Review: Graveminder

Rebekkah Barrow has a complicated history with the town of Claysville. Her sister died there, as did her stepfather. And then there’s Byron Montgomery, the boy she shouldn’t have loved, but did. The only truly happy memories she has of Claysville is of visiting her grandmother, Maylene, and the time they spent together.

An outsider might consider Maylene’s behavior strange. She attends every funeral in Claysville, and goes through the same motions every time, taking three sips from a silver flask and saying a few words over the casket. To Rebekkah, however, the ritual was normal, and somehow comforting.

But nothing can comfort the young woman now. Maylene is dead, and Rebekkah must return to Claysville. But what awaits her there is even more terrifying and amazing than she could have imagined. For there must always be a Barrow woman in Claysville — otherwise who will keep the dead from rising?

Sleep well, and stay where I put you.

Creepy and awesome

I enjoyed Graveminder, but I’m having a hell of a time writing a review, mainly because there’s just so much going on. The only thing I knew right from the start is that there is something strange about Claysville.

Protagonists Rebekkah and Byron know this, too. Byron has never been able to stay away for long (the town always seems to call to him), but Rebekkah has been brought back by the unimaginable: Maylene’s brutal murder. The young woman is deep in shock, and Byron is torn by his need to protect Rebekkah and his desire to know why everyone in town doesn’t seem to want (or doesn’t seem physically able to) discuss who—or what—killed Maylene.

But when people begin to disappear and are later found dead of wounds similar to Maylene’s, Rebekkah and Byron discover a terrible truth: below the city of Claysville is a door to the land of the dead — and they are the ferrymen.

The world Melissa Marr has created feels very real, but still half-formed. I wanted to know more about the nuts and bolts of Claysville — how the door to the dead was originally opened, why Charles made the deal he made, how and why Alicia made the decisions she did, how the town council seems to control every aspect of life in town…and on and on.

Also, the ending felt rushed, with the “whodunnit” coming seemingly out of left field, with no real build-up.

I hope that Marr intends to turn Graveminder into a series. Not only because I want to get some answers to my questions, but because I genuinely enjoyed reading it.

Have you read this book? What did you think?