An Unremembered Grave
Abigail Padgett
330 Pages
Accessed as an Ebook
$4.99 on Amazon at the time of review
I do still enjoy vampire fiction. I do not however enjoy what has happened to urban fantasy over the past few years so while I keep plugging through the subgenre, I know there’s a strong possibility that I will not enjoy the book, if I even manage to finish it at all.
So I was truly, pleasantly surprised by this novel. Much more of a murder mystery that happens to involve a vampire, the book is an enjoyable, comfortable read. The vampire in question, Stephane, is unique enough to stand out in a sea of perfect bodied, overly sexualized vampires whose authors may or may not bother hiding what their use in the plot is-the mechanics are original and the way he moves throughout the novel is inventive.
I may have identified with the main character Danni a little stronger than was intended but not to the point of falling into the reader avatar/Mary Sue trope/trap. As a fairly jaded historian working with textiles and social history, I do find her to be just as refreshing a departure from the world of entirely too attractive and too skilled female leads-and honestly, I find the way that she reacts as she discovers herself to be much more sympathetic and believable than most. Some of my major issues with the book do fall on Danni, however, I’m not sure that they are plot holes so much as a set up for another book (which I would, actually, read).
The plot itself moves comfortably (I’m aware that I’m using comfort/comfortable with some frequency in this review, but I think it’s a good word for this novel). Danni, left dealing with the results of some fairly bad choices, decides to spend time in Louisiana researching the regional textiles. While there, she becomes slowly entangled with the story of Antoine, a man who claims that he is unjustly imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit; a man, as it turns out, who is imprisoned in a compound that claims to be haunted by a vampire.
Horrific Knits 