This review contains minor spoilers. This is the warning.

Review Written: 24th July 2012

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

The blurb doesn’t give much away. Hints kept being dropped in the first few chapters to what the whole plotline of the book actually is. By the time most books reach their point, all suspense has been lost but not here. By the time things have been revealed, I’m practically begging to know because the build up has been teasing and wonderful.

This is essentially, a zombie book. Although it mentions in the book, that the creatures are not zombies, they are people who come back from the dead and therefore, I consider them zombies. I believe this is an unappreciated genre just because you can do so much. Not all zombie books are stereotypical – we have Daniel Water’s Generation Dead series which I adore but my mother has dubbed it ‘the most depressing books I have ever read’. Of recent, we have Rachel Caine’s Revivalist series where zombies are created by injection. In Graveminder, zombies are created when the dead have not been properly laid to rest. Hence, the job of the graveminder is to ensure the dead are properly buried. The graveminder in this book is Rebekkah Barrow, taking over from her grandmother.

Sure, the situation in which she gets the job is less than ideal, but with the help of undertaker Byron Montgomery; an old lover, the two have to search for a young girl who has returned from the dead and is killing while adapting to their new positions. The relationship between the two of them is delicious. I’ve not used that word to describe a book since Amy Plum’s ‘Die For Me’ so it was about time I used it again. I knew the two of them would end up together, otherwise I would have been annoyed. The chemistry was unreal.

Once again, I’m shocked by the baddie of the book. I suppose that is the point with most books but it doesn’t kill the surprise. I didn’t like the person anyway as she’s not at all nice.

I’ve been a fan of Melissa Marr since her ‘Wicked Lovely’ series and I’m really looking forward to her next novel to see the great plotline and characters she creates. 

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