Thursday 5 April 2018

BOOK REVIEW | 'Grave Matter' by Juno Dawson (****)

Hey guys, and happy Thursday! Today I am going to be sharing with you another book review (I know, I'm on a roll!), this time a review of a short novella, Grave Matter, by the wonderful Juno Dawson. This book is definitely a creepy one, and if I had been organised enough I would have scheduled this review to be posted around Halloween (or at least winter time!) but who says you can't have a good dash of creepiness around Easter?!

I was kindly sent Grave Matter by Barrington Stoke, in exchange for an honest review :)

Samuel is lost after Eliza died. After the crash that changed everything. He would do anything to get her back... even if he had to delve into magic, the dark kind. But to get what he wants, he needs to make a pact, and everyone knows that things can go horribly wrong when you do deals with the wrong kind of people...

Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...


Since the crash, since Eliza died, Samuel can’t find a way to go on. His need to see his love again is overwhelming, and so he ventures into the strange, terrifying world of Hoodoo. Samuel is about to make a pact with powers he cannot comprehend, let alone control…

I really enjoyed this book. Grave Matter is deliciously creepy and spine-tingling scary. But aside from that, it is also a very heartfelt exploration of grief and loss and the heartache you experience when someone you care about passes away. Juno Dawson manages to combine monstrous horror with a very human touch of compassion. I had high expectations of Juno's ability to write brilliant horror, as I read Juno's Say Her Name a few years ago when it was on the YA Book Prize shortlist, and that was absolutely brilliant. Suffice to say I was not at all disappointed in the creepiness of Grave Matter

The writing was absolutely gorgeous and a pervading sense of uneasiness haunted every page. Juno is undoubtedly a master storyteller. The illustrations were perfectly suited to the brilliantly chilling writing style. The movement between the supernatural and the natural elements of the story was very well handled and altogether, I thought this was a brilliant short book, to add to Barrington Stoke's terrific collection of books for reluctant readers.



Check out Juno Dawson here: http://www.junodawson.com

Until next time :)

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