Up from the Grave

SPOILERS!

So this series is dead.

I’m so tired of authors doing this to strong female characters. You go through all the heartache with Cat when she finds out she can’t have kids, you go through the amazing relationship growth with her and Bones, you go through a lot of side characters going through growth throughout the books. You grow a little with everyone, you learn to love them, and then this happens.

Not every freaking lead female in a book series needs to be a mother. I was SO EXCITED That for Once the strong, kick ass, female lead in a book series couldn’t end up as a mother because there was nothing to ruin the momentum of the series. As soon as they started mentioning a kid with amazing abilities I knew what was going to happen. I’m SO disappointed with this Instant Motherly Love crap that authors seem to think will make every woman on earth swoon.

This was such an abrupt departure from the previous books in the series that I am left feeling seriously disappointed. This is an obvious cut off of the series, and it’s not even an ending that I can feel happy about. I thought, how can she possibly top her last book with this one? I was so hesitant to read it, and then I got excited after the first little bit thinking that this really was going to be another great Cat and Bones adventure – only to watch the Author flush the series down the toilet. No wonder they did a cameo with EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER from the series. Ugh. I’m so completely disappointed.

Myth 4/5

As the final novel in the Night Huntress series, the expectations were high and I was not disappointed. A final chance to see not only Cat and Bones in action, but the whole gang. All of our favorite characters from the series are brought together again for an epic conclusion.

This book also pulls together some of our favorite themes from the previous novels, secret government agency gone wrong? Underworld racial tensions teetering to the brink of all out war? Vampire council stepping in to shut it down? All of it delightfully spun together for this final story.

Magic 4/5

Of course we know by now that Cat and Bones are both major bad asses. Theyve inherited and mastered some incredible magic making themselves a true power couple.

They use their strength and of course the strength of their friends to battle their way through this final adventure.

Overall 4/5
A great conclusion to the Cat & Bones saga and obviously left Frost plenty of space to keep delighting us with other stories from the Night Huntress world.

(PureTextuality.com)The gangs all here. I am so late reading this last in the series, but I am happy to report that Ms. Frost surpassed all my expectations. She managed to bring back most of the characters from the previous books, and I loved every minute of it.

The crux of all of these books is of course, the relationship of Bones, and his wife Cat. Look on any list of favorite male characters from a paranormal series and you will find Bones-usually in the top five. I know he makes my top five! Bones is probably a couple of centuries old and is a master vampire. Cat was born a human/vampire hybrid and began killing vampires in her teens, due to the urging of her mother that understandably hates vampires. She meets Bones and for the first time is unable to get the best of a vampire, you know because of how powerful he is and all. And so began their romance. And it was always(with the exception of a 5 year hiatus) a great romance, even after Cat becomes a full vampire.

The story has been building up to this point for at least a couple of books now. The secret government agency that the pair worked for at one point has now been taken over by Madigan. Madigan is not a nice man, and that is a major understatement. Cats Uncle Don, formerly the head of the agency, is now a ghost. Hes worried about whats going on at the agency and fears for all the men that worked under him. Men that are friends of Cat and Bones. They are missing and the duo take it upon themselves to finally solve the mystery of whats actually happening at the agency and the whereabouts of their friends.

This one takes place in different places within the U.S., with a side trip to Romania to attend Vlads nuptials. Vlad is the original Dracula and has his own series, Night Prince-one that I love as well. Theres also a trip to New Orleans where Marie Laveau(once the queen of voodoo) is now the queen of the ghouls. Shes showed up in several of the books now and theres never a dull moment when shes around. All of Bones master vampire friends come to help and Denise, Cats best friend is instrumental in aiding the couple. As I said, the gang IS all here.

In the end, Don did know a lot more than he was letting on. And none of it is good! I wont go into specifics, but wow..just wow! And wrapping the story up also included a major surprise for this couple, one that will knock the readers socks off! It knocked Bones and Cat for a loop as well, but also contributed to a wonderful storyline for the couple, one that gives them their ultimate immortal happily ever after.

I highly recommend this and the entire series-which should be read in order due to the ongoing storyline-to adult paranormal romance readers.

I absolutely love this series, and Jeaniefe Frost is one of my favourite urban fantasy authors, so of course I was going to read Up From the Grave. The seventh and final book in the Night Huntress series is just as action packed and as exciting as we’ve come to expect, but there was something missing in this one for me.

Life has been pretty quiet and peaceful for Cat and Bones lately, and Cat’s come to enjoy it. But when the Don’s ghost pays her a visit to say her old team mates and friends have gone missing, Cat will put aside her peaceful life to find out what’s going on. Turns out Madigan, Don’s replacement, has been conducting experiments on her friends behind the scenes. He wants to create a species that are human, vampire and ghoul all at once to create an unbeatable army for humans. Knowing neither vampire nor ghoul will let something like that slide, Cat and Bones are racing against time to stop Madigan and save her friends. But revelations throw a spanner in the works, and Cat discovers more than she bargained for.

Up From the Grave is a really sweet novel. As I said, there’s excitement and danger throughout, and some of the things Madigan has done are atrocious. You’re still on the edge of your seat, dying to know what happens. But you can feel it’s the end of the series as you go along. Cat comments frequently about how she misses the peace they had, and wanting to go back to that. There’s also several instances of Cat truly realising what she wants from life, and that’s to spend it with Bones. She accepted how she felt about Bones a long time ago – they’re married now, even – but I think in Up From the Grave she discovers just how deep her feelings go, just how much she loves him, and what her life would be without him – nothing. There’s also a time or two when we get similar comments from Bones. There’s a very strong feel that their life together is more important than anything else, which is part of the winding down of the series. They’re going to focus on their own little world when everything has calmed down.

Cat and Bones mentioned things that had happend in previous books quite a number of times. This was probably meant to be a nod to the series ending – showing how far Cat and Bones have come, and the things they’ve gone through together – but I didn’t always remember what was being discussed. There have been two Prince of Darkness books since the last Night Huntress Novel, and a few Night Huntress World books interspersed between the others. It’s been a long time since those other Night Huntress books came out, and I simply couldn’t remember what they were talking about, but there wasn’t enough recap to jog my memory. So sadly, most of the references went over my head.

I did find Up From the Grave kind of predictable in places, though. There were some extremely emotional times in this book, but there were always hints as to what would happen, so I couldn’t get as anguished as Cat, because I didn’t believe what was happening. I think the predictability is what let me down a bit; I knew what was coming for certain parts of the books, and so although it was exciting and had me on the edge of my seat, I wasn’t surprised. And the big, big reveal? Really obvious. So obvious. I couldn’t work out how things are as they are, but I gathered really on what the outcome would be. It was just glaringly obvious. And although it fits in with the plot completely, it feels a little too conveniant. It seems like Frost decided how she wanted the series to end for Cat and Bones, and then wrote a story to fit that, one that works, one that’s plausible and completely in vein with the other books, but still feels a little… self-gratifying? Or maybe a little too generous to the characters? I don’t know, but I’m dubious about it. Not only has the series ended, but it’s ended wrapped up in a pretty ribbon too. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to do – serious kudos to Frost for creating a great story to get this ending without it seeming like an after thought, “Oh, and by the way…” – it was just surprising that Frost chose to. With all that Frost has put her characters through, it just seems a little out of character for things to be so nice and neat. It left me thinking, “Really?”

On the whole, not the best in the series, but still a pretty good book. A nice way to end the series, even if it I have some misgivings about it. I still consider Frost to be one of my favourite authors, and I’m super excited to read more from her in the future!

3.5 stars

I’ve been a huge fan of the Night Huntress series ever since I first discovered it, I love Cat and Bones but I also love (or love to hate) all the side characters we have come to know so well throughout the series and the spin off stories. I was upset when I found out that Up from the Grave was going to be the last book in the series, I understand and respect Jeaniene Frost’s decision to end things here rather than drag out the storyline but that doesn’t mean I felt ready to say goodbye. I’m going to miss these characters but I guess that’s the good thing about books – you can always reread them! We also have the final book in Vlad’s spin off to look forward to and I’m holding on to hope that we might get an Ian book or two at some point in the future too.

Up from the Grave contains everything fans of this series would expect – lots of action, great interactions between Cat and Bones, a nasty enemy with seriously evil plans and the team joining forces with some surprising allies to save the day. I’m going to admit there were a couple of things I didn’t like so much though, things that felt unnecessary to me and lowered my rating slightly, but I can’t really say too much without veering into spoiler territory so I’m going to leave it at that very vague pronouncement! What I did enjoy was seeing all of the characters I’ve come to love play a role in the story. Denise proves what an amazing friend she is in this one and Cat is lucky to have someone like that at her back, I think we could all use a friend like Denise and I was glad she got another chance to shine. Ian is also a stand out character here and the more I see of him the more desperate I am to read a full length story about him!

I love seeing how far Cat and Bones have come in their relationship, they are so much stronger now than they were in the beginning and they really are unbeatable when they’re working as a team. They are one of my favourite fictional couples and have been for a long time now so I’m going to miss them. This series is certainly one that will be staying on my keeper shelf.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member