Review: Graveminder (Melissa Marr)

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Publisher: HarperCollins (2011)

Format: Paperback | 324 pages

Genre(s): Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

Description (GR): "The New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series delivers her first novel for adults, a story about the living, the dead, and a curse that binds them.

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn’t a funeral that Maylene didn’t attend, and at each Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words “Sleep well, and stay where I put you.”

Now Maylene is dead and Bek must go back to the place—and the man—she left a decade ago. But what she soon discovers is that Maylene was murdered and that there was good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in placid Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected. Beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D—a place from which the dead will return if their graves are not properly minded. Only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk."

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS!

I'm not sure if I'm just not in the mood to write reviews or whether there is something about this book that makes it difficult to write about it. A bit of both, maybe. The bottom line is that I can't seem to put my thoughts in order and write something about this book.

I liked it well enough, I suppose. It was an easy enough read; Melissa Marr can definitely entice a reader through her writing, yes and also with her ideas and concepts. Because I simply loved the concept of this book. It's not that it's completely original - actually I was reminded of Anna Dressed in Blood as I read this - but the entire setting is intriguing. That is what made me buy this book in the first place.

But... I didn't like how Marr explored her idea. I thought she just wanted to put too much into the book: troubled pasts, mysterious rites, failed loves, tragic happenings, a murder/ mystery plot and a great secret; not to mention several characters that required a lot of development (such as Charles). The overall concept required a lot of layering and world-building and I don't feel like the author achieved this. I thought the world-building was shallow (in part because of the fact that so much was crammed into the book) and the story was way too character-driven, when it shouldn't be.

So I finished the book and felt... unsatisfied. There was so much I was looking forward to know that was never answered.
The mystery was not very well explored and the romantic subplot took way too much spotlight when there were so many other interesting things happening. The fact that the male protagonist lacked character and the female heroine was annoying most of the time only made it worse: not even the romance was interesting because I didn't particularly like the characters and because I wanted to read about the other stuff like the Graveminders' powers and why were all the ghosts under the city (much like in Ghost Whisperer, actually); who was Charles really and what was the 'Underworld' presented in the book. Why could Abigail do what she did? These were the things that really interested me... not Rebekkah and her romantic woes.

Overall: Yet again, we have one of those "great concept but poor execution" kind of books (I should probably create a shelf for those, they are 'piling up', so to speak). It read like the author's YA books, the only difference being that it had a little more nudity. But like hers (and most) YA series it focuses on the romance rather than the supernatural plot, which wasn't especially thrilling for me because she didn't even do it right... Rebekkah and Byron spent most of the book whining about how they loved each other but couldn't be together. Very dramatic and... well, annoying.

If you liked Melissa Marr's "Wicked Lovely" series, you'll like this. However, if you read the synopsis and thought the idea interesting I would thread carefully; this is more paranormal romance than urban fantasy. A somewhat disappointing read.

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