.

While the representation is phenomenal it got to a point where keeping all of the characters straight gets to be difficult, and takes away a lot of the magic that the authors tried to put into this one.

Overall it's not a bad book, it's actually a good book, there were just a couple of things that didn't quite work for me.

Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this E-Book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was so excited about this story and I really wanted to love it but sadly I had to DNF it.
The story started out really well and I loved the first 2 chapters but despite the attempt at diversity, the red herrings in each chapter just dragged and lost impact. The first 2 characters were my favorites, but the writing wasn't as intense and edgy as a story with diverse characters would have been, except for Wren and Diego - the writers did a great job portraying these two characters.

The Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary welcomes magic wielders from all walks of life and from around the globe, and the school itself travels periodically from one place to another to ensure universal awareness and understanding. Though the school may not be perfect, the people who study there ultimately find a connection to others with similar interests and build a family of sorts. But when one of the school’s most disliked professors is murdered one evening, many of the students are tied together in a more sinister way. And as evidence comes to light, more questions arise about who may be responsible for the murder and whether they will strike again.

This is a fascinating and compelling approach to the magical community specifically because it revolves around the solving of a murder mystery as opposed to the learning of magic. The story unfolds in pieces and parts, incorporating traditional narrative with text messages, emails, police transcripts, and more. Each segment gives readers additional clues to work with as they solve the mystery alongside the protagonists, and guilt can be placed in more than one character as the plot progresses. In addition to the multifaceted style of the book’s presentation, it is also written by a variety of authors who bring their own experiences to the mix. The story holds together well, and this multitude of voices makes each of the characters more individualistic and unique.

At its core, this is a book that revolves around a murder mystery that is being solved. But alongside that, readers are introduced to characters who have varying magical abilities, a plethora of skin tones and cultural backgrounds, and a range of physical appearance and abilities. This is markedly different from other books focused on magical schools, particularly because the character types in this story are often less visible than the more “mainstream” protagonists who have been written about previously. It is remarkable how well this novel works given its many contributors and characters, and there is something markedly compelling about trying to figure out exactly what happened in their midst and why. This is a wonderfully unique and inclusive addition to library collections for young adult readers.

I love "whodunit" murder mystery and books about magic, so when i read the summary I was super excited to read it and appreciate the advance reader copy from Netgalley. The diverse cast had so much representation, which I love reading about characters similar to myself. Each character was written by a different author, giving it a fresh perspective every chapter. I loved the little police evidence included throughout the book. I have never read a book done in this style before so I enjoyed the change of pace, it was very new and creative.