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Crack open your spell book and enter the world of the illustrious Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary. There's been a murder on campus, and it's up to the students of Galileo to solve it. Follow 18 authors and 18 students as they puzzle out the clues and find the guilty party. Professor of Magical History Septimius Dropwort has just been murdered, and now everyone at the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a suspect. A prestigious school for young magicians, the Galileo Academy has recently undergone a comprehensive overhaul, reinventing itself as a roaming academy in which students of all cultures and identities are celebrated. In this new Galileo, every pupil is welcome--but there are some who aren't so happy with the recent changes. That includes everyone's least favorite professor, Septimius Dropwort, a stodgy old man known for his harsh rules and harsher punishments. But when the professor's body is discovered on school grounds with a mysterious note clenched in his lifeless hand, the Academy's students must solve the murder themselves, because everyone's a suspect. Told from more than a dozen alternating and diverse perspectives, The Grimoire of Grave Fates follows Galileo's best and brightest young magicians as they race to discover the truth behind Dropwort's mysterious death. Each one of them is confident that only they have the skills needed to unravel the web of secrets hidden within Galileo's halls. But they're about to discover that even for straight-A students, magic doesn't always play by the rules. . . . Contributors include: Cam Montgomery, Darcie Little Badger, Hafsah Faizal, Jessica Lewis, Julian Winters, Karuna Riazi, Kat Cho, Kayla Whaley, Kwame Mbalia, L. L. McKinney, Marieke Nijkamp, Mason Deaver, Natasha D�az, Preeti Chhibber, Randy Ribay, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Victoria Lee, and Yamile Saied M�ndez
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0**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**
Margaret Owen and Hanna Alkaf edit 18 authors through whose powers combine into The Grimoire of Grave Fates. Readers follow various characters, each penned by a different author, as they investigate a murder mystery at a magical school. Professor Dropwort was not well loved by students or staff and there seems to be no shortage of potential motives for his death. Readers learn more hour by hour as the investigation unfolds and the diverse students most alienated by Dropwort take center stage.
This project was undeniably ambitious. To have 18 authors working together in one world and producing a single coherent story from the perspectives of 18 different characters sounds like a lot because it simply is. To highlight cultural, racial, gender, and sexual identity diversity in a book with such a complex make-up is even more admirable. For me, personally, the project seemed just a little over-ambitious. Even as a lover of fantasy, I almost wish that the authors had kept to being solely a murder mystery in order to eliminate one extra aspect of complexity. However, I realize this would remove some of the amazing cultural components through the various magic types highlighted, so it leaves me torn.
All of the authors were cohesive enough that the mystery was easily solvable by the reader, which is good for the intended age demographic. For me, I was left with a middle-of-the-road feeling. The concept of this project was so utterly amazing and the execution was adequate. Good. But I was left wanting more. I wasn't motivated to pick up the book between reading sessions and this book took me far longer than a typically formatted novel would take me.
Overall, I absolutely appreciate what was done with this project and would recommend it to the target age demographic. To older readers. I invite them to share in the fun of the experience rather than seek out a new masterpiece here.
03.5⭐
Thank you so much to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.
This was a such a fun and unique YA anthology. Told from 18 different POVs all written by different YA authors, you follow a magical school and its students as they try and solve the murder of a not-so-loved professor.
One of the best aspects of this book is how diverse it was in its characters and authors. There was everything from disability to trans to queer to POC rep. And it was fantastic. It also had amazing discussions are inclusion and colonization and performative allyship.
While I personally didn't find anything about this shocking, I think this mystery is perfectly tailored to its target audience. With themes and characters that will challenge and relate to teens.
This style and setup was something I've never seen before. And while it was a lot of fun, it doesn't keep you at arms length from each of the characters. Because you only get a few pages from each, you never really get to know a single character well.
Overall, I had a good time with this. I think it accomplished exactly what it set out to do. It has great themes and messages all with an eerie dark academia vibe and unique style & voice.
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