Melissa Marr’s Graveminder is an entertaining piece of original contemporary fantasy, with a dash of horror thrown in. It’s set in a small town, Claysville, that seems to exist outside of time. There’s definitely something up, but it’s not clear what until about halfway through the book. Our main characters, Rebekkah Barrow and Byron Montgomery, find themselves inheriting roles that they never expected and learning the secrets behind what makes the town special.
The book begins with a strange incident in which the town’s graveminder dies at the hands (and teeth) of a dead girl. Because of the town’s bizarre burial laws, the graveminder has to be buried within three days. The town’s sheriff summons the graveminder’s heir, Rebekkah, from California to take up where her grandmother left off. Byron, also a returning emigrant from Claysville, finds himself taking up the role of undertaker, the graveminder’s partner. There’s a lot of mythology to pick up in this book, but it makes for a very thrilling story once you figure out all the rules.
It turns out that Claysville is special because sometime in the 1700s, someone from the nascent town made a deal with Death. As long as the terms of the agreement are upheld, Claysville remains an idyllic little hamlet. If the graveminder and the undertaker don’t fulfill their roles, the deal breaks down and the hungry dead start to roam.
It takes some time for Rebekkah to accept her role completely and there are a few conversations that get a bit tedious as she continues to wrestle with her destiny. It bothers her that her free will is taken away (fair enough) and she spent most of her adult life before the book opens running away from Claysville. I can understand this, but it bothers me how many times she ends up saying the same thing, for chapters on end. Fortunately, there’s enough going on around her that’s interesting to keep me from getting completely fed up with Rebekkah.
I’m curious to see if Marr is going to write another book in this world. Much of the book’s plot is nicely wrapped up by the end, but there’s still some unfinished business to attend to.