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A review by theverysleepygirl
The Graveyard Watch by R.J. Eason
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The Graveyard Watch is an urban fantasy set in metropolitan London with heavy “noir” film vibes and a fun found family element.
It follows Jocasta, a pathologist that has recently been transferred to the Graveyard Watch – a police segment dedicated to supernatural cases. While Jocasta is human, everyone around her is not, and we follow her as she adapts to her new strange – if not eccentric – colleagues and unravels a supernatural mystery.
The book is pitched as an urban fantasy romance, but I personally found that the romance took a backburner to the mystery elements of the plot. This is because, aside from Jocasta’s POV as she falls for the handsome captain, we also get a lot of chapters from the POV of Domingo, the department chief.
They are very different people with very different quests. This So, though their stories intermingle in regard to the mystery, they barely interact in each other’s POVs. This kind of created a disconnect to me as it felt like I was reading a different book every time we switched between the POVs. And we switch POVs a lot.
In a single chapter, we can go from Jocasta to Domingo to some random, nameless passer by in the scene, back to Domingo, back to Jocasta. This makes for a confusing experience, especially in the last third of the book where it was the most common. I remember a chapter where we had 3 paragraphs from Jocasta, maybe 5 from Domingo, then back to Jocasta suddenly.
Eason also likes to write chapters from the POV of nameless, external characters that are witnessing events of the plot. Oftentimes, these scenes are of little importance to the actual story, which adds to my disorientation. However, in Eason’s defense, I actually liked these segments and found them fun. The author explores different members of the world they built that fit funny archetypes or show interesting perspectives. You can definitely sense the love, and care, put into the book during these scenes.
Otherwise, the descriptions are well-done, and the characters are fun to read about, if not a bit tropey. The dialogue especially flowed amazingly, and never got awkward. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get fully invested in it, but I can see this book becoming someone else’s safe space, so it’s definitely worth a try.
Thank you to NETGalley and R.J. Eason for providing me with an eArc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It follows Jocasta, a pathologist that has recently been transferred to the Graveyard Watch – a police segment dedicated to supernatural cases. While Jocasta is human, everyone around her is not, and we follow her as she adapts to her new strange – if not eccentric – colleagues and unravels a supernatural mystery.
The book is pitched as an urban fantasy romance, but I personally found that the romance took a backburner to the mystery elements of the plot. This is because, aside from Jocasta’s POV as she falls for the handsome captain, we also get a lot of chapters from the POV of Domingo, the department chief.
They are very different people with very different quests. This So, though their stories intermingle in regard to the mystery, they barely interact in each other’s POVs. This kind of created a disconnect to me as it felt like I was reading a different book every time we switched between the POVs. And we switch POVs a lot.
In a single chapter, we can go from Jocasta to Domingo to some random, nameless passer by in the scene, back to Domingo, back to Jocasta. This makes for a confusing experience, especially in the last third of the book where it was the most common. I remember a chapter where we had 3 paragraphs from Jocasta, maybe 5 from Domingo, then back to Jocasta suddenly.
Eason also likes to write chapters from the POV of nameless, external characters that are witnessing events of the plot. Oftentimes, these scenes are of little importance to the actual story, which adds to my disorientation. However, in Eason’s defense, I actually liked these segments and found them fun. The author explores different members of the world they built that fit funny archetypes or show interesting perspectives. You can definitely sense the love, and care, put into the book during these scenes.
Otherwise, the descriptions are well-done, and the characters are fun to read about, if not a bit tropey. The dialogue especially flowed amazingly, and never got awkward. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get fully invested in it, but I can see this book becoming someone else’s safe space, so it’s definitely worth a try.
Thank you to NETGalley and R.J. Eason for providing me with an eArc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.