Гонка за смертью

The Chasing Graves Trilogy #1

by Ben Galley, Бен Гэлли, Михаил Головкин (Translator)

Ох, чувствовал взломщик Келтро Базальт, что не стоит браться за эту работенку. Соблазнился большими деньгами, отправился в Аракс, и вот вам пожалуйста — был хладнокровно убит в первую же ночь. Более того, в посмертии стал рабом богатой вдовы. Приходится привыкать к новому существованию, а попутно прикидывать, нет ли способа вернуться к жизни? Ведь пророчество утверждает, что именно Келтро освободит души мёртвых в Араксе.

Меж тем мир будто сошел с ума. Идëт беспощадная борьба за трон. Трупы говорят голосами мëртвых богов. Похититель душ стремится прославить своё имя в древнем культе. Принцесса готовит заговор против императора. А через пустыню в Аракс спешит убийца, волоча мертвое тело и намереваясь достичь цели любой ценой.

Лишь одно незыблемо в Араксе. Смерть — лишь начало.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Dark Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook, Dark, High Fantasy

448 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2018

About the author

Ben Galley is a British author of dark and epic fantasy books who currently hails from Vancouver, Canada. Since publishing his debut Emaneska Series, Ben has released the award-winning weird western Scarlet Star Trilogy and standalone The Heart of Stone, the critically-acclaimed Chasing Graves Trilogy, and the new Scalussen Chronicles.

When he isn’t conjuring up strange new stories or arguing the finer points of magic systems and dragon anatomy, Ben explores the Canadian wilds, sips Scotch single malts, and snowboards very, very badly. One day he hopes to haunt an epic treehouse in the mountains.

Find all of Ben’s books or join his Discord and Patreon at: www.linktr.ee/bengalley

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here lies Araxes, City of Countless Souls, where death is the pretty shitty beginning of a whole new ‘life’, comprised immediately and forevermore of servitude and toil. No perks. No escape. No food. For newly dead Caltro Basalt, this means being late for a very important date, a mysterious appointment in the Cloudpiercer. Instead, his murder takes him on another path, no less dangerous, with stakes higher than life or death and deadly enough to topple more than kings. Power over souls may be everything, but in this cutthroat business, where high politics is more knife in the back than honeyed words, the dead have their own role to play, especially when the gods come calling.

People say a story is a window into another mind, another world. I believe they are more mirrors than windows. In them, we glimpse ourselves dressed up as characters. And like any reflection, the truth we see can be hard to swallow.

If this reflection shows us anything, it’s that greed lies at the heart of the human experience. The author’s depiction of a corrupt, covetous, and unscrupulous society, one which has created a comprehensive money and power making industry around the enslavement of the dead, feels depressingly real. It’s a detail rich, thoroughly thought out creation, with potential threaded through every layer and more than enough to say about the nature of slave societies to ground it in real life. Cleverly adding to the veracity of this overwhelmingly unpleasant place is the ‘primary’ material at the opening of each chapter, including excerpts of the extensive bureaucracy surrounding the trade and sources or ‘documents’ detailing important historical, political, or legal points relating to the business of shades. Ranging from funny to pointedly relevant, these snippets are effective ways of getting a real feel for both the wider world and how things are supposed to run in Araxes. But in a place where death is ever present and people are pretty quick to chose murder as a means of getting ahead, even the king himself is so afraid of being killed that he’s apparently locked himself away in a vault, passing his orders on little notes through a tiny letterbox. Of course, the criminal underworld have found a way to make it all work. Such is the inefficacy of the system of government that, at one point, the soul stealers mention how they can rely on its cumbersome nature to protect them from the consequences of their methodological slaughter - it takes years to get things done, so even if a victim complains, it’s a problem for another time. Anyone who’s had to deal with government departments for anything important will nod their heads in grim understanding. For shades such as Caltro, this means nobody’s coming to help- he’s going to have to get himself out of this mess. And he’s going to complain about it as loudly and frequently as possible while doing so.

The problem is that nobody else in the book is even close to as interesting as Caltro. And he is interesting. Bit selfish, bit whiny, but brilliant with it. I can really get behind his ‘seriously I just came here for an appointment and now i’m dead and you want me to save the damn world’ bad attitude. I feel that, I really do. He dominated the story to such an extent that I didn’t want to spend time with anyone else, but the limitations of having a main character as a ghost slave mostly stuck within the confines of one place means that alternative pov chapters are necessary. Other characters are colourful enough, such as local crime Boss, Boran Temsa, the heir to the throne, Sisine, and Nilith, a mysterious woman dragging the body of her dead husband and its attached shade across the desert. They all have their moments, and I loved some of Temsa’s crew, especially Miss Ani Jexebel, who is quite the woman, but there wasn’t enough depth there to really, truly grab me. With some characters, the author’s choice to provide less information was plot driven but even then the end payoff wasn’t worth the feeling of why-is-this-here disconnection while reading their sections. On the other hand, you've got Caltro who, amongst other things, is being murdered right after arriving in town, shut in a sarcophagus for snooping where he shouldn’t, and chatting to a god in the body of a reanimated cat (massive props for getting a talking cat into the story). He is living the not-living dream. I genuinely can’t wait to see what happens next, his bad luck is already impressive, I have no doubt it’s going to be legendary.

This feels to me like a series which still has the opportunity to grow into itself. Like the abrupt ending, there’s a sense that there should be that little bit more. The incredible worldbuilding and fun hook give it rock solid foundations, but the variation in character appeal means that it doesn’t yet make impact it should. There’s serious grounds here for building something spectacular, but it’s just going to take a little longer to get there. And I certainly don’t have any problem waiting, i’ll be there for whatever comes next.


ARC via author for fantasybookreview.co.uk

[Esme · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have loved other books by Ben Galley so when I was in a reading slump I decided to jump around in my reading order to get to this one, hoping for a little boost. This was the correct decision, it jump-started my love of reading again.

The opening of this is a very short prelude and the first thing that struck me was how atmospheric it was, it’s very descriptive without falling into the “purple” prose trap where it’s overdone. I felt the heat of the desert, smelled the decaying bodies, and was totally sucked into the setting in just a few pages.

What’s interesting is this book goes back and forth between first person and third person POV depending on which character we’re following.

I consider the first person POV to be the main POV, and I certainly liked him the most. Caltro actually has a great sense of humor which nicely balanced the rather bleak storyline this book focuses on. I feel if he wasn’t as humorous as he was, I wouldn’t have gotten on board as much with this story because it may have been overly dark.

He’s not a violent person or a fighter – he’s actually pretty chubby and out of shape. I find that really refreshing in a main character since so often our protagonists are super-powerful and usually ‘beautiful’. He’s a locksmith/thief and he’s received a summons from someone who lives in a huge tower known as the Cloudpeircer in the very violent city of Araxes. He doesn’t know who this person is, but he’s dying to find out who knows him and is also wealthy enough to live in this giant spire. Curiosity gets the best of him and despite his hesitations about visiting a city that’s known for murder and soul-stealing, he decides to go check it out. This was a bad decision. He figures that out as soon as he steps off the boat in Araxes. He’s immediately chased down by a gang of soulstealers, then he’s murdered, and then his ghost is brought back and is enslaved. In this world, it’s possible for people to remove a ghost from its body and force it into labor.

The dead in this world are bought and sold, and depending on how they died you get more or less money for their ghosts. Those that died violent deaths and are scarred are worth less money because the scars carry over to their shade form. Those who have been disemboweled still have guts hanging out as shades. So, Caltro’s body wasn’t supposed to be worth much since he had his throat slit and he had been stabbed multiple times. While he was dead, before he was wrenched back through a binding – a ghost on the other side speaks to him. The ghost says things like: “We call upon the locksmith, the harbinger of change” “you will go back with our gift” “Stop them. Save us. Save yourself”. It’s cryptic and Caltro doesn’t know what’s going on, but it’s a big clue in that Caltro will have a big impact on the world, and possibly bring an end to this enslavement of souls. Copper is used to keep the shades in line, shades can’t feel much once they’re dead. They don’t sleep, they don’t eat – they can’t even smell. But, when touched with copper it’s like a firey lash that sends pain through their vaporous forms.

Once Caltro died, he was sold to a woman named Widow Horix, a very sly and intelligent older woman who has a host of shades at her disposal. He’s incredibly bitter about his situation and he’s constantly plotting a way to get out of his enslavement. She’s actually somewhat interested in what Caltro has to say, but only to a point. She asks him what it’s like to be dead since she’s elderly and will die soon herself.

"It’s numb. Cold, both inside and out. I can’t feel much apart from the sting of copper, which I seem to have felt frequently since dying. It’s like I tread on frozen feet half the time. They’re like stumps. Holding things is hard. Infuriating. I mis sleep awfully and I’d happily take a nightmare in an instant if it meant I could dream. Oh, but what hurts the most is the irreversibilit and injustice of my situation. To be nothing but a ghost. To own nothing but a scarf. To have the knowledge that I was murderd, robbed of my life and freedom, yet know there’s hardly anything I can do to change it. To know that I am a dead slave, and will be, most probably, for all of eternity."

The originality of this blew me away, I’ve read about the undead, ghosts, sentient ghosts etc. But I’ve never come across a storyline quite like this one – it was a breath of fresh air and I really needed it to get back in the saddle for reading.

There are a few other storylines as well. Nilith just killed her husband and has his soul and is dragging his body back to Araxes to bind his body in the Grand Nyxwell. This marriage was never a good one, he was drinking and sleeping around and never really wanted to marry Nilith in the first place. She’s a rather rough person, worn down over the 22 years she’s been strapped to a husband that doesn’t love her, and sees an opportunity to claim his riches. When you hand over a soul, you inherit their wealth, so she’s dragging his corpse through the desert trying to get to Araxes so she can be wealthy and move far away.

There’s also a pov of the Empress-in-waiting who’s hearing about disappearances of nobles, they vanish along with their ‘shades’ and fortunes. It’s not unusual in a city like this for people to go missing, or untimely deaths to occur. But, too many of them can raise eyebrows.

The writing in this was just superb, I feel like he’s stepped up his prose game and really went all out. The writing was smooth, fluid and beautiful at times. It never failed to create an awesome atmosphere where I could see exactly what was going on. As a personal thing, I really don’t like fake cursing – so in his previous books, I’ve just kind of pushed through the fake cursing and tried to ignore it. This book uses fuck! It’s honestly a relief because it’s used a lot (100+), and if it had been something like frick I would have been pretty annoyed. He even uses the word fucktart, which is a new favorite term of mine.

The pacing, for the most part, was very fluid and smooth. There is a new POV introduced at 21% that slowed me down a bit, I was so interested in what was happening to Caltro that hitting a new POV slowed me down just a bit, but once I got a handle on how that storyline fit with everything else it was fast-paced.

I’ve read some other reviews for this book, and the most common complaint is that people get much more attached to Caltro than the other POV’s. I have to admit it’s the same for me, but it didn’t bother me nearly as much as other people. Since Caltro is the only first person POV and the others are in third, it makes his chapters much more intimate and we get to know him much more than the others. I think it didn’t bother me as much because I still found the other POV’s interesting despite not getting as attached to them as I did with Caltro. This is a solid book with a very interesting premise that I can highly recommend!

Audience:

multi pov
ghosts/undead
darker stories
enslaved pov
rich world building
atmospheric writing
high fantasy
First and third person writing


Ratings:

Plot: 13/15
Characters: 13.5/15
World Building: 14/15
Writing: 13.5/15
Pacing: 12/15
Originality: 14/15
Personal Enjoyment 10/10

Final Score: 90/100 – 5 star highly recommended!

[Nicholas Eames · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent first book in a series that I will absolutely keep on reading. Exceptional writing, great characters, and boy...it's been a looooong time since the twist at a book's ending took me completely by surprise!

[Haïfa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big thanks to Ben Galley for providing an ARC of Chasing Graves, in exchange for an honest review.

Spoiler-free review. Please note that the quotes in this review are taken from the ARC edition and may change in the published edition.
You can find this and more at Novel Notions.

When Ben Galley revealed the cover of Chasing Graves and after hearing that it was an Egyptian mythology-inspired fantasy, I knew I had to read the book. My only experience with Galley’s writing before CG was with The Heart of Stone and it was a book I very much enjoyed because of its writing, atmosphere, philosophy and the humanity and depth he insufflated in his not quite human main character. Knowing that, I had the feeling I would embark in a deep and atmospheric reading journey with Chasing Graves and I’m happy to say I wasn’t wrong.

***

Caltro Basalt, master locksmith and occasional thief, crossed the Troublesome Sea to get to Araxes (capital of the Arc) after he received a mysterious letter offering him a job. As the ship brings him closer to the city, his curiosity turns into dread. For though the City of Countless Souls is the most thriving city in the Arctian Empire and the Far Reaches, it is also by far the most dangerous. Gangs of soulstealers roam its streets. Unaware and unprotected travelers are murdered and transformed into Shades (or ghosts) to be bound and sold in order to serve eternally.

"To a criminal in Araxes, broad daylight only meant they could see better."

I chose to write this short introduction about Caltro because I feel like his story is central (told in 1st person) and that all the other plots and POVs will eventually intersect with his story at some point. Caltro’s POV also felt a lot more intimate than the others. The struggles and tribulations of his new life were raw but his introspection never lacked humor and sass. The readers will appreciate that the regrets and tragedy that tinted his narration are never too melodramatic or don't weigh down the plot. I do however wish we knew more of Caltro’s past before his arrival to Araxes to appreciate his slow development more and understand why he was chosen for a certain cryptic task.

"The part of loss that cuts the deepest is that you never know which moments are the last until they’ve already been and gone. The last meal, the last kiss and such."

We also follow three other POVs that were told in 3rd person and in my opinion, this storytelling choice made for a very interesting narration style.

* Sisine, princess of the Arc and Queen-in-Waiting: intriguer, irascible and very ambitious,
* Boran Temsa, a greedy and cunning Arctian criminal and boss of a soulstealer gang,
* Nilith, a surprising and very determined woman, dragging a corpse and its unbound ghost across the desert and hoping to reach Araxes before it’s too late. Hers is probably my favorite POV because of her tenacity. The variety of encounters she made was interesting to read and her eventful journey was the only one that took me outside of Araxes to explore a more exotic area of the Arc.

"The Tenets were written by the Nyxites, then came the Arc’s Code, adopted halfway across the lands. Society was upheaved. The gods perished. Dynasties were built. Murder became fashionable."

Society was indeed upheaved but only the wealthy, and by wealthy I mean those who owned the most Shades, rose to the top of the pyramid. The Arctian society is a dreadfully rotten one; built on greed, the thirst for power and enslavement of the souls of those dead in turmoil, or more frequently simply murdered, enslaved and denied the most basic human rights. Galley also incorporated pretty engaged parallels with capitalism and interesting observations of human nature, which are elements I deeply enjoy in my Fantasy reads. A special mention to the writing too! I mentioned it in my review of Heart of Stone and I need to say it again here: Galley’s writing is both simple and elegant, with lovely turns of phrases and clever (and funny) metaphors and puns.

"Any silence longs to be filled, and a lonely mind is wont to fill it with thoughts and made-up whispers, as if the nothingness is too unbearable."

Now before I conclude this review, I want to get back to the Egyptian mythology aspect I mentioned at the very beginning. I think the book had a few similarities: the landscape (desert and oases, sea, dusty cities, and an important river), the pyramidal structures, polytheism and the concept that death is a temporary interruption of life. But while the ancient Egyptians made great efforts to ensure a comfortable and happy afterlife to their dead, the Arctians (mostly) condemn them to eternal servitude. And while the Nile’s water nourishes the living, the Nyx’s water is used to revive the dead. I hope we will learn more of the dead gods in the next installments to see if there are stronger inspiration from the Ancient Egyptian deities there!

"Religion had died in my country just as it had in this one."

The pacing was well balanced but I think the book would have benefitted from more action and shocking twists. I’m not saying there weren’t any, because there were. But some were sadly predictable because we had glimpses into the antagonists’ head and plans. Also, though I really enjoyed reading Caltro and Nilith’s perspective, some parts of theirs journeys didn’t really grab my full attention. This is a very personal and subjective feeling and I honestly can’t put my finger on what truly didn’t work for me and where. However, I’m imputing it to perhaps the wrong timing and my mood at the time.

It’s time for me to conclude this already long review! Chasing Graves was just as atmospheric, dark and original as I expected it to be. It’s a great first book to a series I sincerely can’t wait to complete. There is still so much more left to explore in lore, characters (and their hidden agendas) and promising plots and developments to come. I look forward to reading the sequel!

Note:
The next books will be available soon! The author announced on Twitter that the series was complete and that he'd be releasing the sequels at a 1-2 months interval!

[Nick Borrelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Araxes is a city full of ghosts. Not the figurative kind mind you, and also not the playful and prankster kind that you see on certain paranormal television shows. These ghosts have been ripped from their formerly living bodies, often through brutally violent murder, and then are subsequently bonded as slaves to serve whichever masters are the highest bidders. It's not called the City of Countless Souls for nothing.

This is also not a city that you want to be walking around in alone, but that's just the situation that petty thief and locksmith Caltro Basalt finds himself in after being summoned to do a job by an anonymous employer residing in a large tower known as Cloudpiercer in the heart of the city. Caltro simply can't resist the possibility of a huge payday and so he disembarks a ship into the dangerous streets. His mission is to seek out the enigmatic occupant of Cloudpiercer and find out what he may be offering.

It's not surprising though that immediately following his entry into Araxes, Caltro is jumped by a gang of soulstealers and killed in a vicious and horrific way. He soon finds himself just another soul in the countless masses of shades and ghosts who roam the city to perform laborious tasks for their wealthy masters. Caltro can't believe his misfortune and how suddenly his life was extinguished. He is determined to figure out a way to free himself from the bond he is now forcibly committed to.

In this city of the undead we also find Nilith, an embittered woman who murders her husband in a fit of rage after she discovered his frequent infidelity. The opening pages describe her dragging his soul across the desert in the hopes of binding his body and collecting on the huge inheritance that she will receive as a result of his death. It's the ultimate case of payback for an unfaithful and lecherous husband.

Araxes however, is a city that may be about to experience a change in the usual running of things. There are rumors of an ancient cult that is bribing local soulstealers and amassing a ghost army for purposes that are as of yet unknown. Then there's the ambitious princess who has her sites set on the Emperor's throne, thrusting the future of the city into further uncertainty. The ultimate outcome of all of this instability and treachery will be set against the backdrop of a city where the dead don't stay dead for very long and supreme power lies with the richest and most willing to commit murder for their own benefit.

I was absolutely haunted (no pun intended) by CHASING GRAVES from first page to back cover. This book is a wonderfully unique blend of dark fantasy, horror, paranormal fiction, and ancient mythology that is driven by an incredibly suspenseful and gradual convergence of storylines. I'm ashamed to admit that this is the first Ben Galley book that I've had the opportunity to read, but after this experience I will definitely be picking up more books of his.

The premise of CHASING GRAVES is such a unique one, involving bonded ghosts forced into servitude against their will. When I first read the synopsis I originally thought that it sounded like a cool idea, but after reading the book I have to say that Ben delivers on that cool idea even more than I ever even imagined possible. The story is told through a few POVs, but it never gets confusing and every time the book changes perspectives it just builds on the story and pushes it to what you know is going to be an amazing conclusion.

I thought the character of Caltro was very well done and he perfectly embodies the helplessness and anger that many of the bonded souls feel as they had their lives snuffed out simply so that a rich aristocrat could have free labor that they don't need to pay or feed. He's an often snarky character who is constantly searching for a way out of his predicament. And the supporting characters, while not as deep or complex as Caltro, are still compelling enough to make you care about their individual stories as well.

I loved CHASING GRAVES and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a different kind of fantasy with great world-building and awesomely creepy ghosts. This really is one of the most original fantasy books I've read in quite some time. Pick it up and read it. The pages and all of your free time will fly by but you will relish every minute of it. The good news is that there are also two more books after this one that round out the Chasing Graves Trilogy.

[Lukasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I deeply enjoyed Galley’s Heart of Stone. This guy knows how to grab the reader’s attention. Once I learned about his new book, I put it near the top of my TBR list. How could I say no to an early ARC of Chasing Graves?

You’re right. I couldn’t.

The story is nuanced, dark and complex. A master locksmith, Caltro Basalt, dies a gruesome death on his first night at Araxes. He won’t enjoy eternal rest though.  Soulstealers led by Boss Boran Temsa turn him into a Shade (a ghost slave) and sell him to serve the rich.

Somewhere between life and death, Caltro struggles to “survive” and make things right. He doesn’t realise he had a role to play in a cutthroat game of power. Now, that he’s dead, dead gods have a business with him. 

Castro’s arc intertwines with other complex stories featuring a cast of intriguing, morally grey characters. I especially enjoyed Boss Boran Temsa - a consummate and cruel player of games of power. I can’t say I like him as a person, yet he intrigues me. Sisine, a young princess, willing to purge some nobles stood out as another interesting character. Not to mention older Shades who may have an agenda of their own.

World-building, influenced by Egyptian and Greek mythology, hooked me early in the book. To say it’s great wouldn’t make it a justice. It’s engrossing and introduced in a skilful way. 

As Chasing Graves opens new trilogy, you shouldn’t expect it to work as a standalone. It doesn’t. To make things worse, it ends with a cliffhanger. I don’t mind as I expect to read the sequel in 2019.

As you see I enjoyed the novel. Asked about Chasing Graves’ issues I would admit that choice of narration troubles me. Ben Galley did something unorthodox, you see. He tinkered with the expected narrative flow and told the story mixing first and third-person point of view. Caltro’s chapters are told in the first-person, other in third-person limited. While not jarring, at times it felt a bit off to me. 

It made Caltro’s voice much more intimate and much stronger that other characters. I assume it was a deliberate choice. As a result, though, I cared much less about other characters and their stories. Despite excellent plotting of all story lines, I grew impatient when separated from Basalt’s POV for more than one chapter.

It didn’t bring me out of the story, but I can’t say this POV mix became my instant favourite. I recall few books written in this way, for example, Feersum Endjinn by Iain Banks. So, yes, writers do it, readers read it, life goes on. And yet I don’t fully embrace it. 

But it’s just a minor gripe.

Chasing Graves, with its well paced and tight plot is complex, intricate and rewarding. I can’t wait to put my hands on the sequel.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
I am always searching for non-traditional fantasy stories so I was delighted to find this one! This is a dark fantasy story not quite like any other story I have read before.

While this is horror, this story is dark, grim and gritty. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. These elements normally get highlighted by reviewers, so I also want to mention the characters and larger worldbuilding which were wonderfully rich. Likewise, the writing was straightforward, but strong with a distinct narrative voice for each perspective.

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for something new. I get so burnt out on the classic fantasy narrative so I am pleased to find a story that felt so fresh and entertaining while still providing a deep secondary world.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the author.

[Kitty G Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

* I read this as a Judge for the #SPFBO *

I have to admit, I thought I would like this one as from what I have read of Ben Galley's work so far I usually find something fun, this book is no exception. I did indeed find it a very easy read, unique, and it stood out from the rest for the polish and quality. I really recommend that you try some of Ben's work if you haven't yet, because he does some really cool things :)

We follow a couple of different viewpoint characters in this one, we have Caltro who is our 'main' PoV and who we see in first person, we then have a princess, a murdering wife, and a stealer of souls. The premise is simple, whoever owns the most dead a.k.a Shades in Araxes will be the most respected and rule. Therefore, life is cheap and markets to sell dead Shade slaves are profitable. Nobility are chosen from those who have cash to splash on buying the dead, and the city is likely to kill you even before you set foot into it...

What I loved about this was the ideas of the city and the moral greyness of everyone. There are so many moments where I thought Galley had done a super job with the world-building and he made everything work together so well.

I think the originality of this story is definitely fun. There's a lot to like about a world infested with Ghosts and the snarky, rich and spoilt. It certainly makes for a fun plot where everyone is out for themselves no matter what.

The issue I had with this story was largely from the characters. I didn't find a strong connection to any of them and sadly both Caltro and the Princess were quite irksome to me. It wasn't enough to put me off of the book, but they certainly didn't resonate with me in the same way that some of the other readers have connected.

Overall, this book did exactly what I expected. It delivers a great story in a super bundle with schemes, something different to get stuck into, and a range of characters. I would have liked a little more connection to the characters and a little more of an emotional bond with their plights, but generally it was intriguing throughout. 4.25*s so 8.5/10 which makes this another semi-finalist for my #SPFBO batch :)

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I haven’t read many works by Ben Galley, his previous SPFBO entry Heart of Stone is one of my favorite standalone novels I’ve read this year. It presented a world ravaged by war, with an enslaved golem bound to serve and massacre under various generals throughout the centuries. The story offered an intriguing take on enslavement and the sacrifices made when one’s fate is trapped and bound to another. Galley explores similar themes of enslavement in his latest novel, Chasing Graves, book one of the eponymous Chasing Graves trilogy. Whereas Heart of Stone offered an introspective look at one person’s struggle to find meaning in his enslavement, Chasing Graves focuses on its effects on society at large.

When I first opened the cover, I quickly realized how much time and effort Galley spent creating this detailed world. I was immediately reminded of Steve Rodgers’ City of Shards in its scope and world-building. We are treated to multiple maps of the truly massive City of Araxes and the surrounding country. In addition to a tone-setting prologue, we are also privy to pre-chapter quotes from the lore of the realm -- some pertinent, some humorous. But most importantly, we are taught the Tenets of the Bound Dead, which is the foundation that the story and its society is built upon. “… the soul of a body that dies in turmoil – whether through accident or unnatural causes – will naturally rise several days later. The shade has the chance to turn its body to the Nyx [an underground body of water] should no other claim it first. In cases of the latter, only once said shade is bound can the master own all the soul’s belongings and estates.” This tenet was put into place centuries ago by the old gods as a “parting gift,” and in doing so has birthed a world where organized murder is commonplace. Not only can you get killed for your possessions, but you can also be enslaved and bound to your murderer for untold centuries of labor. The more ‘shades’ that someone owns, the more land and power and political sway one has. It’s a disturbing premise not unlike parts of our own world history when slavery was legal and rampant.

One of the more interesting aspects to the story is how far into this premise Galley has explored. The majority of the story takes place in the gargantuan city of Araxes, home to millions of humans and shades, a coastal city separating a harsh desert and the ocean. The port of the city extended hundreds of miles in both directions, with races and sects from all over the world. Greek and Egyptian influences in architecture and religion dot the landscape. The ruling political party is housed in a centralized structure called Cloudpiercer, a tower that spans half a mile thick at the base, and over a mile high. But this isn’t the only tall structure: there are elevated roads suspended between rooftops and towering pyramids, hundreds of feet off the ground. High society is a literal description. In a city where organized gangs can attain power, land, and riches through the murder and binding of souls, those in power must protect themselves from nearly everyone. Paranoia runs rampant among the elite, and certain high-ranking officials are so fearful of being slain, they lock themselves into seclusion for years at a time. Oppression threatens from all directions, and it sets a captivating precedent for character motivations.

There are several shifting points of view that switch with each new chapter. We start the story from a first-person POV, and slide into other third-person POVs that include a gangster boss, a queen-in-waiting, and a desert warrior on a desperate mission. The first-person POV, Caltro Basalt, is a lockpicker who arrives in Araxes by boat, summoned to the Cloudpiercer for an unknown mission. To say that things don’t go according to plan is an understatement, and the opening chapter is one of the more exciting hooks I’ve read to start any book. We also spend time with Boss Temsa, a one-legged gang leader with a copper-and-gold eagle claw prosthetic. His slow and menacing gait, ruthless attitude, and dangerous charisma allows Temsa to climb the ranks of society with an ever-increasing army of shades, but his enemies and allies might be too powerful to manage. The story also jumps south to the vast and endless desert, where a warrior nomad named Nilith is dragging the body of her ex-husband (along with its undead shade) up through the arid wasteland to Araxes, with the intention of binding him inside the city. This plot thread was shrouded in mystery, as we don’t know who these people are in relation to anyone else in the book. There is a reveal towards the end of the story that had been lightly hinted at, but it just opens the floodgate of more questions before the book ends.

This story has a great many elements I enjoyed. The world-building and societal rules were first and foremost the biggest draws for me. The “bound shades” element feels like a hybrid mix of Michael Fletcher’s Manifest Delusions universe combined with elements of the Greek underworld and afterlife. Galley is a very talented writer, lacing his pages with dark humor, clever metaphors, and philosophical speculation. There’s enough mystery and action that pulses throughout the story to keep the chapters flying by, and I appreciated how the reader is allowed perspective from the low the high, from the rich to the poor, the living and the dead. The book is relatively short for something that covers so much ground, but the table is set for some exciting events down the road.

There were a couple of areas of the book that I felt could have been improved. While the characters we spend time with are in interesting situations, I didn’t find the characters themselves as compelling as I had hoped. This is partially due to a lack of character histories; we don’t learn much about the background of nearly every character in the story. In some cases, this is done by choice, with a greater purpose in mind. But in other circumstances, such as with Caltro, arguably our main protagonist, we don’t learn much of anything of his life prior to him landing in Araxes. While we still gain a sense of what kind of person Caltro is over time, it still made it difficult to connect with his fate or feel invested in his decisions. He is likeable, funny, and arrogant, but I felt it difficult to really connect with him without knowing what roads he traveled before landing at the port.

I also imagine that the stopping point to this volume might be a point of contention for some readers. Many character goals and motivations start to slip into place, yet there’s a bit of a lack of urgency in some plot threads before the book cuts off. It didn’t feel as if the book had a true ending, or cumulative event that took us into the home stretch. It felt more of a temporary stop-gap until the next book is written. We are left with some cliffhangers, but they felt more of the ‘chapter variety,’ instead of the ‘book-ending’ variety. The story clocks in at 275 pages, a bit on the shorter side of dark fantasy, so perhaps there will be ample time to flesh some areas out in future entries.

In short, Galley has created a fascinating world that feels rife with stories that could be mined across multiple series. Its history is rich with detail and there’s so many avenues to be explored. The opening volume provides more than enough twists and thrills to have me excited for the sequels, though I do hope for a bit more reason to care about what happens to our cast. One of my favorite quotes from the book occurs early in the story, and it resonated in my head as I finished the book. “All things lie in all directions, if you’re committed to walking far enough.” I think this serves as a good metaphor for Chasing Graves: I’m confident that Galley has some great plans for this story and world, and I’m excited at its limitless potential. We just have a little further to walk until we get there.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first Ben Galley book, and two things struck me the most: pacing and world building.

Galley doesn't waste unnecessary words (or time) and the plot moves forward at a good speed. While I love long books, I highly appreciate shorter ones, since I'm - I almost don't dare and say it - I'm prone to skim descriptions. Still, Galley takes care to introduce his characters, and they feel unique and three dimensional.

It is, however, the first book in a series and doesn't stand on its own. In fact, the ending is quite abrupt, with no real resolution, and there is quite a bit of set-up.

The world building is exquisite, refreshing, original and Galley dives straight into grimdark territory. It is obvious that the author spent a lot of time fleshing out his setting with striking detail, and I wouldn't mind reading more books set in this world.

Galley's writing is atmospheric. He paints a vivid picture, revealing a vast imagination. It's also dark, yet witty, and made me chuckle more than once. The prose is smooth, and I was pleasantly surprised by how descriptive it is, yet not a single word is unnecessary or wasted. That's skill.

How dark is Chasing Graves, you ask? I picture Araxes as some sort of Egyptian city. The dead rise and their souls get bound to coins, and then they're sold as slaves. Great concept, but pretty damn dark.

Caltro is definitely the one character that stood out to me the most, and mostly, I wanted to read about him. He's a master locksmith, and his arrival in Araxes ends in disaster. His great sense of humour is what made this book for me.

I had a ball reading Chasing Graves, and will definitely pick up the sequels. Recommended to all fans of grimdark fantasy.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome in the city of the countless souls and your journey will be full of plots, murder and above it all an empress in waiting eager to hone her dagger on the souls of the many.
Castro is a locksmith should had known better than to put a foot in Araxes.
This book is everything one’s can expect in a fantasy book, can’t wait to read the sequel.

[Benji Glaab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update: until Nov-15th buy the whole trilogy for the disturbingly low price of .99c on kindle

Chasing Graves made for a great audiobook. Samuel Roukin, and Moira Quirk are some bad ass narrators, and they really enhanced the atmosphere throughout. Ben Galley has created a vividly detailed world that is high on the originality spectrum. The writing is a big draw for me here it really jives with me. Clever yet not pretentious the balance was great and made for an engaging listen that you had to work a little to ground yourself in the complex setting.

The ending was abrupt IMO I'm thinking the trilogy will read as one large book. Considering the trilogy was entirely released in 6 months I don't have a problem with the break down.

I'm looking forward to book 2 and hope to write a full review for CG

[Paul Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to immerse yourself in a truly nightmarish existence, this is it. The author chillingly displays the pinnacle of world building at its most terrifying. The dead in this world, or their souls, do not depart peacefully to heaven or even to hell, or just cease to exist if you don't believe any of that stuff. They for the most become second rate citizens, slaves, which obviously breeds an industry of soul trading and how do you get souls quickly? Murder, a good old dose of death, this certainly introduces some interesting characters looking to benefit from the sale of the dead. And yes the dead can indeed be tortured.

One of the main protagonists is Caltro, who arrives in the city of Araxas for an important meeting and pretty much gets murdered straight away. Not your average sword weilding hero, Caltro is a locksmith or safe cracker in modern day language. His skills are wanted, just takes a while for people to realise especially as he's a nobody.

The second main character is Nilith, dragging the ghost of her husband who she murdered across the desert intent on reaching Araxas to bind the ghost. You wonder how they fit in to the story as she faces her challenges, apart from them heading to Araxes but it does eventually slide nicely into place. Never even came close to guessing her part.

Other characters include the Empress in waiting, who's ruling in place of the Emperor who, rumour has it, has lost his marbles and a colourful soul trader with big plans. The villains always have big plans, along with those desperate to rule the kingdom. The author weaves his threads and these characters slowly, and sometimes violently draw ever closer, entwining.

Chasing Graves has built the premise of the story and the world, both are dark and highly intriguing, but it kinda felt like an episode without a worthy ending apart from one revelation. That said I really enjoyed the audiobook, the narrators were great and definitely enhanced the story. The world building is incredible and the characters are not far behind and you know there's definitely a lot more to come. I'll be on the second book of the trilogy very soon.

[Michael Sliter · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a world where the ghosts of the dead are enslaved... (Read that in the movie trailer guy's voice)

That's the world of Chasing Graves. In this Egyptian-themed, pyramid-heavy world, the doors to the afterlife are closed, and most ghosts are indentured upon death. Caltro, our main protagonist (who is kind of a lazy dick), found himself in that situation within the first chapter or two. He's kind of a coward lockpicker, and he's pretty likable. His story is in first-person, an interesting choice when all of the other POVs are in third. But, Galley pulls it of and it works.

Of the POVs, Caltro and Nilith were my favorite; they kept me reading past bedtime. Overall, the plot was fairly straightforward and the real strength was the worldbuilding--I had a need to learn more about this strange world Galley created. There was a bit too much detail for me, particularly about the settings--walking through the mountains or desert might be 10 pages of description and I honestly started to skim. It slowed things down for me. The other thing that stood out was that the book just sort of fizzled out at the end without much of a BAM, here's the ending. But, the author released all three books in quick succession, so that really didn't bother me either. I'm looking at it like one giant tome.

If you are looking for something different, give Chasing Graves a try (also, I like how the title was worked into the book). I'm already onto Book 2.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, I’d like to thank the author for giving me an advanced copy of this book. I was so intrigued with the concept of an original fantasy world built with an Egyptian flavor that it was instantly pushed to the top of my TBR - I am so glad for this decision. Chasing Graves is a deliciously dark tale of treachery, secrets and murder filled with a cast of truly detestable characters whose intentions cannot ever be taken at face value. The only drawback of reading the first installment of a series before its official release date is the grueling wait for its sequel!

Araxes, the sprawling City of Countless Souls, where wealth is measured by the amount of bound dead slaves owned, lies within the heart of The Arctian Empire. As renowned locksmith Caltro Basalt arrives upon its docks with a promise of employment, he quickly finds himself being pursued by a group of brutal killers that violently heave him into the city’s infamous soul trade and sold to the mysterious Widow Horix. Nilith ventures across the Long Sands with her dead husband’s corpse - and ghost - in tow; her timely arrival at the Gem of the Arc her sole ambition. Boss Boran Temsa makes a living illegally selling souls to the city’s aristocracy with a hunger for power that will allow him to finally emerge from the shadows. Princess Sisine grows weary of her father’s inability to rule the empire and wickedly schemes to take control by any means necessary. All the while, as the people of The Arc deal in death and betrayal, the believed dead gods plot to come back to the land of men.

Of all the things that deserve praise, it’s impossible not to begin with the outstanding character development. In my opinion, Galley has given breath to some of the finest and most complex voices in modern fantasy. Caltro is incredibly snarky and self-indulgent, yet I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for his wrongful enslavement. Nilith is a strong, badass woman who can handle herself in a multitude of adversarial situations, but I had to keep reminding myself she murdered her husband and dragged his corpse through a desert in order to bind his soul. Sisine appears to be a calculating and merciless queen-in-waiting, but she's set to inherit a city so corrupt that her extreme measures may be just what Araxes deserves. Temsa is a despicable murderer and soulstealer, however, he’s charming and an unfortunate product of his violent environment only attempting to raise his station. This three-dimensionality made it insanely enjoyable to get acquainted with each and I’m really looking forward to learning more about them.

The setting and environments are beautifully built with striking detail, transporting you directly into this peculiar, yet familiar world. From the diverse districts of Araxes to the endless expanse of the Long Sands to the alien peak of the Firespar, every aspect of this world is so distinct and tangible. The pacing changes based on the character of focus and the situations they’re embroiled in, at times passive and other times breakneck, which I found to be extremely refreshing. The prose is articulate and picturesque with seriously cynical undertones, making this an entertaining read.

Chasing Graves is one of the most unique stories I’ve read this year and ended with a cliffhanger that had me internally screaming for more. It's a strong start to a new series and I’m really excited and looking forward to seeing what happens next. Due out December 7th, this is one you really need to add to your to-read list.

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

PEARL RULED (p67)

Real Rating: 2.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Meet Caltro Basalt. He’s a master locksmith, a selfish bastard, and as of his first night in Araxes, stone cold dead.

They call it the City of Countless Souls, the colossal jewel of the Arctian Empire, and all it takes to be its ruler is to own more ghosts than any other. For in Araxes, the dead do not rest in peace in the afterlife, but live on as slaves for the rich.

While Caltro struggles to survive, those around him strive for the emperor’s throne in Araxes’ cutthroat game of power. The dead gods whisper from corpses, a soulstealer seeks to make a name for himself with the help of an ancient cult, a princess plots to purge the emperor from his armoured Sanctuary, and a murderer drags a body across the desert, intent on reaching Araxes no matter the cost.

Only one thing is certain in Araxes: death is just the beginning.

THIS WAS AN I.L.L. BOOK FROM MY LOCAL LIBRARY SYSTEM. THANKS Y'ALL.

My Review: It has to be my mood. This has all the hallmarks of a fantasy world I'd like. But I hit this:

...You wanted a lesson, husband, and there it is. So please, threaten me some more. We'll see how little of you makes it into the city.

The ping of her nail against the scimitar's steel edge punctuated her threat. As Farazar held her stare, she saw the realization dawn behind those white eyes. Not only how deadly she was, but just how determined, too.

Lip curled, Farazar looked away, seeking something in the stars. 'And you wonder why I didn't want to marry a Krasswoman,' he muttered.

...and I'm out. I just do not care enough to keep ankling my way through this sludge. These aren't even the main characters and, let me tell you, am I glad. I'm not all that into fantasy but the Egyptian thing got me; so it's very possible that I'm just not in the proper mood for the story. I won't throw it aside forever. But I'm in no hurry to get it back onto the active TBR.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is some of the most enjoyable and original fantasy I’ve come across in a while. It takes place in a world where death is not the end, but for many is just the beginning of your “half-life”, generally meaning a life of servitude to the person who binds you upon your death (or to whoever you’re sold to). Trading in “the indentured” is a large part of this world’s economy, and the main character finds himself murdered and his ghost sold within the opening chapters of the book. This sets off a dark tale of intrigue and mystery that only begins to intersect with other storylines at the end (this is the first in a series).

I’ve read Ben’s work before (his excellent Heart of Stone) and as much as I enjoyed that, he appears to have grown by leaps and bounds as a writer since then. This is a much more complex story with many moving parts that is nonetheless perfectly paced and deftly told. Hats off to the author and his editors! Looking forward to the rest of the series.

[Laura Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark, tense and surprisingly hilarious, Chasing Graves is the accomplished opening novel in an exciting new trilogy.

[The Tattooed Book Geek (Drew). · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

The characterisation and world-building on display by Galley in Chasing Graves are both exceptional, Galley is highly talented and Chasing Graves is a hugely entertaining read.

Caltro Basalt isn’t a hero or a fighter, he’s a thief and a renowned locksmith, one of the best but he’s down on his luck. When a mysterious papyrus letter appears on his doorstep requesting that he attend a meeting at The Cloudpiercer with a Nobel from Araxes he gets on a boat and travels to the city. Moments after he arrives in Araxes, Caltro falls foul of a gang who work for a soulstealer, is killed and ends up dead. Poor Caltro, he doesn’t get the chance to go to The Cloudpiercer, he doesn’t find out what the job would have entailed, nothing, he is killed, illegally bound and sold as a shade into the house of a Nobel before even getting to sample the delights that Araxes has to offer him.

The gods are dead and gone but before they went they left behind one final gift the ‘Tenets of the Bound Dead’. The way to bind ghosts and makes them slaves. They are bound with a copper coin, a ‘half-coin’ and water from the river Nyx. Half the coin goes in the mouth of the dead body and the other half remains in the possession of the owner of the ghost.

Wealth isn’t measured in gems and money in Araxes, it is measured in copper half-coins and how many shades a person owns. The more shades you own, the more powerful you are and at the top of the pile sits the Emperor.

Legal soul-trading takes place in Araxes. Deaths caused by natural causes, accidents and illness and then there is the illegal taking of souls. Deaths that aren’t natural or accidental, murders, killings, poisonings all to bolster the number of available shades and increase the power, profit, revenue and wealth of the soulstealers. There are laws and regulations regarding the trading of souls in place in Araxes but they are only very loosely regulated and upheld and Araxes is a lawless city where the trade in illegal soul-stealing is rampant and thriving.

Shades are a cheap workforce. After the initial expenditure and purchase of the bound soul they then require no upkeep, no amenities, no food and no wages, they are slave labour at its finest, they aren’t people, they are owned, they are property. There are a few free shades to be found in Araxes, those that have either been granted or purchased their freedom after years of servitude but they are very rare. Shades can feel pain, in death they do not have a pain free existence, copper hurts them. Copper threaded rope to bind and tie them and copper tipped arrows, daggers, swords and whips are all used to cause them suffering. Life is hard, death can is harder and lasts far longer.

Caltro’s point of view is written in the first-person giving it a far more personal feel whereas, the other points of view are written in the third-person. Caltro is great, he’s more rotund and portly than muscular and strong with a sense of determination to him and a dry wit that he often uses. As a character, there’s a depth to him and you really feel for him as he attempts to adjust to his new situation while looking for answers and revenge. He feels wronged by his predicament and the circumstances in which he now finds himself, namely dead and a slave instead of alive and free and honestly, who can blame him? Life often throws you curve balls and deals you bad hands and Caltro had been dealt the worst hand of all.

The other points of view are Nilith, Boss Boran Temsa, a soulstealer and the empress-in-waiting Sisine. Temsa and Sisine are ambitious and devious characters who move in different circles and both have their eyes on gaining power in Araxes. The two are on different rungs on the social ladder, the nobility and the criminal class and due to this, you get to see all that Araxes has to offer from its population and many machinations and motivations are on display and at play from all of those involved. There is a chapter late in the book where the two finally meet. It is superbly written by Galley, it’s not action-packed but it is gripping reading. You find yourself hanging on their every word as they take the measure of each other, circling around topics, parrying back and forth and trading words like sword strokes in a duel.

Nilith’s story is separate to the others that all take place in Araxes. Nilith is journeying to Araxes and the Grand Nyxwell across the dangerous Long Sands. Accompanying her is the unbound moaning shade of her dead husband and her husband’s decomposing body. The often constant arguing and bickering between the pair is golden and yet another a highlight of the book. As a character Nilith is determined and tough, there is steel running through her veins.

I did guess the mystery revolving Nilith and her story arc. It’s no fault of Galley’s storytelling that I had twigged what was going to be revealed which is tremendous throughout Chasing Graves. Perhaps, it’s not so much as I guessed what the truth was either and more that when thinking to myself I had an inkling of what was going on that turned out to be right. I will say that the reveal certainly has intriguing ramifications for the next book in the trilogy.

To go along with the point of view characters and their story arcs there are plenty of other characters in Chasing Graves too, all with a role to play and many of them are well-realised by Galley who brings both the living and the dead to life.

Araxes is a huge, sprawling and densely populated city that is steeped in history. Galley has a descriptive way with words that makes Araxes come to life in his hands, whether it’s the bustling city streets or the corridors of Caltro’s owner’s residence. Likewise, The Long Sands and Nilith’s arduous treck. You feel her struggles, the dehydration, the grit of the sand and the heat of the desert radiates from off the pages.

Galley’s writing feels well-honed and flows easily from off the pages making Chasing Graves an effortless read that is infused with grim goodness. Galley captures your attention, drags you along on his dark tale and doesn’t let go. You’ll find yourself loving every minute. His writing can be darkly humorous and the addition of many clever puns and witty remarks helps to offset the darkness of the story. His writing also includes many poetic, meaningful and often profound passages spread throughout the pages.

Chasing Graves is never fast-paced or slow-paced and instead, the pacing feels right for the story that Galley is telling. There are bursts of action and excitement but plenty of room is also left for the reader to become acquainted with the characters and for the story to breathe.

My time spent reading Chasing Graves was overwhelmingly positive. The characters, the setting, the story and the writing are all fantastic. My only (slight) issue was with the ending. Galley ends Chasing graves on a cliffhanger and a rather abrupt one at that as the book just sort of finishes. As the first part in a trilogy, you expect that there won’t be a conclusive ending and that you will be left with a promise of more to come, which is fine. Galley has put the motions in place for what has the potential to be a truly epic story and trilogy but, with Chasing Graves it felt more like the ending of the first part in a book rather than the ending of an actual book. Sorry Ben, it’s only a minor grumble and I loved everything else about the book! 🙂

Some books outstay their welcome and go on and on before you finally reach the end, ending long after they should have finished. Chasing Graves isn’t one of them and that is why I felt so disappointed when it ended, I wanted to continue reading, I wanted to find out what happened next, I wanted to see how the stories of the characters further unfolded and it left me wanting more. Luckily, The Chasing Graves trilogy is already complete and the next two books (Grim Solace and Breaking Chaos) are already out.

[Holly (The GrimDragon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's my stop on the massive blog tour in support of the wonderful Ben Galley! There are four books involved and something like 140 bloggers. Or thereabouts. I don't know, I'm shit at math! There's a lot of us. A METRIC FUCK TON. I'm excited to be a part of it. It's the first time I've ever joined in a blog tour! 

Chasing Graves is the first installment in the trilogy of the same name, which was released in quick succession. Three books within three months. A series released in its entirety. That's not only ambitious as fuck, but completely bonkers!

If the first volume is any indication, however, then Galley has certainly pulled it off.

“The knife was dragged from me, and the pain came, blossoming like smoke over a Scatter Isle volcano. It crippled me, and I would have fallen had it not been for the iron arms that grasped me.

My head was yanked skyward. The steel raked across my throat, merciless. My chest and lap became wet and warm. Every time I tried to breathe, I drowned.”

Having previously loved Heart of Stone, I knew I wanted to read more from Galley! When the glorious Chasing Graves cover art done by Chris Cold and designed by STK Kreations was revealed, I decided then that it would be my next journey into Galley's work. I mean.. look at that cover! LOOK AT IT! It's a beautiful grotesque feast for the eye holes and I AM LIVING FOR IT!! I bought it the minute it was released. I'm glad I waited a bit to read it, because now here we are!

From the beginning, we are thrust into the midst of Caltro Basalt's story. He is a locksmith and thief that has been summoned to Araxes, the violent heart of the Arctian Empire. Araxes is also called the City of Countless Souls. Hmm.. why is that, you ask? Oh, just that Araxes is known for it's gruesome murders. You see, "soul-stealing" is a thing in this world. Criminals murder people, then rip their souls out of their bodies and sell them illegally. These ghosts are enslaved as "shades" and must co-exist next to the living.

Despite these glaring cautionary obstacles, Caltro can't help but be intrigued by the mysterious letter he receives offering him a job. He jumps on a boat headed to Araxes and as I'm sure you've figured out by now.. things do not go smoothly. Caltro was meant to arrive at the Cloudpiercer, but never made it. His boat was late, ensuing a shitstorm of events - starting with his vicious death at the hands of a gang of soul-stealers.

The plot then rages on like a steamroller. Everything moves forward at a fast (but never too fast) pace, deftly executed by Galley.

This is told through four distinct POV's in both first and third-person. I'm normally not a huge fan of alternating viewpoints, but it worked well here. There was a decidedly unique flow to the narrative. Galley paints the characters so vividly. Love them or hate them, each of these characters matter. They are utilized in such a way that they never feel like they are just there, filling a role.

Along with Caltro, Chasing Graves follows Boran Temsa, a crime boss with a penchant for impaling victims with his gold eagle claw prosthetic; Sisine, a young princess who is attempting to take over the crumbling empire from her father; and finally, Nilith. Nilith was the most fascinating character for me, personally! She killed her husband Farazar and then dragged his corpse (and ghost) across the desert to bind his soul.

This is brutal, grimy, heavy, yet humorous. Extremely atmospheric, clever world-building and well-written. Chasing Graves flips the undead/ghost trope on its head with something delightfully original. I just fucking devoured this!

It's clear that the pieces are being set in place for the second book, as Galley hooks his daggers into you and then.. it ends. ON A CLIFFHANGER, GODDAMNIT! As I mentioned earlier, luckily the entire series is completed so if you are someone who is turned off by cliffhanger endings.. at least you won't have to wait years to find out what happens next!

Chasing Graves is a deliciously dark and wickedly fun start to a promising new series by a magnetic storyteller. Highly recommended!

I want to thank Dave from @TheWriteReads over on Twitter for putting this together. I'm sure it was no easy feat! Don't forget to check out the other reviews during the biggest blog tour to ever blog tour!

[Scott Hitchcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the world, characters and writing style. Will continue the series.

[Library of a Viking · Rating 3 out of 5]

Discworld meets grimdark?

I was contacted by Ben Galley a couple of months ago about potentially reviewing Chasing Graves and/or The Forever King. I have been curious about Galley’s books for a while, and with the upcoming release of the special editions of The Chasing Graves Trilogy, I knew I had to give this book a try. Consequently, the artwork by Chris Cold is vivid, crazy and stunning – especially on the hardbacks. So what did I think?

Firstly, Galley has crafted a very unique, fun and weird world and story. Chasing Graves is set in Araxes, a city filled with dead people. I believe this is the first time I have read a fantasy book with clear inspiration from Egyptian mythology. To say that living in Araxes is miserable is stating it mildly. The dead souls in Araxes do not get to experience any pleasure, such as sleep and food, and are exploited by the upper class. While the world is intricate and is filled with various groups of “people” and locations, the setting is also utterly absurd. Reading this book felt at times like reading Discworld, but with a much darker and more serious tone.

Consequently, the plot is well-paced and epic in scale. Chasing Graves follows multiple POVs that are spread across this world. This book is perfect for readers looking for a dark read set in a unique and absurdist setting.

Unfortunately, two main aspects made it difficult for me to get invested in the story. Firstly, this story felt too grim and dark for my taste. This world feels very bleak and depressing, which I rarely enjoy. However, I do not think I can lower my rating due to the “dark tone” of the story since this is very much a personal preference. I do believe that Galley did a great job overall at making the story feel dark, so if you enjoy grim fantasy stories, then this might be worth picking up.
However, my main issue is that I didn’t connect with any of the characters. One of the main reasons why I struggled with the characters is because most of them are unlikeable and quite selfish. While it makes sense that these characters are nihilistic and narcissistic, considering the setting, it also made it challenging for me to feel any sort of compassion or connection with them.

So what are my concluding thoughts? Overall, I think Galley has done a great job creating a unique and intricate world with a fascinating plot. I would probably give the execution of this story a solid 3.5 / 5 stars. However, I will not be continuing this series since I did not connect with the characters and due to the dark tone of the story. My final rating will therefore be a 3 / 5 starrating since I found the story interesting enough to finish the book. I am definitely interested in checking out some of Galley’s other work, which I can see myself enjoying more.

.A special thanks to my Patreons Erin, Blake, Mel and Áron Sofus.

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder, a good old dose of death, and the sale of the dead.

Caltro, our main first person perspective protagonist, arrives in the city of Araxas and is murdered, his soul bond, and sold into slavery.
Nilith is dragging the ghost of her husband who she murdered across the desert to Araxas to bind his ghost.

Other perspectives include the Empress in waiting, who is trying to remove the Emperor who seems crazy; and a vile soul trader with profitable plans.

Dark, gritty, and crass. This book is filled with hopelessness, swear words, and an all encompassing bleakness that makes a slave market for ghosts seem normal.

“The part of loss that cuts the deepest is that you never know which moments are the last until they’ve already been and gone. The last meal, the last kiss and such. What hurts is how it pales to the glorious finale you might have imagined.”

The audiobook definitely enhanced the experience, with great narrators giving distinct accents and tones.

The ending felt slightly rushed and abrupt, but this is a first book in a trilogy. However, despite the unique world, I didn’t feel connected enough to the story to continue.

The start of the book was the strongest where Galley gives the very city a personality and a wretched undertone.

Bookstagram

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a story of ghosts, thought it might fit the bill for my Halloween treat for the year. Very unique story of shades being bound as slaves in a corrupt society. The main characters are a slippery group, with personal goals outweighing any sense of morality, making it hard to actually like them, but interesting stories nonetheless. The characters and politics are well developed in this first installment, making the continuation for the next installment a must read, if this world peaks your curiosity, as it has mine.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent 4.5stars read, I just love Ben’s grimdark humour through out the book. It’s so hard for any author to do this, but Ben is in a league of his own

Highly recommended to all my Goodreads friends

[Esme · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my first 5 star in months. I loved everything about this and I'm working on writing a full review today.

Fantastic.

[Al Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dang, this is good. Review here - https://www.alwroteabook.com/2018/12/...

[Lee Conley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A review of
Chasing Graves
By Ben Galley

This is a story about ghosts, about a master locksmith and thief, a deadly city, a murderer and her victim. Caltro Basalt is the master locksmith and has been mysteriously summoned to the great and deadly city of Araxes to attend a mysterious appointment at the Cloud Piercer, the tallest building in Araxes and centre of government. Surely an appointment he cannot refuse.
Araxes is a city where the spirits of the dead and murdered can be bound to the mortal realm, denied their eternal rest and instead bound into eternal servitude as a ghostly slave known as a shade.
Caltro is murdered literally as soon as he sets foot off the boat and finds himself bound into the property of the notorious soul stealer, Boss Temsa.
The story follows Caltro’s unwilling adventure in to the world of the enslaved dead and his search for freedom and justice against those who murdered and bound him.
There is another POV storyline intertwined with Caltro’s main plot. This is the story of Nilith, a hard, calculating woman who has murdered her husband. A long suffering wife, she finally tracked down her wayward husband and murdered him. The book also follows her story as she journeys across the arid barren deserts, transporting her husband’s rotting corpse, accompanied only by his vengeful shade, as she takes the body to Araxes to bind him as her eternal slave.

Galley has done a great job with Chasing Graves, I liked his creative use of POV. There were some really amusing parts to contrast the grimmer bits. I enjoyed the way he explored the concept of death and what lies beyond. The Egyptian-esque setting was fascinating and well done too – the sprawling metropolis of Araxes and its seedy under-belly was well rendered. The artwork is fantastic and the internal illustration I have seen really adds to the exciting buzz around this release.

I really enjoyed Chasing Graves and look forward to the next book in the series. I also recommend this book to everyone, give it a go you will not be disappointed. Thanks to Ben for sending me an ARC so I got to read it before release.

Thanks for reading
Lee

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️
I wanted to give 5 stars to Chasing Graves just based on the sheer ambition and scope of the story. But then I couldn’t stop reading and then I picked up the second and third books before I finished the first.

I’m finding it hard to believe, but this is the first of Ben Galley’s books I’ve read. It’s been on my radar( I don’t really follow a tbr list) for awhile, and I’m shaking my head for not picking it up sooner.
I’ll not add much to the book’s plot description as it’s summed up pretty well in other reviews. I’ll just say Chasing Graves gathers together a rather despicable troupe of characters who, with the possible exception of Nilith, are a bunch of foul bastards. They are amusing though. The unfortunate Caltro is a very well formed character and his smart ass observations are a highlight of this book. As are Nilith’s hilarious insults to her ghost husband. There’s a fair bit of description, but i like the way Galley describes things.

“The tower wore its windows like old pox scars, deep and sunken into the stone”

“If the city was a living, throbbing creature, it would have died long ago of vascular issues.”

I wouldn’t call Chasing Graves a fast paced book, but it is well paced and there is plenty to keep your attention. I really loved how bits and pieces of the plot and backstory are filled in through other characters( besides Caltro) and the excerpts at the beginning of each chapter. The city of Araxes is a character itself. Bloated, dangerous, and full of mysteries. There are many stories to be mined there.

I could go on and on about this book. It’s very good. I have seen some reviewers were unhappy that Chasing Graves is mostly an introduction to the “rest of the story.” This might be true but seeing as it’s so well done, and the other 2 books are already available, I’m okay with it. 😆

[Terrible Timy · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can find this review on my blog!

I've got an ARC in exchange of an honest review from the author.

In everyone’s life comes that point when we start to think about what awaits us after death depending on your beliefs. A happy afterlife? Torture? A place in between where we wait until our fate is decided? Or something else? The people of Araxes aren’t wondering much, they know all too well what comes for them: endless servitude as shades. The luckier ones can get their freedom and a choice in the matter, but most people is not so fortunate.

“The part of loss that cuts the deepest is that you never know which moments are the last until they’ve already been and gone. The last meal, the last kiss and such. What hurts is how it pales to the glorious finale you might have imagined.”

Araxes is not called the City of Countless Souls for nothing. The soultrade is in full bloom and no one is safe, especially after the sun goes down. Caltro Basalt is well aware of this fact upon arriving to Araxes, to learn about his mysterious employer-wanna-be called Etan. But alas, the traders’ bribe are worth more than mere passengers and they ship arrives to port late. And so our Caltro meets his fate way too soon. Aided by a strong want for justice and some ambiguous warning from dead things claiming to be the dead gods. Fortunately Caltro is not one to sit on his ass idly and wait for miracle to happen and thus keeps getting into trouble with his new master, the widow Horix and her personal shade Vex. The latter hates Caltro with a passion from the moment they meet. This results in being punished. And if you wonder what exactly can be tormenting for a ghost who doesn’t need, air, food, sleep, then just wait. A walking, talking reanimated cat is just the bonus to scare the shit out of him.

His new master, tal Horix is quite an interesting character. I still can’t decide if I like her or not. She is definitely not the harmless, senile old lady some might think. The only thing sharper than her mind is her tongue and she is not afraid to show off both. She recognises an opportunity when she sees one and Caltro picks her interest. Sadly, we have to wait to learn why the interest, so be patient, my friends.

I quite liked Caltro, his snarkiness and headstrong personality and that he got damn good lines from Galley:

“Suppressing stress can be poisonous to a soul, and seeing as I was all soul, I needed to be careful.”

He, being the main character, is the only one who got his POV written in first person, and it works really well. Although he works as a locksmith, and prides himself as the best lockpick in the Empire, he has a strong desire for justice. When it comes to himself, that is. My only complaint is that we don’t spend more time with him, learning more about his past. And because he is the most interesting character of the whole cast, the only one you can actually care about. Sure, the others have their own hardships and agendas, but Caltro is the most human of them all. Even if he has to live the rest of his ‘life’ as a shade. We know his current situation, and his goals, but we hardly get to know him really. Or any explanation why the sudden interest of dead things in him. But I guess we’ll get answers in the next two books.

Another plotline is centered around Nilith, he fierce Krass women from the steppes, who were forced into a marriage with a wealthy merchant in Araxes years ago. Getting fed up with her husband finally, she decides to get to the end of the matter. She hunts down her ‘beloved’, kills him, and plans to drag him through half the Arctian Empire back to Araxes to properly bound his ghost to herself and claim his wealth. Time is running out, she only has 40 days to accomplish this according to the laws regarding Indenturement. Besides carrying a rotting corpse and bearing with Farazar wearing her patience thin. Not talking about all the dangers that awaits them on their way. If I want to be honest, I didn’t see much point in this plotline until the very end. And while the banter between husband and wife was entertaining – especially the fact they finally were forced to keep each other’s company and learn about the other after many years of marriage – but sometimes I wished we were moving on from this POV. I’m just no fan of a plotline which revolves around traveling from A to B. Things do make sense by the end though and that makes it worth. It also provided a cool opportunity to get a glimpse into the mythology of the world, when the old lady, the bedlam popped up. I pretty much enjoyed that scene.

We have two other side plotlines, one following Sisine, the Queen-in-waiting as she tries her wings in politics and leading without her parents’ watching eyes. She is more than a pretty face, she has wits, knowledge, years of training in court politics and a healthy dose of cunning and wilfulness. I’m waiting to see what her plans will come to later in the trilogy. And then we have Boran Temsa, soultrader, merchant with big dreams rising over his own social status. He is ambitious, ruthless and he has questionable morals.

“A person who longs to change the past will only see themselves as a product of what could have been. The longing changes nothing of the present.”

The book follows several plotlines, which doesn’t quite intertwine yet. Being the first book of a trilogy, Chasing Graves is mostly about world-building, and setting things up for the next two books. And though it is a highly enjoyable book with a pretty cool setting and awesome ideas, it left open too many questions. I felt like there wasn’t enough of an arc to the story, and ended quite abruptly. Maybe Nilith’s plotline the only one that actually got a half closure with the revelation and all. I also would have liked to read more about the mythology, clearly inspired by a few ancient religions like the egyptian or the greek – the dead gods has similar names to the Egyptian’s and the river Nyx together with the copper coins might be familiar from Greek mythology.

Galley clearly knows what he is doing, and was able to wave together a story about life and death, revenge and greed, justice and blind fate. Chasing Graves is a dark, compelling entry into a trilogy. The characters and the world is complex and well-built, the story intriguing enough to make you want more. Even if I’m still waiting for that feeling of being completely impressed. So, Mr Galley when is the next book coming out again?