Up from the Grave (Night Huntress, #7)

by Jeaniene Frost

[Melanie]

Listening to audiobook

Review originally posted at Hotlistens.com

This book is very bittersweet. It is the last book in the Cat & Bones series. While I understand that Ms. Frost must end the story where her muse tells her she must, it is very sad to see them leave early. I was overall happy with the ending. I think ending a series is an extremely difficult thing to do. No one ever seems happy with how the story ends, you always want something to have a different outcome than what actually happens. I have been disappointed with the ending of many series, and while this one didn't knock my socks off, I was not disappointed like I was with some others.

This review will be pretty vague and I'm sorry about that, but I don't want to give away any spoilers. There is a bunch of action. Bones and Cat are in trouble as always. I'm a little disappointed in the lack of trust between the two of them. After all of these years, they still don't trust each other when planning and continue to go behind each other's back. I wish that after all this time, they could learn to work together and trust each other's abilities.

There are several large plot twists and I've seen both good and bad responses to them. For me personally, I kind of liked how everything ended up, at least in part. I don't know how to give more detail without revealing anything. I know, it leaves a lot to be determined, but I'll just have to say, read or listen to this book to find out more.

Pretty much every character shows up in this book, some more than others. Don has a large presence and proves he still isn't winning any father of the year awards. There is tons of Ian, which was great. I really hope that he gets his own book before Ms. Frost walks away from this world completely. We also get some quality time with Spade and Denise, Mencheres and Kara, a small cameo from Vlad (his wedding to be exact). I was really surprised that we didn't really see Justina, she is mentioned, but didn't have a single line.

We get to see a new side to Mencheres. He has a human who is trying to recover some data off a damaged hard drive. This human is seventeen years old and Mencheres interacts with him like he was a seventeen year old human as well. Fist bumping, and even says, "You are are the shit". That was a little weird, but it was nice to see that he was "human".

I will say that I've loved this series from the very beginning and while I feel that the series has had ups and downs, overall, I love Cat, Bones and the gang. I will miss them greatly. My favorite quote in the entire series is from Bones in This Side of the Grave, "Ask me if I sparkle and I'll kill you where you stand." I spit my drink all over my desk when I heard that. I can't wait to see what Ms. Frost has waiting in the wings with her next project.

Tavia Gilbert did a great job as always with the narration. She has done the narration for this entire series and for the spinoff Night Huntress World and Night Prince books. I love the voice that she does for Bones with his British accent. I also love the way she does Ian's voice and he has a large part in this book. She does a great job with how Cat thinks inside her own head and brings out Cat's snark well. I can't say enough good stuff for her narration of this book and all the series and spinoff books.

Information from Jeaniene Frost from signing in Dayton on 2/2. This will spoil the ending of Up from the Grave.

I was at the Jeaniene Frost signing in Dayton on 2/2 and she informed me that she wants to write something from Katie's POV. It would probably take place around ten years in the future. It would show a different side of Cat and Bones as parents. She did not give any indication of when this book might come around, but something that she really wants to do. I couldn't get any other character books out of her, though she did refer to Ian as the "I" word.