Review: Grave Dance by Kalayna Price

Grave Dance (Alex Craft #2) by Kalayna Price
Publication Date: July 5, 2011
Publisher: ROC
Number of Pages: 371
Format: Paperback
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Whoever said dead men tell no tales obviously never met Alex Craft.

After a month spent recovering from a vicious fight with a sorcerer, grave witch Alex Craft is ready to get back to solving murders by raising the dead. With her love life in turmoil thanks to the disappearance 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 consult 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’ll 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. Someone very powerful wants to make sure the only thing she finds is a dead end—her own.

I couldn't help myself but dive right into the second book. It's been a month since the events at the end of the first book, and Alex still isn't sure about her feelings. After finding out that Falin is not only the Winter Queen's assassin but also her lover. But before Alex can confront him on those facts he disappears without even a goodbye and hasn't heard from him since. To further complicate things when Alex was dying at the end of the first book Death had told the other soul collectors that he loves Alex. Having a soul collector being in love with you isn't easy, and Alex isn't sure how to act or even what to say to him. Not to mention Alex herself has commitment issues and doesn't do relationships as a rule.

Alex does what every other woman does when they having love life issues, throw themselves into their work. But the new case the police have her working on makes no sense at all. They are no bodies, just feet; left feet at that with no indication of being cut off from the body. And to make her life even more complicated, Falin shows up in her yard injured. Partnering up with a FIB agent has it perks, but Alex could do without him trying to worm his way back in her life and bed.

Although still not enough for my taste, Death appears more often in this book than last. Not only do we get to see him flirting with Alex, but we start to see a possessive side to him. But you get the impression that the soul collectors have laws to abide by, and it's forbidden for him to have a relationship with a mortal. There were a few scenes where Death and Falin had a pissing contest. Which let's me honest, even if you hate triangles, the pissing matches are always amusing. Last book I hadn't fully decided on a "team", this book had me leaning towards one side more than the other. But the end made me doubt it a little. The way I see it, either guy has some major cons to them.

Not sure if it's because I read the books back to back, or if I just catch these things real easy, but I did find a few things I didn't like. The author uses the same descriptions over and over, especially for Death. Throughout the first book and the first half of this book, everytime Death appeared it was the exact same description. Or in the first half of this book, I lost count of times they refer to the Magical Awakening as the faeries coming out of the mushroom ring. Or the countless times we are reminded that the city is only fifty years old, so there's really no old or historical parts in the city. Once is enough thank you very much.

I love the fact that Alex is blond. You don't find too many heroines in this genre or even fantasy/paranormal that are blond. And the fact that the only supernatural creatures in this world are witches and the fae. It works for this book having a limit on the supernatural. I find the magic in this world is intriguing. Especially the fact that grave magic not only kills night vision, but messes with your eyesight after using it. For the most part Alex stays pretty much blind majority of the time.

Along with everything else on her plate, Alex must keep the fact she's feykin a secret. Which I wonder why did she awaken the fae part of her self during the Blood Moon in the last book? But when Holly is kidnapped Alex must go to the one place that scares her the most, Faery. Which beholds a few surprises for her when she realizes she may just have more fae blood in her than she would like.

Filled with mystery, action, a little romance, and humor this series is urban fantasy at it's best.

Rating: 4.5/5