BOOK REVIEW: Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

BLURB:

Debut author Kali Wallace interweaves folklore and myths from all over the world in this stunning novel about the heartbreaking trauma of a girl’s life cut short and her struggle to reconcile her humanity with the monster she’s become.

Breezy remembers leaving the party: the warm, wet grass under her feet, her cheek still stinging from a slap to her face. But when she wakes up, scared and pulling dirt from her mouth, a year has passed and she can’t explain the necklace of bruises around her neck. She also can’t explain the man lying at her grave, dead from her touch; why her heartbeat comes and goes; or how she doesn’t need to eat or drink.

Haunted by the happy memories from her life and disgusted by the half-dead creature she’s become, Breezy leaves to find answers, slowly piecing together the unfathomable world to which she now belongs. Unable to live with what she’s become or to find a way to kill what is already dead, she seeks out a dangerous healing magic—but the cure is as dark and terrible as the disease.

Set in a gorgeous, terrifying world, Shallow Graves is a stunning novel about the heartbreaking trauma of a girl's life cut short and her struggle to reconcile her humanity with the creature she's become.

REVIEW BY: Angel, age 13 years, 3 months

MAY CONTAIN SPOILER:

This novel was extraordinary, fast and weirdly creepy. 

Have you ever woken up after being dead for over a year? What would happen? Could you die again? Would you get revenge? Breezy came back from the dead but not as a zombie. Breezy can think, feel and do anything a normal person could do but, she can't die again. Breezy can sense if people are killers. All she has to do is pull their wrist and they die instantly. However, if Breezy wants to pull, she gets the memory of the scene of who each person killed. Breezy goes on a quest to find out why she came back. She finds out that there are more undead out there like her, but they are very rare. However, there are also other "monsters, "nightmares", "ghouls" and people who have claws. She finds out that she is not very different after all, but there is people that absolutely despise monsters and are willing to hunt them down, but Breezy is ready to end it. 

In this novel, you get everything you could possibly need to know about people coming back from the dead. 

My favorite character is Zeke because he helps even if he really doesn't like other monsters. Zeke's a ghoul so he eats corpses, but he is different and Breezy knows that. I really like Zeke because he is strong, captivating, and trusting. He may as well be human. 

My favorite part is when Breezy meets Steve in the basement. It's so sweet that Steve can see something in Breezy that lets her feel that she is alive and with her sisters again. 

This book had some boring parts that were a little tiring, but if you fight through those parts you have a lot of twists coming up that keep you captivated. I love the descriptions the author wrote that kept me deep in vivid imagination. However, I didn't expect the ending to be as exciting as it was and I know it was worth the wait!

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 12 and up. 

**This book was published on January 26, 2016.