Grave Danger by Alice James

I would like to thank Solaris for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Solaris

Published - 25/5

Price - £9.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle ebook

More murder. More mayhem. More champagne.

Toni Windsor is failing at ‘happily ever after,’ but it really isn't her fault.

All she wants is true love and the perfect wardrobe, but it doesn't look like they are coming her way any time soon. Instead, there are murders to solve and zombies to raise, and she’s broken her phone again.

Worst of all, her shiny new boyfriend turns out to be a jerk; maybe dating a vampire wasn’t her best decision ever?

The stakes in a story are often what drives the plot. The temptation is to always go large - save the world; the universe and yet that can often feel strangely impersonal. The fate of Galaxy 5678 is indeed important but doesn’t feel real. Many stories forget to think about the more personal world and universe characters care about. The ones we all do. So I found it incredibly refreshing that Grave Danger by Alice James delivers a well told much more personal and intimate set of worlds to save. Also it is filled with vampires and so the stakes are equally important as a pun here and how can I ever resist doing that to you. More importantly the story I found a treat

A brief recap Lavington Windsor much more better known as Toni is both an estate agent by day and a Necromancer 24/7. In a world where vampires are real and now recognised as equal citizens necromancers are rare (vampires tended to kill them) and yet Toni is now dating Oscar and his boyfriend Peter in a fast paced and increasing less fun relationship. As Toni ponders of Oscar is right for her Toni is also juggling not just usual vampire politics but the dreadful murder of a young teenager at a school. Toni’s brother is a detective on the case and has asked for her help and indeed Toni wants to and now believes the chief suspect is innocent but now needs to prove it. Toni’s life is about to get even more complicated.

After the very enjoyable Grave Secrets I was expecting us to just carry on heading into more tales of warring vampire groups across the world. It’s always great though to find an author willing to do things differently and this story while fun, fast paced and told with Toni’s relaxed matter of fact humourous narration also has some intelligent exploration of toxic relationships and trying to escape them which for me made this a very impressive next instalment.

The plotline of Oscar and Toni’s relationship is a fascinating dimension and not one usually seat with in contemporary fantasy. The fun boyfriend of the first book is revealed to be selfish; cruel and when told no dangerous. Toni is having to work through her head and heart being at war and we get to experience why this isn’t a simple decision. It makes Toni human and reminds us toxic relationships are not simple things to extract ourselves from. There is a chilling reminder with a subplot that reminds us Toni eventually saying No is not going to be always enough for some women who are not well connected with vampires and magic.

The main plot too explores people who want to kill and the crime is shocking with a young girl and very few clues. What I enjoyed about this is it allows to see Toni as the investigator and putting clues together. It shows her less in the shadow of the Vampire leaders and doing something for her own sense of justice. Interesting Weber a new character in the form of Paul the chief murder suspect and this geek from a well known crime family bonds with Toni as a friend and also someone she wants to mentor. A really refreshing angle again in this genre. This book shows us more of the human world and Toni’s friends and it really makes the book feel warm and human - helped again by Toni’s voice

That isn’t to say the wider world of vampires isn’t here. We get another plot of someone trying to kill Toni after she treads into the wring affairs of another group and James knows how to hold back on the humour and delivers some very well executed action scenes with a sense of danger throughout. We also explore Toni’s next steps in relationships and James’ use of female gaze and discussion of romance and sex feels gives us again insight into where Toni’s heart lies. It also gets passionate quite a few times!

Grave Danger is an impressive sequel to a book that builds on the first novel but does not repeat itself. Revelations are hinted that may mean we need that next book very soon (I certainly do). Warm, intelligent, brave, sensual and fun this book mirrors the main character to a tee and is highly recommend!