Heaven's Graveyard

by Grace Curtis

From the Sunday Times-bestselling author of Floating Hotel and Idolfire comes a science fantasy tale of history and myth, magic and mystery, perfect for fans of Shelley Parker-Chan and A. K. Larkwood

Two thousand years after the events of Idolfire, the world is on the brink of war, and the discovery of the enchanted city of Nivela threatens to push it over the brink

"What do you want to know?"

It’s been 2,000 years since the events of Idolfire, and we’re in a whole new Kite-drawn cargo ships race across thoroughly chartered seas, hauling the latest innovations in convenience and slaughter. It is developed, learned, interconnected, and on the brink of catastrophic war.

Archeologist Cod couldn’t care less about the conflict brewing between neighboring powers. She spends her days in happy obscurity, cataloging relics in the Republic of Asha and searching for clues about her lifelong obsession, the mythical hero Aleya Ana-Ulai. 

Then a letter arrives summoning her home. Cod’s old teacher has made the discovery of a lifetime. But her home is Palgaro, and the discovery—the ruins of the enchanted city of Nivela—is set to change the world. And not for the better…

Heaven's Graveyard is a sinister lesbian history mystery bringing the magic of Idolfire into a dangerous new century.

Genres: Fantasy, Adult, Lesbian, Queer, LGBT, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

368 pages, Paperback

Expected publication June 16, 2026

About the author

Author of FRONTIER, FLOATING HOTEL and IDOLFIRE. Up next: HEAVEN'S GRAVEYARD.

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy from DAW via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date June 16th, 2026.

I liked both of Curtis' previous novels, and I thought the premise of her academia-based latest sounded intriguing. In Heaven's Graveyard, detached academic Coda is summoned back to her hometown with news of a massive archeological find--only to find that the beloved professor who sent the message has been murdered. Chasing stories of her beloved and probably mythical Aleya, Coda is about to be dragged into a plot that is far more than she bargained for.

With its obsessive academic fixated on stories of a dead woman while oblivious to her country's slow slide into war, Heaven's Graveyard sets up obvious comparisons with one of my standout reads of 2025, The Everlasting. Like Owen Mallory, Coda is spectacularly oblivious, paying so little attention to politics that she tries to leave the country without even realizing that her world is on the brink of effectively World War I. Unlike The Everlasting, Coda's indifference to modern events does not become a major thematic element--it just adds a layer of complication in the form of an unreliable narrator who doesn't pay attention to an important chunk of plot. Even if Coda doesn't bother to follow modern events, modern events are about to be deeply interested in her...

It was an interesting decision for Cutis to set a sequel to Idolfire thousands of years later, moving from the mythic past to a world of trains and movies. I liked the emphasis on history fading into legend. Compared to Idolfire, I liked the setting of Heaven's Graveyard better, with its recognizably modern empire teetering on the brink of sectarian violence. It's a fun world, and the book would have been far less compelling set in the usual medieval-generic rather than in the loud clatter of cities and trams and university politics.

Outside of the expansiveness of the world, the story itself was relatively small and compact. The cast is effectively just Coda, her tumultuous ex, her dead professor Marr, and the stiffly religious Thal, who gets dragged into the whole mess. The plot is vaguely murder mystery shaped in that Coda answers an urgent summons only to find a dead friend instead of the promised academic triumph. However, Coda does very little in the way of actual investigating . She's quickly dragged into the archaological find (and the resulting political implications) that Marr was murdered over, and doesn't really get into any Sherlock Holmes type business.

A slow sapphic novel about the perils of archaeology and difficult ex-lovers. Readable enough, but not quite up to the flash and bang of The Everlasting. Great concept though, and much stronger than the comparatively aimless Floating Hotel. I'm interested to see what Curtis writes next.

[quillnqueer]

I loved Idolfire, so I am hyped for this

[Demetri Papadimitropoulos · Rating 4 out of 5]

What the Archive Wants, and What the Dead Refuse to Give
In Grace Curtis’s “Heaven’s Graveyard,” relics, labels, and buried histories turn a myth-soaked mystery into a severe, elegant meditation on possession, reverence, and the dangerous manners of discovery.
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | April 14th, 2026


Beneath a jeweled dome, the archivist stands before the relic she longs to touch, held in the charged stillness where scholarship, reverence, and possession are not yet fully separable.

Every archive rests on a small imperial conceit: the belief that the past, once properly labeled, will finally behave. Grace Curtis’s “Heaven’s Graveyard” begins inside that conceit and spends the rest of its pages tapping it smartly across the knuckles. It offers all the old bait – a dead mentor, an urgent wire, a disputed heroine, a hidden power, an archivist poised to confuse devotion with method. At first it buttons itself into relic-hunt drag. It turns out to be harder-edged than that: a novel in which reverence, desecration, and vanity often differ only by the wording on the label.

That is where the book stops smiling. Curtis has written about archives, relics, scholarship, borders, gods, and the kind of old love that never learns table manners. Beneath the catalog cards and shrine ash lies the question that keeps worrying the novel: who gets to handle the dead and call it scholarship? A brooch held in a gloved hand. A museum caption that turns a private hunch into public fact. A notebook eased from a locked drawer. A tomb opened because the living cannot endure not knowing. “Heaven’s Graveyard” understands that inquiry is not only a way of honoring the past. It is also a way of laying claim to it.

Cod, the archivist at the center of the book, works at the Asha Civic Museum in a role that is modest on the job description and proprietary in effect. She catalogs fragments, translates objects into public meaning, and moves through the world with the shut, slightly avian air of someone who prefers the dead because they rarely interrupt. Curtis pins her to the page as though she were a rare, irritable bird – carefully, unsentimentally, and with evident respect for the beak. Cod is watchful, difficult, dryly funny by accident, and better at noticing the edge of a clasp than the edge in another person’s voice. She has spent years fixating on Aleya Ana-Ulai, the legendary heroine of “The Eternal City,” whom sensible people shelve under myth. When Cod finds a brooch that seems to support Aleya’s existence, she does not merely feel curiosity. She feels that quick, private flare that comes when possession borrows the language of care. More telling still, she decides almost at once that the brooch is, in spirit, already hers. Her preferred verb is not “steal” but “borrow,” which tells on her beautifully.


A relic hovers above an unfinished label, poised at the exact threshold where study becomes claim and the language of care begins to sound suspiciously like possession.

Then comes the wire from her mentor, Denali Marr, summoning her home because of a “historic discovery.” By the time she reaches Tessi, Marr is dead, his papers are compromised, his institution evasive, and whatever he found bends the whole plot into its orbit. Up to this point, the story still affects the manners of clue-work. Curtis can do clue-work perfectly well: missing notes, suspicious timing, shifty administrators, old lovers, sanctified menace, bad borders, and the small social bloodshed that erupts whenever someone as armored as Cod has to deal with the living. But the mystery is never the deepest thing here. Cod, not Marr’s corpse, is the real evidence.

His death catches her, but grief comes to her after stopping for paperwork. Her first instinct is inventory: who found him, when, in what position, after what meal, with what trace left behind. Some people cry. Some rage. Cod begins, mentally, to take statements. Curtis is exact about this species of rerouted sorrow. Detection, for Cod, is tidier than grief and far less humiliating. That emotional logic is one of the book’s quiet strengths. It understands that there are people for whom mourning arrives disguised as work, as procedure, as the sorting of details that can be handled because the feeling itself cannot.


An emptied office, a cold blue tank, a chair still facing the desk: absence here has already begun the slow transformation from life into record.

Marr’s discovery sends Cod through blocked archives, bad borders, and back into the few human attachments she has not successfully mislabeled. Marr himself gave her intellectual shape. Her mother gave her a more private damage. Sparrow – old love, old wound, old nuisance – gives the novel much of its unruly life. Sparrow matters because she cannot be cased, captioned, or footnoted. She remains inconveniently alive. That resistance is not garnish. It keeps the whole book from floating into thesis. Cod can adore Aleya because Aleya is distant, silent, and easy to embroider. The living answer back, often at inopportune moments and with dreadful timing, which is one of the many reasons they are less manageable.


At the threshold stands the problem of the living: unarchivable, backlit, emotionally inconvenient, and impossible to arrange into the stillness the dead so generously permit.

Curtis is too intelligent to leave that contrast lying around as mere character texture. Cod’s fixation on Aleya is not simply scholarly. It is filial, devotional, and just romantic enough to make everyone involved look a little foolish. Aleya is the dead in their most flattering form: far enough away to seem perfect, mute enough to accept whatever the living pin on her. She can lend a lonely life grandeur without ever objecting to the terms. The book knows exactly how dangerous that arrangement is. To love the dead is to enjoy a creaturely asymmetry. They cannot revise your story about them. They cannot tell you to put that relic down.

That is why the novel’s most important revelation lands not as triumph but as correction. When Cod finally reaches Aleya’s hidden resting place and realizes that concealment was chosen – that Aleya withdrew herself and the dangerous power bound to her from history’s grasp on purpose – “Heaven’s Graveyard” modulates, suddenly and beautifully, into something less forgiving. Yes, the myth is real. Yes, the scholar was right. And none of that grants access. Proof, as Curtis says flatly, does not confer permission.


In the dim blue chamber of revelation, the hand hovers and does not close, as discovery sheds its triumph and becomes an ethics of refusal.

That is where ingenuity gives way to judgment. “Heaven’s Graveyard” takes a plot built from the old satisfactions of buried knowledge and turns it against the fantasy that revelation is inherently virtuous. It never loses its appetite for trace, proof, fragment, relic. Nor should it. This is not an anti-knowledge novel, which would be easy and pious. It is an anti-entitlement novel. Curtis understands, from the inside, why institutions and individuals alike love to promote appetite into procedure without losing composure. Museums, universities, churches, scholars, collectors – everyone here has a way of converting desire into policy and calling it stewardship. Because something can be recovered, cataloged, and exhibited, it begins to seem as though it ought to be. Curtis is particularly sharp on how quickly preservation can turn proprietary, how easily care can put on a white glove and become possession.

That argument would be respectable enough on its own. What makes the book good is that Curtis dramatizes it rather than filing a neat essay under the plot. Her prose helps make the point bite. She writes as Cod thinks: precise, tactile, a little ceremonious about surfaces. The sentences keep their cuffs buttoned and their instruments in order. They are sensuous without going soft, measured without going prim. Most arrive in balanced lengths, then tighten or flare when awe, shame, or annoyance breaches Cod’s reserve. The world is built not from ornamental mist but from handled things: clasps, bangles, labels, tram rails, fish statues, dust, old paper, stone gone cold under the hand. This tactile precision does more than furnish the scene. It teaches the reader to trust the artifact, to feel the pull of the handled object, to mistake matter for innocence. Later the novel rebukes that trust. The style is not polish laid over the argument. It is part of the machine that makes the argument cut.

Curtis is good, too, at tonal calibration. “Heaven’s Graveyard” carries melancholy, dread, intellectual excitement, and metaphysical wonder without sloshing them into one undifferentiated broth. The wit is especially well managed. Cod’s dryness, Marr’s eccentricity, Sparrow’s disruptive vitality, and the novel’s steady awareness that institutions are often ridiculous even when dangerous keep the book from drifting into solemn vapor. Curtis has the sense to know that a story about gods, death, archives, and historical trespass still needs people to say the wrong thing at the right moment. Even in its loftier reaches, the novel remembers that the sacred and the absurd are frequent roommates.

The structure is not decoration. It is excavation by other means. Prologue, acts, short titled chapters, memory fragments, letters, travel, institutional procedure, revelation held back just long enough – all of it suits a novel about reconstruction. Each chapter feels like another shard lifted from the dirt and brushed clean. The segmented design also gives Curtis a useful rhythm of advance and pause. Inquiry leads to recollection; recollection alters inquiry. The form keeps reminding us that history is seldom encountered whole. It comes in pieces, and the pieces arrive already handled by others.

A lesser version of this story would have treated its final disclosure as treasure-chest payoff: the heroine was real, the gods were real, the hidden world was there all along, cue scholarly vindication. Curtis gives us all that and then lets the applause begin before quietly spoiling it. Revelation is not the reward. Revelation becomes trespass in ceremonial dress. That reversal deepens the entire book. It changes what the opening scenes were doing, changes what the relics mean, changes the ethical temperature of every label and note and scholarly inference that came before. It is not simply a good ending. It is a re-annotation of the novel’s first principles.

There is a cost attached to this severity. Cod’s cool reserve gives the book much of its authority, but it also tightens the emotional reach. Curtis is right not to soften her. Cod should be difficult. Her mind is the method. Even so, there are stretches – especially in the first half – when the page is already bleeding while the reader is still being handed the gloves. Marr’s death, parts of the Sparrow material, even some of Cod’s private history arrive through observation and inference first, feeling second. The delay is purposeful. It is also, at times, limiting.

The novel returns, now and then, to the same sore place. Because obsession governs it, Curtis keeps circling Aleya, proof, and the friction between myth and evidence. Mostly that deepens the pressure. A few times it simply presses the bruise again. The repetition is understandable – obsession is repetitive, that is half the trouble – but there are moments when one wishes the book would trust the force of what it has already established and move on with a little less ceremonial reapproach.

Some readers will call that exacting. Others will call it chilly. Both will have a case. Anyone wanting a brisk fantasy of sacred objects and secret histories will find a slower, more barbed, more self-interrogating thing. Readers who like speculative fiction with archives, gods, awkwardness, and moral pressure will fare better. The standard comparisons illuminate a corner, then give up, which is usually a good sign. “Possession” by A. S. Byatt shares the archival seduction. “Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke shares some of the estranged wonder. Curtis is flintier than either, and much less interested in consoling anyone for the labor of reading.

Its relevance does not need hauling in. It is already in the room. At a moment when museums are being pressed on what exactly they own, when archives are being reread for omission as much as inclusion, and when “preservation” increasingly sounds like the word people use just before someone else asks for their property back, “Heaven’s Graveyard” feels cool-eyed and diagnostic. It is not chasing a mood. It is examining an old reflex: the habit of mistaking visibility for virtue. Because something can be shown, it starts to seem as though it should be shown. Curtis is too fair to make that reflex monstrous. She knows its seductions because her heroine feels them in her fingertips.

The late ascent – Tahlia’s appearance, her unnervingly calm account of knowledge as a weapon one grips by the blade – could have gone pious or vaporous. It does neither. Curtis earns the elevated register by keeping the story tethered to embarrassment, objects, bad timing, and love’s habit of reaching where it has not been invited. Even at its loftiest, “Heaven’s Graveyard” remembers that people are acquisitive creatures. They want to keep what moves them. They want to name what outlives them. They want the relic, the answer, the proof, the blessing, and, given the choice, a decent display case. The gods may arrive. The museum dust keeps its seat.

For me, “Heaven’s Graveyard” lands at 89/100 – 4 out of 5 stars: a strong, exacting, unusually intelligent speculative novel whose coolness is both part of its authority and part of its limit. I admired it at once, felt it by gathering degrees, and respected it more each time I turned it over. Its excellence is chiefly artistic and intellectual, though the feeling is real once Curtis stops letting Cod hide behind procedure.

The best thing the novel knows is that the past is fragile not only because it can vanish, but because it can be found by people who mistake access for permission. Curtis begins with the old fantasy that buried truth is waiting for the right scholar to bring it into view. She ends somewhere wiser and sadder. What remains is not the bright click of a solved mystery, but the sight of a cataloguer’s hand hovering over the relic at last and, against every trained instinct – to classify, to keep, to publish – choosing not to close into a fist.


Early compositional studies testing how dome, figure, relic, and negative space might hold the book’s central tension between sacred scale and the private impulse to claim what should perhaps remain untouched.


The faint underdrawing establishes the painting’s hidden architecture – figure, case, dome, and hovering hand – before atmosphere and color soften the scene into something more haunted and morally suspended.


With the first cool washes in place, the image begins to move from structure into mood, as the museum turns luminous, the dome turns watchful, and restraint begins to take on emotional weight.


This palette study gathers the cover-derived blues, golds, slates, and muted greens that shape the final image’s solemn radiance, keeping the painting tied to the book’s world of relics, shadows, and withheld revelation.

All watercolor illustrations by Demetris Papadimitropoulos.

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowledge is a dagger with a blade for a handle.

Most people fall out of love with their first crush over time. Coda is different: her first love is a mythical queen from a children's book of stories, and Coda grows up determined to prove that Aleya was real. She becomes an archeologist, moves to Aleya's home country of Asha, enjoys a prominent job at a prestigious museum... yet is no closer to finding proof than she was as a child. Until her former university professor, also obsessed with the myth, sends her a summons. He's found something that could change everything. Unfortunately Coda arrives home to find him murdered. What did he find, and who had him killed for it? Coda won't rest until she knows.

Heaven's Graveyard is a murder mystery starring a lesbian-disaster version of Indiana Jones. Well, a slightly more academic, slightly less whip-wielding Indy. It's also a fascinating look at relationships with the people around us. Who supports us and why or why not? Why do we close ourselves off from others, and how do we fix that if we indeed even want to? How do you go about untangling very complicated relationships you thought were ancient history? But it's also literally about ancient history, too. How we treat knowledge and relics and discoveries. How history can lie to us, and why it might do so.

Is all information good or worth learning? Is it ever right to destroy it or hide it away?

Heaven's Graveyard isn't going to give you all the answers, but it will tease you with the questions and some scenarios while dragging you along on a high-tension rollercoaster ride.

The characters are amazing. Complex, deep, and often far too realistic in their flaws. Coda is such a disaster, but a sympathetic one and I loved being in her head. Abandoned and down-trodden, often ridiculed for her theories and goals, with exactly one person in her corner and a possibly-fantasy figure she clings to for security and stability. Marr was entirely believable as an academic, but also a likeable character who half-adopted Coda and shared the same academic dream. So much we learn of Marr is from the people he's left behind: Coda, his ex-wife, his current top student / replacement for Coda. Said semi-replacement, Thal, is a foreign exchange student from a religious neighbour who war keeps threatening to break out with. She's an outsider like Coda though for different reasons, but I'm so happy that the author never slipped into religious cliches with Thal. She's not a zealot or a preacher or any of those easy-to-reach-for tropes that a religious semi-antagonist semi-suspect might fall into in another type of novel. Sparrow, Coda's ex-girlfriend, is a hot mess who still somehow manages to keep things together better than Coda. She's the spunky sidekick with gadgets, the support, maybe even the crutch that Coda falls back on as the world goes insane around her. The author walks this wonderfully thin line where it's hard to tell if Coda is perhaps slightly using Sparrow on account of Sparrow still having feelings for Coda, or if Sparrow is the one who keeps inserting herself in hopes it'll cause a relapse of feelings. Their relationship and how it develops had me on tenterhooks the entire time.

I love the world of this novel. It's a bit grimy and a lot steampunky. We travel through barren near-desert areas, harsh coastlines and seas, and pleasant green woodlands that have been sectioned off into a protected wildlife area. We travel by clunky trams, large boats, and mechanical 'runners', which are the lovechild of Gauntlet Runners (from 2024's hit rpg Metaphor Refantazio) and Star Wars' AT-ST Scout Walker -- imagine a steampunk cabin raised and moved by mechanical 'legs', so your car "runs" you to the next town. It felt very fresh, especially as a world that supposedly built itself over a history of magic and gods.

The plot itself is well crafted. The tension is always high from one subplot or another, the relationships are always growing or straining in interesting ways, and throughout it all Coda's own personal history, not just ancient history, also weaves in and out of her story and development. Things she thought were behind her, either from outrunning or abandoning, are actually not that far gone. It was captivating to see how the past threads built up the fuller picture of Coda while also making her fray at the edges. Just as knowledge cuts both ways, the past both hurts and heals, builds and destroys.

The only issue I can remember having with this novel is the nicknames. Coda (with a long OH sound) constantly refers to herself as Cod. Should I be pronouncing that like the fish? And if so, why? Or is it meant to be pronounced 'Code' despite looking like a completely different word? Sparrow also has her name shortened a few times, though not nearly as regularly as Coda, and I have the same problem. Saying half of the word 'sparrow' just doesn't roll off the tongue, and one again looks more like a completely different word with different pronunciation, spar (long AH). The one time I wanted a pronunciation guide just so I could be sure how I was meant to be reading/hearing the main character's name.

I don't recall how this novel came to my attention in the first place, but I came in with no or low expectations and was blown away. Biggest surprise read of 2026 so far. Apparently there is a prequel novel to this one set in the same world at a different point in time? Onto the TBR it goes!

Love makes us unwise. Nevertheless, it will be the last thing left. Love will be there at the end of everything.


Rating: 4.5 stars -- Honestly kind of torn whether this needs an extra half star to hit a full 5. I can't think of anything it could have improved on (apart from the nickname guide).

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75⭐️

Much like with Idolfire, this review is going to be a tricky one to write because, whilst I enjoyed this book and it had some excellent moments, it never quite lived up to its full potential for me.

I'll start with what I did like about this book though because, despite my incoming criticisms, I did really enjoy reading this! For one, I thought the character work here was strong, and Cod was a really interesting character to perceive this story through: socially awkward, at times unintentionally blunt or ignorant, and so utterly devoted to her academia. As an autistic academic myself, I found her character to be quite relatable. The wider character work was really strong too, with distinct characters across the board. Thal was an especially intriguing character that I wish we'd gotten to see much more of (especially since her and Cod's relationship didn't get nearly enough time to develop, and her and Cod had far more chemistry than Cod and Sparrow in my opinion), Marr was incredibly vibrant despite only appearing in a handful of flashback scenes, haunting the narrative; and Sparrow was certainly... intriguing, but I won't say much more on her. I also thought the setting was an interesting choice, combining fantasy and mystery and academic against a modern cityscape or a red-brick university, all darkened by an incoming war. The political theming was quite strong, examining the threat of looming war, and the darkness that comes with arms selling, and what destruction power can bring when taken by the wrong hands. The big reveal of the book was certainly one I never saw coming, and as someone who has read Idolfire, I really loved picking up on all the hints about Aleya and Kirby (who is unnamed in this book, but certainly relevant) and their epic journey!

Overall though, this is a book that just couldn't quite nail the execution. The first half of the book (mainly focused on a murder mystery style plot) reads incredibly slow and boring at times, and then the second half is much more gripping, fast-paced and threatening, but isn't grounded enough with strong worldbuilding. It's established early on in this book that we're teetering on the brink of war, and yet we never seem to be given any explanations as to why this war is even a possibility, or why the conflict between these countries exist, which also meant it was very hard to keep track of which country was which, which religion was which, and why they were in such opposition.

There are also some issues when it comes to character development and motivation, especially with Sparrow. I can't say too much as it would spoil some major things massively. but she just isn't written strongly enough for the role she fulfils, and as such comes off at times like a caricature. We're given very small hints of a potential backstory, but again never any explanation/justification as to why she ends up in the position we does, which makes her character feel somewhat shallow. We get more backstory and explanation about Cod's mother, and she's barely important to the story, only appearing outside of flashbacks in the Epilogue. The plot itself often felt underdeveloped too, and especially the ending, which was so rushed and seemed to tie everything up a bit too neatly.

I think one of this book's biggest issues is that it doesn't fully know what it wants to be. To my understanding, this book is supposed to be an indirect sequel to Idolfire, whilst also working as a standalone, and in my opinion it doesn't really fit into either category, instead sitting in an uncertain grey area. If you've read Idolfire, then this book loses a lot of its suspense, as you already know the truth about Aleya and her story, but I think if you need to have read Idolfire to understand the magic system and history in this book, because the worldbuilding in Heaven's Graveyard just isn't strong enough standing alone. I do think the commentary on history and the ways that archaeology can be invasive is interesting and a driving force for this book, but with this execution it just doesn't really work. In all honesty I'm not sure if this story was quite right for this fictional world (I still insist that Idolfire should have been a duology, and doesn't work as a standalone), and I don't think the book fully knows its own purpose either.

Overall this was a flawed read, but still fun! I would recommend this for those who have already read Idolfire, as it does add some interesting new concepts to the story and the world, but I do think the execution was quite a let down for me unfortunately.

[becks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to DAW Books and NetGalley for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for a fair review.

This was a delightful and very intriguing read, and my first outing with Grace Curtis' books. I was immediately interested in the premise of the book, especially from the description calling it a "sinister lesbian history mystery bringing old magic into a dangerous new century" in what might be a description made to appeal directly to me.

I will note that I have not read Idolfire, so my thoughts are focused solely on Heaven's Graveyard. Despite this being a far future sequel of sorts, I don't think you need to read one to understand the other. That being said, I did find myself wondering what it would be like to read this book with knowledge of Idolfire. With 2,000 years between Idolfire and Heaven's Graveyard, I imagine there are some interesting call backs and bonuses for a reader who has read both books given the focus on history, mythology and archaeology.

Heaven's Graveyard is a rather unique mix of murder mystery thriller and archaeological adventure blended into one. The story follows Coda, or "Cod", our protagonist. An academic fixated on the mythological tales of Aleya Ana-Ulai, Coda is drawn back to her hometown by her old professor, mentor and friend, Marr, with the promise of a grand discovery relating to their shared interest in Aleya. However, her homecoming takes a sad turn when she arrives only to find Marr was found dead in his office that very morning. From here the story shifts as Coda quickly realises there is something off about her mentor's death and she chooses to take up the research he left behind, only to slowly realise she may be in over her head. I found the plot to be strong and interesting. The first 10% was a little slow, but once Coda reaches Tessi it picks up and maintains a steady pace.

Mysteries thread through the heart of the story itself, from the obvious mystery of what happened to Coda's professor, to the slower burn mysteries of Aleya herself and why Coda left her hometown, breaking off relationships and friendships in the process. But there are plenty of other topics as well: warfare and religion, and how the two drive humanity makes up a large chunk of the story as well, with an underlying mystery for the reader regarding what is happening in the world, with whispers and rumours of war on the horizon. Curtis did a great job of making the wider world feel present even when the story was so focused on a few individuals.

Obsession and how it can drive and ruin someone crops up during the book as well. Coda's obsessive desire to know everything about Aleya Ana-Ulai and prove she was real is the driving force of the book, and was shared to a lesser extent by her professor Marr. There are a couple of other characters that have their own defining obsessions as well, but I will leave that for future readers to discover.

The cast were very strong. Coda is a very unique woman who reads as neurodivergent, but with a certain awareness of her behaviours and how much she struggles to "correctly" interact with people. It's subtle, but she does undergo a reasonable amount of growth without fundamentally changing who she is. Sparrow is a delightful contrast to Coda, being friendly, fun and personable where Coda isn't, while having many secrets of her own, and Thal's no nonsense attitude and blunt criticism of Coda's behaviour provides a lovely counterbalance in the story. My only complaint is that I wish we'd seen a bit more of Thal, but I still feel we were given plenty of reasons why she couldn't have been more involved.

Overall, I had a very enjoyable time with this book and am interested in picking up Curtis' other works in the future. If the 'sinister lesbian history mystery' tagline intrigues you, or if you love fantasy realism, and a story that balances tension, mystery and some good old sapphic yearning well, then keep your eyes out for the book when it releases in June 2026!

[laku · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this book is amazing: an introverted archaeologist obsessed with proving a female hero from ages past actually existed is forced to return to her home country when her favourite professor and dear friend is assassinated. I have not read its prequel-of-sorts, Idolfire, which follows said female hero through her adventures, but as I understand it’s an epic fantasy road trip journey of self-discovery with a larger cast. This is not the case for Heaven’s Graveyard.
Rather, this is a character-driven novel about struggling with guilt and grief, and how to push past the self-loathing they engender to live a fulfilling life—and of course, save the world in the process.

At the beginning, it reminded me a lot of The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow, what with the childhood obsession with a female figure out of myth, the complicated relationship with her mother, and the indifference to war and current events. Unlike everyone else, I did not particularly enjoy that book, so I was glad that the plot here went into a completely different direction.
Despite the grittiness implied in a murder mystery set in a world on the brink of war, the atmosphere was almost cozy for a big chunk of the book. It’s hard to feel a sense of impending doom when the cities are described so vibrantly, with trams whistling past and colorful bell towers. That made the switch of tone midway through hit all the hardest.

For a book with stakes so high, the cast was surprisingly small. Most secondary characters disappeared with barely a mention after they fulfilled their role, leaving just four characters with significant arcs, though all of them revolved around Coda.
She was a good protagonist to follow—not special in any way, and with a confidently negative opinion of herself that sometimes hit too close for comfort, who nonetheless never shied away from tackling head-on the problems she caused. Much more compelling than her, however, was the villain: ruthless but also silly, obsessed with Coda but not to the point of putting her well-being above their own interests, and vaguely unhinged. Just a lot of fun.

I quite liked Curtis’s writing style. It was simple but engaging, with beautiful descriptions of the modernish cities and some cracking metaphors and similes that conveyed Coda’s feelings better than a whole paragraph of exposition ever could.
There were also some interesting reflections about history—as befitting a book with an archaeologist as a protagonist—explored through two competing views on the role of historians. One sees them as scholars dedicated first and foremost to improving the present by understanding the past; the other as advocates for the dignity of the dead. The concept comes into play from the beginning regarding things like opening tombs, moving human remains, and damaging relics to better understand them, but it is also reflected in Coda’s character development as she slowly shifts her worldview from one interpretation to the other (and in the switch of sidekick).

A note on the reading order. The author mentioned writing them as two interconnected books that can be read in any order, but I would suggest reading Idolfire before Heaven’s Graveyard, if only to have a firmer understanding of the magic. I found it the most fascinating aspect of this novel, and I was slightly disappointed that the focus wasn’t on how it worked. We are told a few details, but not much beyond that—because, I’m assuming, Idolfire already explored the topic in great detail. In addition, certain plot threads I was extremely interested in ended up going nowhere, which makes me think they were easter eggs rather than foreshadowing for some big reveal as I expected. I will be definitely pick it up soon to get more of this world!

Many thanks to Hodderscape and Netgalley UK for providing me with a review copy of this book. All the opinions stated here are my own.

[Red · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heaven’s Graveyard was a fun, light-hearted book and was a nice break between heavier/more complex reads. We follow Coda (or Cod), an archaeologist with an obsession about the legendary hero Aleya Ana-Ulai and a desire to prove she was a real figure. Receiving a letter about a monumental discovery from her childhood mentor, she returns to her hometown but finds him dead in an apparently unfortunate accident. But Cod suspects that not all is as it seems. What discovery could be worth killing for?

Heaven’s Graveyard is set in the same world and ties into the events of one of Grace Curtis’ previous books, Idolfire, but I hadn’t read that before reading this one. It’s definitely not necessary to, but there were a lot of easter eggs and moments where it felt like the author was bringing attention to things and winking at the audience that I just didn’t get or appreciate so I think it would probably improve the experience to read Idolfire in the same way that it would improve the experience of reading Mistborn Era 2 if you read Era 1 first, though it’s definitely not needed to understand and appreciate the story. Speaking of the story, it was a lot of fun! I really liked the main character, Cod. Many of her flaws and struggles were really relatable like her struggles to connect with people and I also really liked how determined and decisive she was despite her fears and inexperience of the wider world. The supporting characters also all really worked, they all felt like they had hidden layers and messy motivations.
The murder mystery plot didn’t actually take up a huge amount of page time, but I didn’t mind that because the other mystery plots surrounding the archaeological discoveries and Cod’s mother were also pretty engaging. The plot twists really got me in this one, I felt so blindsided even though in hindsight it should’ve been obvious!

The magic was a really interesting concept, though I felt like I was missing a bit of context and I didn’t quite understand how it worked, which may be because it was fleshed out more in Idolfire. It was still really fun and I loved how chaotic it was but it could have hit a bit harder if I’d understood it more. The worldbuilding also fell into a bit of confusion for me, because it’s the kind of thing I see often in books nowadays where it’s clearly set in a time period that’s meant to reflect the past but the time period is really hard to parse because the older technologies are surrounded by very modern language/turns of phrase. But I did really like the exploration of the effects of new technologies appearing and the effects of a world becoming more and more connected and globalised as these technologies appear, triggering conflict.

The pacing was a bit off quite slow to begin with and then everything was wrapped up really quickly at the end leaving me a bit unsatisfied. It felt like everything was just ultimately a bit too easy to fix and I would have liked more exploration of the wider consequences of the characters’ actions.

Overall, Heaven’s Graveyard was a really fun read. The writing style was clever and engaging, I loved the characters and the plot was full of mystery and twists even if I was a little dissatisfied with the resolution. Definitely pick this up if you’re looking for a light, quick, sapphic read with some fun twists and an interesting political backdrop.

[Yaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher Hodder & Stoughton for this eARC of Heaven's Graveyard received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

I was over the moon that I got the eARC for this! I absolutely love Grace Curtis and not just because she's from my home town of Newcastle! (Do I fantasise about bumping into her in Waterstones whenever I visit back home? Maaaaaaaybe)(Remember when there used to be TWO Waterstones really close to each other?!)

Anyway! This book is set some 2000 years after Idolfire, and all the events and characters from Idolfire are loooooong forgotten / lost to time and/or become a myth. Aleya is mostly believed to just be a kid's story now and not a real person from history.

Except Cod absolutely and truly believes in her bones that Aleya was a real person. She read about Aleya as a child and she grows up to be an archeologist who wants to prove that Aleya and the city of Nivela were real. The only other person who believes the same as her is this old professor called Marr whom she befriended as a (lonely, neglected) child.

Shortly after making a big discovery, Marr is killed. It's down to Cod to a) prove that her friend was in fact murdered and find out by whom; b) find out WHY; c) find out what this big discovery of Marr's was and what does it have to do with Aleya.

This book starts out relatively slow, right until the murder and things begin to escalate bit by bit.
It starts out as a murder-mystery, and then....around half way through becomes something a little darker.

I found it a little frustrating how Cod REFUSED to read any news and so she had absolutely no fucking clue about the war that was brewing, like I just wanted to shake her!

But hey, I missed ALL the clues leading up to the twist in the book and looking back they were actually kinda...obvious in retrospect. Like....fuck, when you tallied them all up it all made so much sense, I can't believe I missed it. I strongly empathised with Cod's inability to read people, because I realised that if I were in her place, I would have missed the clues in real life too.

Really enjoyed this so much! I loved Cod, I loved Sparrow who's like the opposite to Cod, I loved Thal and her blunt honesty and no-nonsense attitude.

This isn't a sequel to Idolfire. It might actually be fun to read this first and then read Idolfire to build on the historical aspect of it.
I do wish I'd read this straight after Idolfire though because I had to go back to it to remind myself of the characters and what happened - there are some call backs to it in Heaven's Graveyard. I love that we get a small, little finale to Aleya and Kirby's story.

I should say too, that this book is also partly about obsession, and we get to see that from two different POVs, which I really enjoyed.

I've seen some people say it's interesting that Curtis has set the book 2000ish years after Idolfire. But this is why I love Grace Curtis's books. She's such an engaging writer who isn't afraid to try different things, and the way her books build up the story / tension bit by bit - I mean, I love slow-burn romance and Curtis to me does slow-burn story tension. Does that makes sense?

Anyway, I definitely recommend for when it comes out in June 2026!

[Joy Sanwo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was my first Grace Curtis book, but I was immediately intrigued at the “sinister lesbian history mystery” description. I ended up really enjoying my time with it! Heaven’s Graveyard is an ambitious hybrid of a murder mystery and a National Treasure-esque archeological discovery adventure, set against a backdrop of a nation on the brink of war, but at the end of the day it’s a story about a workaholic academic just finding her way in life.

I really clicked with Grace Curtis’s writing - her characters are delightful and so fun to follow. I really liked Cod, our main character. She’s socially awkward and single-minded, but as we go on we find out so much about her backstory that makes it really easy to empathize with her. The supporting characters are equally as fun - I loved getting scenes with Marr and Sparrow, their more extroverted, charismatic personalities were a great contrast to Cod. I do wish we got more from Thal in the first half, given how much she grew on me by the end.

The world building was also well done, especially in her descriptions of the bustling city of Ash and Cod’s hometown of Tessi. You really get the sense very early on that this nation Cod lives in is quite polarizing in its views of progress, religion, etc. For a story that only focuses on a couple characters and is very zoomed-in in its narration, I think Curtis does a good job of insinuating larger-scale repercussions.

For the most part the plot was quite quick, but I think it did fumble a little bit in the middle. I found myself in a bit of disbelief that some development in the plot would happen so easily. That’s just me nitpicking, though. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the scene with animal violence that happens about halfway into the book - it’s brief but pretty graphic and feels a bit out of place in terms of tone.

Now that I’m reading through other reviews, apparently Heaven’s Graveyard is set in the same universe as Curtis’s other book Idolfire, just 2,000 years later. I imagine reading that one first would give you a better idea on the lore and magic system but I definitely think that this stands on its own just fine. I’m definitely intrigued to pick up Idolfire though!

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘4.5 stars rounded up

I ran to request this title very quickly as I read Idolfire last spring and thoroughly enjoyed it, having so much fun following Aleya and Kirby’s journey. As this title is essentially an independent sequel to Idolfire, my experience reading it quite shaped my expectations for this one. While Heaven’s Graveyard delivered adventures, sapphics, political tension, mythology and even fun, it was even more than I knew to expect. Where I simply enjoyed Idolfire, I felt deeply touched by Heaven’s Graveyard. Maybe I accidentally read it more closely, but in any case, I feel as though Curtis really went above and beyond this time.

Heaven’s Graveyard takes the reader back into the world of Idolfire, except centuries have passed and Aleya has ceased to be simply a myth, Kirby merely a footnote in her story. However, to Cod, Ashan myths and Aleya’s story are close to a lifeline, having guided her to work at a museum while searching for proof of Aleya’s life. When she gets summoned home, suddenly an adventure dealing with her obsession kickstarts…

The way Curtis writes her characters is so immersive, they all felt real to me throughout the story. Cod’s a lovely narrator, yet real and flawed. She doesn’t always make the right judgement about people and can be caught up in her own world, yet she always, always means well. Sparrow, Thal, Marr, Hani and every other side character also get their voice heard, coming onto their own vividly, even if mostly monitored through Cod’s eyes. Additionally, the narrative is so interestingly written with chapters varying in length and style, all while centering Cod and her story. The world is as richly built as in Idolfire, in its similarities and differences, and I could clearly see the streets of Palgaro in my mind.

Overall, this is a great novel—and so unapologetically sapphic, might I add. I cannot wait for it to be officially out and have a copy of it grace my bookshelves.

Thank you, Hodder & Stoughton | Hodderscape and NetGalley, for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are mine.

[Books By Your Bedside · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars seemed harsh but 3 stars feels too generous...

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodderscape for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I read Idolfire (of which this follows on) the day before.

Having read Idolfire, that was set so far in the past that it's become almost myth, and so I wasn't expecting this to be in the modern time so that took me by surprise. I didn't mind it, because it showed the longevity of the story.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as Idolfire, which is weird because very little actually happened in that one, whereas this one has more plot. But I don't think the modern setting fitted with the subject matter, and it felt like they were fighting.

It didn't have the same feel, the same magic, the same spark. Maybe if I'd left a gap between reading Idolfire and this one then it might have been okay, but I had Idolfire fresh in my mind and couldn't help but compare.

I'm going to say something contradictory here. I would have preferred it if she'd set this in a slightly less modern time, a time closer to Idolfire, so it still felt like the same world. Having said that, I did enjoy this idea of fact turning into myth and how easy it is to disregard something from the past.

She has once again stuck to a small cast of characters and they're all well written. I wasn't completely enamoured with them like I was with the characters in Idolfire but they were still interesting to follow.

I don't think you need to read Idolfire to understand this. In fact you might benefit by not reading it because then you have nothing to compare it to.

I still enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but it felt completely apart from the Idolfire world, and to say it's linked doesn't feel right, the link is too tenuous. It becomes this murdery, archaeological mystery without any of the magic that Idolfire had.

I think it would have benefitted by saying it is set within the world of Idolfire, and that's it. By linked it specifically to the characters and plot from Idolfire, it means we're asked to link the two stories and compare them, and this, whilst I liked it, meant it fell short of every stage of Idolfire.

[Emma Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 starts.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder Books & Hodder Publicity for the arc of this book.

This review is based on this story alone as I have not read Idolfire (yet!). And do you know what, I am quite happy about that, as we got to figure out the magic and the mysteries with Cod, and not feel ahead of the story.

Coda gets pulled back to her hometown after hearing about a huge archaeological discovery, only to arrive and find that her wonderful professor who sent the message, has been murdered. As she chases down whispers of her favourite obsession - the maybe real, maybe not Aleya, Coda quickly realises she’s stepped straight into something massive, messy, and way more dangerous than she ever signed up for.

I don’t say this often, but from the get-go I knew I would enjoy this story. It has great storytelling pacing, and from about 30% I couldn’t put it down. The last 10% was completely inhaled. I could have perhaps done with this being a little bit longer to really build it out.

There is a great balance between the main plot and subplot. Mysteries in each, thrilling and some real edge of the seat stuff in the second half. I like the balance between fantasy and technology too – it’s a very easy to understand, but unique world.

Or main character, Cod (Coda), is interesting to say the least. Relatable to some, but not for me. Cod is very aware of her language and behaviours but throughout the story I don’t really pick up any willingness to do better – it’s more of a resignation to it, and that felt unusual to me.

Our supporting cast are really great. Marr is somehow immediately likeable. Thal is wonderful – her calling out Cod was very satisfying! And Sparrow… well.

Overall, this story is a fantastic concept and executed brilliantly. Right, time for Idolfire!

[CallyMia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the premise behind this book and I must say it was better than I expected.
We follow Cod, an archaeologist who is searching for an idol, Aleya, from a book she read as a child. After she receives a message from her old teacher informing her of a discovery, she returns home to find him dead. However, Cod has suspicions it was not just an accident, and with the help of an old lover, Sparrow, they begin to investigate. Alongside this, Cod continues her old teachers studies in the hope it will lead her to proof that Aleya is real. However, when she finds out the truth behind her old teachers death, things spiral out of control.
This was a fantasy world with magic setting, with a sapphic love story, with a murder mystery. The plot was fast paced and there was multiple things going on which kept me entertained. I also did not see that twist coming when they discover the truth behind her old teachers death! And I liked that it picked up pace from here as they were on a time restraint to stop a disaster.
I liked the characters, our main fmc Cod was very likeable, especially as we had snippets into her past and her mother’s past.
The flashbacks were good, usually I’m not overly keen on sudden time jumps or switches, but this worked well with this story. I liked the inclusion of Sparrows letters to Cod as it added depth to their relationship and I had slight empathy for Sparrow despite how she turned out.
I read this in one sitting, I found it easy to read and I wasn’t bored. It’s also now made me want to pick up Idolfire, especially as it was mentioned in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[chloecanread · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I really enjoyed Idolfire so I was quite excited when this book was announced. I found the premise to be intriguing. This book is set thousands of years after the events of Idolfire, and the familiar countries and cities now have trains!

This book follows Cod, an academic who is obsessed with Aleya Ana-Ulai. She became an archaeologist specifically because of Aleya. When her mentor sends her a letter detailing a great discovery, she immediately packs her bag and heads home only to find that he has been murdered.

This book is a nice blend of murder mystery and archaeological discovery. There’s a relatively small cast, with very high stakes. War is brewing on the horizon but Cod is solely determined on her quest to find out who murdered her mentor and what his great discovery was. With the help of Sparrow, an old lover, she sets about trying to unravel the mystery.

This book was fast-paced and there’s a twist I did NOT see coming, but it was an excellent twist! There’s some flashbacks and letters that I think worked well within the story, they didn’t drag the plot at all. I also really liked the writing, its very smooth.

I highly recommend picking this one up, but I do think you should read Idolfire first and then this one. I read Idolfire quite some time ago and I was struggling a little bit with remembering some of the events. But I think if I had dived into this book without reading Idolfire in the first place I would’ve been absolutely fine.

Very interested to see what this author writes next!

[Gealach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Heaven's Graveyard is a fantastical murder mystery set some two thousand years after Idolfire, the author's first foray into fantasy. This one's more of a science fantasy mix as we see a world that completely forgot its magical roots and developed similarly enough to ours. Idolfire is referenced heavily, but the novel works well enough on its own, giving tantalizing hints that prompt the reader to go back to it, wondering how much of what is referenced is true and how much is fiction.

The book offers fascinating insights into archeology and the pull of ancient history as we follow Coda, a young academic on a mission to prove that her favorite piece of folklore is a real story. The novel kicks off when she gets called back to her hometown and she's forced to start an investigation, confront her own tumultuous past, and see her troublesome ex-girlfriend again. In the background, whispers of a war between countries don't really reach us, as the worldbuilding relies somewhat on knowledge of the previous novel. The story careens towards a high-stakes final confrontation and wraps up everything nicely.

But at its core, the book is about Coda's inner journey from a person who flees from conflict and has trouble with making connections in her everyday life. She reads as neurodivergent in some ways, and the book doesn't magically fix her, but it gives her the tools to better live.

Heaven's Graveyard is a lovely read.

[jlreadstoperpetuity · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Be careful what you pray for.”

🗓️ Publication Date: June 16, 2026
📖 Book Title: Heaven’s Graveyard
✍️ Author: Grace Curtis

✨ Quick Summary & Tea Thoughts
Set in the same world as Idolfire but thousands of years later, Heaven’s Graveyard shifts from myth into memory. What was once legend is now half-forgotten history, and Cod is obsessed with proving that her childhood hero, Aleya Ana-Ulai, was real. When she’s called back home for a groundbreaking archaeological discovery, it quickly turns into something darker.. her mentor is dead, war is looming, and the ruins of an enchanted city may hold more danger than answers.

What I liked most is how this feels like a story about obsession slowly spiraling. Cod is so locked into chasing the past that everything else.. politics, danger, even grief.. kind of slips past her until it’s too late. The vibe is very quiet but unsettling, like something is always slightly off beneath the surface. It’s not action-heavy, it’s more introspective and character-driven, but when things start clicking into place, it hits in that “oh… this was bigger than I thought” kind of way. Also love how it plays with the idea of history turning into myth and back again.. it makes the whole world feel layered in a really cool way.

Thank you to @dawbooks for the opportunity to read and feature this title.

🏛️ Archaeology and lost civilizations
🔎 Murder mystery with academic roots
📜 Myth vs history blurred lines
⚔️ War looming in the background
🧠 Obsessive scholar protagonist
🌈 Sapphic undertones and relationships

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review!

Every time I read a Grace Curtis book, I'm not sure what to expect and now I'm realising that's exactly what keeps drawing me in! I loved the Floating Hotel and Idolfire was so different but again had that deeply human experience of grappling with emotions and finding some sort of inner truth.

Heavenly Graveyard takes us back into the world of Idolfire but 2000 years later where we see the events of Idolfire through the eyes of Coda who is fascinated by the myth of Aleyah and becomes an archaeologist. Finding people unpredictable and too hard to understand, she puts her trust in artefacts and her research that she hopes will help prove Aleyah existed.

When she's called to return home, she finds that pursuing her research could be deadly and is confronted with old and new acquaintances amidst a mystery. Unsure who to trust, she intends to uncover the truth: what did her mentor find and what could it mean? But the truth may come at a cost. How far will Coda go to find answers to some of the biggest questions?

I read this is one sitting. Coda is single minded whilst self-aware and goes through a lot! It was fun to have the familiar lore from Idolfire and to see parallels but also to get a complete refresh, new perspective and new age! I'm always impressed with how effortlessly expansive the world-building is across Grace Curtis' books but wow, this took it to a new level!

There is one scene I cannot forgive. You'll know. I'm not over it 😶

[Hannah Deverall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heaven's Graveyard is Grace Curtis' answer to fantastical academia. The novel follows Coda - 'Cod' - an archaeologist returning home after receiving promising news from a former professor and close friend. However, upon her arrival, she is thrust into a murder case that quickly devolves into something far more complicated, and older, than it originally seemed. Heaven's Graveyard is set in the same world as Curtis' novel Idolfire, although it can easily and enjoyably be read as a standalone.

There were many parts of this novel that I greatly enjoyed, such as the intricacies of the world building and the plot twist, which left me going 'how could I not have seen that coming?' . The novel was easy to read and the characters were deeply flawed and somewhat loveable. The queer representation was really wonderful too, although I found the implied romance a little lacklustre considering the book is being marketed as a 'sinister lesbian mystery'. I also felt that the story left a lot to be desired, and was quite a slog for large portions of the book.

Overall, this book was pretty interesting, and I don't regret reading it in any way, but it did leave quite a bit to be desired. I can certainly see this book as being perfect for some people. but sadly I am not a part of that demographic. My official rating is 3.75 stars. Thank you to DAW for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

Thank you to DAW and NetGalley for the arc!

I went into this book a bit blind. I saw the cover (stunning) and that it was by Grace Curtis, whose books I’ve enjoyed in the past, and that was enough.

One thing that’s really cool about Heaven’s Graveyard is that it’s a companion novel to Idolfire which I read last year. Not quite a sequel, but instead the story in Idolfire is the mythology of Heaven’s Graveyard. I don’t think you need to have read the first book to read this one, but if you enjoyed Idolfire this is a really cool way to revisit the world and the story.

I overall had a pretty good time with this book. The writing and pacing worked well for me, easy to get into and keep reading. I liked the focus on a story within a story and academic mystery elements of the plot. I found the characters interesting, well rounded, they have flaws and they didn’t feel like copies of characters you’ve read 100 times before.

There is some romance but not an overwhelming amount (as a reader who does like romance being the main focus in a book). I did feel like their relationship could have been a bit more developed though, to make later parts of the story a bit more impactful.

I do think Idolfire did better with world building and magic system, it felt a bit more shallow in this book, and since this doesn’t seem to be marketed specifically as a sequel it might have been good to have more focus on them. And to me the ending was a bit underwhelming/anti-climactic.

[lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to Hodderscape and NetGalley for letting me read this book!
Heaven’s Graveyard was unfortunately a rather forgettable disappointment for me.The book gets you caught up with the synopsis rather quickly, but it fails to really build tension or hold on to it. I love a good murder mystery, so I was really looking forward to that aspect of the story and then was promptly disappointed because it kept being pushed to the side. There was a point in the middle where things got a bit more intriguing, but that was then balanced out by an incredible letdown of an ending.The characters were all pretty standard, and I really wish there had been more time dedicated to the world-building.I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I‘d found everything surrounding the Aleya myth at all compelling, but I just couldn’t get myself to really care, and I frankly never understood why Cod cared so much. While I like the idea of a character being negatively impacted by their disinterest in the larger events of the world, I couldn’t help but feel the book just included this aspect of Cod‘s character to keep her from connecting very obvious dots, which is always frustrating to read.
I didn’t hate this book by any means, but I also didn’t really like it, and I‘ll most likely forget most things about it by the end of the week.
2⭐️

[Maria reads SFF · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for a free DRC of "Heaven's Graveyard" by Grace Curtis.
Murder Mystery in a Fantasy setting with a moraly gray female protagonist.
This was my first work by this author and I loved how many wonderful ellements were introduced such as archeology, artefacts, reading again your favorite book when you are down and the love for historical research.
The main character is so fascinating even if in some instances she crosses the line of moraly gray.
There were some aspects of her past that I could relate and those helped me understand why she behaved in certain ways. I loved her gradual growth trough the novel.
While there is another novel in this universe, "Idolfire" and maybe I would have had more insight of the long past of this world by reading that before, "Heaven's Graveyard" worked charmingly as a standalone for me.
I have to admit there was a point where I thought the focus on the Romance might be too much, I am so glad I continued as everything had a purpose and realy enjoyed my reading experience.
Normaly I don't add trigger warnings, but I'll make one exception here as I know animal death / abuse is a tough thing to read for most readers.
Highly recommended if you can stomach the above topic.

[Lisa Jayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a digital ARC via Netgalley.

Heaven’s Graveyard is a sapphic fantasy with a touch of mystery. Coda is a doctor researching a mythological figure that she believes really existed, when she finds some evidence she rushes back to her home city, to show her mentor. Set amongst of backdrop of brewing war between church and state, this story packs a lot in.
I loved that the story revolved around mostly female characters, male characters only appear in supporting roles, it made my feminist heart happy. Cod is great, her character is autistic-coded, though no explicit diagnosis is given, but scenes where she fails to understand social nuance or respond in a way other people deemed appropriate felt authentic to me. I enjoyed the complex relationships between the characters, Cod and her ex, Sparrow, Cod and her academic rival Thal even Cod and her mother, though we mostly saw that through flashbacks.
The world-building was great, detailed without feeling too heavy or with large chunks of exposition. I enjoyed the mythology which was a key aspect of the plot.
Warning, there is an animal death. It was necessary for the plot but I still found it a tough read.
If you are interested in female-lead fantasy stories, I recommend giving this book a go!

[Den · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's quite hard to pin down what this book is.
There is a murder mystery. There is some sapphic yearning. There's magic and fantastical elements.

The main character is a nerdy archaeologist/museum curator obsessed with proving that a certain myth is real and actually happened. The world she inhabits feels lived in--there are tensions with a neighboring country and religious persecution that we get hints of, but not the full picture. This might frustrate some lorehounds, but I thought it gave just the right amount of flavor and tension to the world.

The stakes start small and keep escalating all the way to the end. There were twists and turns I didn't see coming and I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. The sapphic yearning was atypical and does not follow your common tropes. I do think the ending was a bit rushed, and I wish we just had a few more pages about the aftermath of the whole thing. I was invested in this world and I wanted to know about the implications of that ending...but it's hard to say much else about that without spoiling the story. 

Would absolutely recommend this book for anyone wanting a grand archaeological adventure.

4.25 stars

[En · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface, Heaven’s Graveyard is a murder mystery revolving around an ancient fable. Beneath it runs a poignant story of grief, loneliness, and the struggle of finding a place to belong.

Coda ran from her past, cutting off everyone and burying herself in research over a lifelong obsession while trying to suffocate her self-loathing. She built a solitary life, yet when push comes to shove, she finds herself craving companionship.

I had expected a rug pull, but the fall still hurt. Act II came in a rush. Or rather, I lapped it up in a single sitting and was left with a bittersweet ending that continues to tug at my heart.

Though Heaven’s Graveyard features the key character from Idolfire, which is now on my TBR, it offers sufficient worldbuilding that flows with the current narrative, giving us a clear sense of the world.

While most of Heaven’s Graveyard was written from Cod’s pov, we’re also exposed to Sparrow’s thoughts through her letters and a fun interjection from a god.

Overall, though there wasn't much solving of a mystery, this was an enjoyable read set in a curious world with an intriguing magic system. I’m looking forward to reading Idolfire soon.

[WãVê · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely archaeological fantasy mixed with a murder mystery on top.

The early parts are the strongest, with solid atmosphere, exploration, and a steady build of tension around what the expedition uncovers. The main character, an introverted archaeologist, is easy to follow and helps ground the story.

One small nitpick: the book uses several Hebrew names on the wrong gender. Most readers won't know and won't be bothered, but to any Israeli reader it will feel like a tiny pebble in their shoe.

The book does lose some consistency in the middle, especially around character relationships and how certain plot connections are revealed. Some explanations feel a bit late or retrofitted, which makes parts of the story feel less tightly constructed than they could be.

That said, the ending brings the main threads together well enough and restores momentum, giving the story a more satisfying closure than the middle suggests.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable read that kept me curious until the end. I'll definitely be picking up Idolfire as well, since the books are connected and set in the same world.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to DAW and NetGalley for the ARC.

I REALLY liked Idolfire las year and was intrigued to see how that was going to spin off into this. While I enjoyed this one, I do think maybe it would have been better off as a novella rather than a full-length novel. The time jump to the "modern" age in this world was interesting, and the central premise is good; but the first half dragged a bit and the climax of the book seems like one that would have fit better, structurally speaking, into a shorter work.

This reminded me in various ways of Ruins (which I did NOT like) and The Memory Hunters (which I LOVED) so do with that what you will.

[Reya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story follows archaeologist Cod, who is determined to prove that the legendary Aleya truly existed and that magic still holds sway in the modern world. When her mentor uncovers new evidence but is mysteriously murdered, Cod finds herself drawn into a dual quest: unravelling the truth behind Aleya and investigating her mentor’s death.

Cod’s POV for me was very enjoyable. She interprets the world in a very interesting way, and I found her very engaging. There are minor moments where the plot feels slightly muddled tho, but I could still follow the story even if I felt like it dragged a little. I also found the magic and the world very cool, although I've read it's linked to Curtis's previous novel, so maybe keep that in mind before reading (I haven't read her previous books, and although it didn't make it a worse experience for me, I would have loved to get the full picture).

Overall, it’s a well-crafted story with a strong lead character and very good worldbuilding.

[Margian Ghadimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐
Questo libro è un mix sorprendente: parte thriller archeologico, parte mito queer, parte riflessione potente sulla guerra, sui traumi familiari e sull'essere neurodivergenti in un mondo che non sempre lascia spazio.

La protagonista è una ragazza che non cerca di essere l’eroina perfetta. È disorientata, a volte ignara del contesto che la circonda, e questo rende la narrazione molto intima. È completamente centrata su se stessa, sulle sue paure, sul dolore con cui cresce, e per questo il mondo esterno sembra un po' offuscato dalla sua stessa confusione.

Un libro difficile da incasellare ma che sorprende con un rapporto madre-figlia che spezza il cuore e un vero amore per la mitologia che arriva fino al lettore.

nota a parte: ho fatto la richiesta ARC sia per la copertina che per il titolo.

grazie a netgalley per l'ARC!

[Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

The connections between Heaven's Graveyard and Idolfire were great to notice! I highly recommend reading both, if you like either one.

Cod was an interesting character. She's not someone you see lead a book very often but her growth was good to see. Scientists and historians often don't see themselves as political, but their discoveries are anything but.

I liked the villain (I won't spoil who it is). They were quite cunning and fit well into the story, as both a contrast and mirror of Cod.

The prose was straightforward. I found the dialogue childish in Idolfire but that was much improved upon in Heaven's Graveyard.

I think Thal needed a bit more page time earlier on for me to care about her, even if I did enjoy her and Cod teaming up.

Once more, I accidentally deleted my notes before writing my review so I may come back to update it if I remember anything.