Gravemaidens

August 15, 2019
Can 16-year-old Kammani's skills as a healer save her family? Kammani's mother is dead. Her father--who was once the best healer in the city of Alu--drowns his grief in alcohol. Her brother, Kasha, was stolen by the royal family as a punishment for Kammani's father's inability to heal the ruler's dying son years before. Kammani's sister, Nanaea, is all she has left. But when Nanaea is unexpectedly chosen to be a Sacred Maiden--one of three young women chosen to be killed and buried with the ruler upon his death--Nanaea believes it's a chance to recapture her family's glory. Kammani knows better. In a desperate bid to save Nanaea's life, Kammani is determined to heal the ruler at any cost--even her own life. Coon builds a rich and detailed world complete with a history and rules that readers will enjoy uncovering slowly. While the setting feels satisfying, the characters do not. Kammani's constant insecurity about her romance with Dagan, for example, feels superficial, as does the entire town's obsession with the Sacred Maiden ceremony. Furthermore, the prose often feels clunky and stilted, a pattern that becomes even more obvious when compared to many passages of easy, witty dialogue. The last third of the book is the strongest, as though the author finally found her way. Characters have a variety of different skin tones. A middling debut that promises a more polished sequel. (resources) (Fantasy. 14-18)

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November 4, 2019
In this accessible, Sumerian-inspired fantasy debut, Kammani, a 16-year-old healer’s apprentice, must cure the dying monarch of her city-state and catch a murderer to protect her family. After Kammani’s father, the best healer in Alu, fails to save the royal son’s life, the palace seizes Kammani’s brother, along with the family’s wealth and status. The crushing heartbreak grows with Kammani’s mother’s death, and Kammani’s father becomes an alcoholic, leaving Kammani to care for him, his practice, and Nanaea, her younger sister. Then, Nanaea is selected as one of three Sacred Maidens to accompany the dying ruler, the lugal, into the afterlife. To save her sister, Kammani must heal the lugal, but there’s a saboteur in the court. An uneven tone and shaky worldbuilding result in stilted prose and unexplained plot points. Still, the concept and mystery are compelling, the pace brisk, and Coon succeeds in showing how grief molds people in different ways. The conclusion effectively avoids a cliffhanger while preparing readers for the subsequent book in this planned duology. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kari Sutherland, Bradford Literary.

November 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Kammani dreams of becoming an accomplished healer-the position her father held before he failed to heal the lugal's son and he and his family were cast down from the privileged class as punishment. While her father drowns the shame of his disgrace and grief over his wife's recent death with drink, Kammani manages the daily work of treating patients. Her hopes of securing a better life for herself and her sister Nanaea are shattered when Nanaea is chosen for the dubious honor of becoming one of three sacred maidens who will accompany the dying lugal into death. While her sister only sees the opportunity to live briefly in luxury, Kammani knows becoming a sacred maiden is a death sentence. Determined to save her sister at any cost, Kammani embarks on a dangerous mission to sneak into the palace and try to heal the lugal before it's too late. Coon's debut is the first book in a fantasy duology set in a non-Western world with nods to ancient Sumer and Rome. Clunky prose and world-building that falls short in explaining rituals or other cultural norms drag down this otherwise interesting premise. Secondary characters stay true to tropes for most of the novel but gain more depth near the end, suggesting fans may find more to appreciate in book two. VERDICT A serviceable read-alike for fans of Natasha Ngan's Girls of Paper and Fire and Renée Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawn.-Emma Carbone, Brooklyn Public Library

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November 1, 2019
Grades 8-11 Kammani's beautiful sister Nanaea is chosen as an honored Sacred Maiden, one of three girls selected to live in palace luxury until they accompany the ailing lugal (Mesopotamian word for king) to the netherworld; but all the apprentice healer sees is that her sister will be buried alive. Kammani is determined to nurse the lugal back to health despite her sister's pleas and someone else's plot to poison him. A tale about saving a sibling quickly becomes an ancient-world detective story about palace intrigue and murder. First-time novelist Coon imagines a place that might have existed in Mesopotamia, while also adding her own character and place names. Dialogue has a flavor and cadence of ancient times; however, there are sporadic lapses into twenty-first-century slang. Twists and clues steadily advance the first-person narrative, and though Kammani's introspection is a bit much at times, it is accompanied by plenty of risk and excitement.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)