Review Detail

What I liked:
The Grimoire of Grave Fates is written by 18 fabulous YA authors, which makes for a unique way to write a murder mystery. I can say that I could tell we had different authors writing, but it flowed so well as a murder mystery. The 18 students are a mixed group of gender and sexuality identities, religious and cultural identities, and magical cultures. I got just enough of each character to want more, and the "19th" character of the gargoyles wove like a thread throughout. The uniqueness of a magical school that travels was what sold it to me. I read many books about magical schools, but the appeal of it being a traveling school was unique.
Final Verdict:
While we have a large cast of characters to pull from who killed the professor and why it wasn't hard to keep track of them as they are a unique cast, each writer brought their voice to the book while still connecting to the characters the other authors created. Each student had their talents, insecurities, and viewpoints. The cool thing about the Galileo Academy is that it enrolls students worldwide, so we get to hear from people of different races, sexual orientations, socioeconomic classes, and cultures. I loved that each author could share something of themselves through their character chapter, and I kept guessing till the end who the culprit was and why. A unique addition to the Ya mystery genre, and I would love to read another story like this one.