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Grave Matters A Night Owls Novel Lauren M Roy Books

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Grave Matters A Night Owls Novel Lauren M Roy Books

Hail, hail, the gang's all here. It's only been a month since the Creep's incursions in the last novel, and things have now calmed down in Edgewood. The Creeps, this series' main protagonists from the last novel are presently laying low, and Elly, a demon hunter, has settled down to doing odd jobs for the Stregoi, a Russian old-world Boston Southie clan which is run by the ruthless Ivanov and his right-hand vampire Katya. Then a new upstart Irish clan, the Oisín, are stepping up the agro in an attempt to take some territory away from Ivanov, who, of course, takes a dim view of this.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, or the Night Owls bookstore, Chaz and Justin, a young student at the nearby college who was vampirized in the last novel, are still going through the Clearwaters effects and books. These two were friends of the Clearwaters, occult scholars and collage professors who were slaughtered by the Creeps in the last novel, when they are attacked by a walking dead man, or a ghoul as they are called. Chaz is almost killed, and Justin is just able to fight off the ghoul, and get Chaz back to the Night Owls bookstore, and Val, who is the vampire owner of the bookstore in Edgewater.

However, if these two intertwined plotlines are not enough for you, Roy throws in one more. The area near where Cavale, Elly's brother and wizard, lives, is being plagued by ghosts. And just before a job that has to be done for Ivanov, Elly has to exorcise a ghost of a murdered homeless man, and now Cavale is trying to find out who sicced the ghost on to Cavale and Elly's neighbors, and why are more ghosts and a mysterious stranger constantly seen lurking about.

Then one the vampires that was created by one of Ivanov's Strogoi becomes possessed, it is realized by all that somebody is working overtime to create new vampires, and somebody is trying to start a war between the Strogoi and the Oisín. Whew, and we are still only half-way through the novel.

Still, while Roy throws a lot story at the reader, it all seems to be built on sand, because once again, as she did in her first novel, where Roy fails to lift her world above the generic is in her world-building. The main reason that Roy never seems to be able to lift her alternate world above the common place in that she never explains any of the hows or whys of what this world is about. Not only that, she not only fails to even try to redefine the clichés of the genre, she, in fact, seems to wallow in them as some form of shortcut so that she can indulge in some lazy writing and world building.

A good example of how the supernatural beings never rise above the cliché is that her vampires are . . . well . . . vampires right out of central casting. They can only consume blood, have to sleep during the day, die when staked with a wooden stake, have supernatural speed and strength, live forever, the old-world vampires are, of course, Russian, and they have servants called "Renfields", although the origin of this term is never explained. And again, if Renfield is a proper noun, shouldn’t it be lower cased?

Other supernatural beings, like the lesbian succubii, are featured, again from the last novel, and are disneyfied and are portrayed as cute and cuddly, with no explanation as to what a succubus is in this GP rated urban fantasy. While other creatures/beings like ghouls and ghosts mainly flit across the pages as needed with no explanation as what they actually are either, or how they are exist.

While I liked the intrinsic story, the novel reads more like a cash-grab, by-the-numbers, fan-fiction, family friendly novelization of an already created television episode rather than a stand-alone novel in an original series. Family friendly that is, except for the constant use of the F-bomb, it seems that Roy believes that she can prove how tough her novel is by batting about the F-Bomb as if the more she used it, the more street cred her book will have. But the constant use of it soon becomes tiresome, lazy and redundant.

On-the-other-hand Roy gives us, or attempts to give us, in "Grave Matters" two boss battles. Unfortunately the first one is a total disappointment as Roy cuts away just as it's just getting started. The second one though would be worth its weight in gold if we didn't have to have waded through this almost Disney version of an urban fantasy to get to it.

I didn't really hate this novel, despite my criticism, and if published thirty years ago I probably would have liked it much better, but now, after years of the form redefining itself, "Grave Matters" never really raises itself above being non-essential and pedestrian.

Sadly, even the cover by Don Sipley for this book looks half-hearted and generic, and does little to make anybody but a fan want to read it.


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Grave Matters A Night Owls Novel Lauren M Roy Books Reviews

I've literally never written a review before but when I saw this book only had a few I felt compelled to add my 2 cents. I was running out of favorite authors/series, as some had gone the way of repeating storylines and falling back on tired old stereotypes. While waiting for new books from Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, Faith Hunter, etc. I came across the first in this series (Night Owls). Really, really good! Original characters, excellent writing, good world building. The second book expands and builds on that foundation. I was rapidly hooked and am eagerly anticipating more, which rarely happens to me as a longtime, somewhat jaded reader of UF.
This seemed more of a character development book. I like how the characters are forming their own pack. The plot itself was so so and it didn't really draw me in. I'll definitely pick up the next book to see where the series leads. I would like more from the secondary characters in the next book.
This is the 2nd book of this series..I bought it because I liked the 1st one very much. Unfortunately this book did not live up to my expectations. The beginning was slow..The characters were not well defined & if you have not read the first book you will be totally lost for awhile..It did pick up in the end but probably not enough for me to buy the next one.
I thought this book might suffer from the sophomore curse and not do justice to the first book in the series. Not to worry, this book is great. The story is well thought out and the character's growth is palpable. These are multi-faceted characters in a complex story line. Sooo rare these days and so enjoyable!
I really like the world building here. The concept of a vampire bookstore owner and her Renfield seems fresh. Mix that in with a new vampire and a couple of monster hunters, plus vampire politics and I'm already halfway sold. The quality of the writing seems high already, the plotting was really good and the characters made me care about what was going to happen next. A solid series and one I'm going to follow with interest.
I was drawn into the first Night Owls novel; I loved the original concepts and could hardly wait for book #2. A year later, when book #2 was finally published, I had trouble getting into it. Having read maybe 350 books since the original Night Owls, I needed a little more recap/introduction to bring me back up to speed on all the characters. About halfway through the book, I found myself reoriented, and I quite enjoyed the second half. So I will be looking for book #3, but please consider adding 5-6 introductory pages to remind me where the story was and where it ended!
I am terrible at writing reviews, especially about books. Let me say though that this book and the previous one are fantastic reads. The plot is light and fast paced with a good lacing of humor, the action sequences are gripping without being overbearing or weighted down with excessive details and the interactions of the characters really shows the mix of old friends, new friends and long buried tensions that are just starting to simmer to the surface.

The books are fun to read and you will find yourself begging for just one more paragraph, page, and chapter until the book has been devoured. If you enjoy the Dresden Files or the Iron Druid series then this series would be right up your alley.
Hail, hail, the gang's all here. It's only been a month since the Creep's incursions in the last novel, and things have now calmed down in Edgewood. The Creeps, this series' main protagonists from the last novel are presently laying low, and Elly, a demon hunter, has settled down to doing odd jobs for the Stregoi, a Russian old-world Boston Southie clan which is run by the ruthless Ivanov and his right-hand vampire Katya. Then a new upstart Irish clan, the Oisín, are stepping up the agro in an attempt to take some territory away from Ivanov, who, of course, takes a dim view of this.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, or the Night Owls bookstore, Chaz and Justin, a young student at the nearby college who was vampirized in the last novel, are still going through the Clearwaters effects and books. These two were friends of the Clearwaters, occult scholars and collage professors who were slaughtered by the Creeps in the last novel, when they are attacked by a walking dead man, or a ghoul as they are called. Chaz is almost killed, and Justin is just able to fight off the ghoul, and get Chaz back to the Night Owls bookstore, and Val, who is the vampire owner of the bookstore in Edgewater.

However, if these two intertwined plotlines are not enough for you, Roy throws in one more. The area near where Cavale, Elly's brother and wizard, lives, is being plagued by ghosts. And just before a job that has to be done for Ivanov, Elly has to exorcise a ghost of a murdered homeless man, and now Cavale is trying to find out who sicced the ghost on to Cavale and Elly's neighbors, and why are more ghosts and a mysterious stranger constantly seen lurking about.

Then one the vampires that was created by one of Ivanov's Strogoi becomes possessed, it is realized by all that somebody is working overtime to create new vampires, and somebody is trying to start a war between the Strogoi and the Oisín. Whew, and we are still only half-way through the novel.

Still, while Roy throws a lot story at the reader, it all seems to be built on sand, because once again, as she did in her first novel, where Roy fails to lift her world above the generic is in her world-building. The main reason that Roy never seems to be able to lift her alternate world above the common place in that she never explains any of the hows or whys of what this world is about. Not only that, she not only fails to even try to redefine the clichés of the genre, she, in fact, seems to wallow in them as some form of shortcut so that she can indulge in some lazy writing and world building.

A good example of how the supernatural beings never rise above the cliché is that her vampires are . . . well . . . vampires right out of central casting. They can only consume blood, have to sleep during the day, die when staked with a wooden stake, have supernatural speed and strength, live forever, the old-world vampires are, of course, Russian, and they have servants called "Renfields", although the origin of this term is never explained. And again, if Renfield is a proper noun, shouldn’t it be lower cased?

Other supernatural beings, like the lesbian succubii, are featured, again from the last novel, and are disneyfied and are portrayed as cute and cuddly, with no explanation as to what a succubus is in this GP rated urban fantasy. While other creatures/beings like ghouls and ghosts mainly flit across the pages as needed with no explanation as what they actually are either, or how they are exist.

While I liked the intrinsic story, the novel reads more like a cash-grab, by-the-numbers, fan-fiction, family friendly novelization of an already created television episode rather than a stand-alone novel in an original series. Family friendly that is, except for the constant use of the F-bomb, it seems that Roy believes that she can prove how tough her novel is by batting about the F-Bomb as if the more she used it, the more street cred her book will have. But the constant use of it soon becomes tiresome, lazy and redundant.

On-the-other-hand Roy gives us, or attempts to give us, in "Grave Matters" two boss battles. Unfortunately the first one is a total disappointment as Roy cuts away just as it's just getting started. The second one though would be worth its weight in gold if we didn't have to have waded through this almost Disney version of an urban fantasy to get to it.

I didn't really hate this novel, despite my criticism, and if published thirty years ago I probably would have liked it much better, but now, after years of the form redefining itself, "Grave Matters" never really raises itself above being non-essential and pedestrian.

Sadly, even the cover by Don Sipley for this book looks half-hearted and generic, and does little to make anybody but a fan want to read it.