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betweentheshelves 's review for:

The Grimoire of Grave Fates by Hanna Alkaf, Margaret Owen
4.0
adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

First of all, I love the concept of this. I wish more short story anthologies were more collaborative stories like this because I feel like I'm more invested. I also think teens would be more drawn to them than the regular short story anthologies that are being published (of which there are too many in my opinion, but I digress!).

My main issue is I think there are a tad too many characters in this one. There's a lot to remember between the stories, and widdling it down to fewer authors (which means maybe they get to write more parts?) would help with the overall clarity. And maybe a character map if you're going to have this many characters.

The mystery intertwined with the fantasy though, I enjoyed that! I loved the magic school setting, too. Such a fun concept that just needs a little bit of tweaking to really put it over the edge.

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