Breezy Lin was murdered a year ago. And when the story begins, she has just reawakened from a shallow grave. In her "undead" form, she has the ability to see people's shadows -- and sometimes those shadows indicate they have killed someone (at least one). When Breezy touches them, they die, and all the memories of those murders now belong to Breezy. She also can't be killed and heals very quickly from any injuries.
She wanders aimlessly, needing no food or sleep. As the story continues we get flashbacks to Breezy's life before she was murdered, and eventually of her actual murder. Breezy hooks up with some really evil people, a cult who is trying to rid the world of evil, and some really dangerous, otherworldly creatures (that look like people!) Yes, it turns out that all those creatures from our nightmares really exist. If you can't buy into that, then Shallow Graves probably isn't for you.
Breezy is trying to figure out just what she is and why this happened to her, while trying to figure out who she can trust and just what her place in this world is. Things get violent and bloody. Breezy is very brave, and decides to take on the ultimate "mother" of all demons. It's tense and very readable. Once you get going in Shallow Graves, you won't be able to put it down.
I can't really think of any book to compare Shallow Graves to, but the blurb compares this one to the writings of Holly Black (maybe, a little?) and Nova Ren Suma (who I've never read.) I thought this one was a bit scary, and certainly gory. So those are the reader's that you should target for Shallow Graves. And I haven't heard anything, but Wallace could certainly continue Breezy's adventures in another book. There's definite potential...
Published by Katherine Tegen, January 26, 2016
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
368 pages
Rating: 4/5
I'm still on the fence about reading this one. The reviews have been all over the place. Glad you enjoyed it.
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