An Echo of the Grave – Spoiler Free Review

Hello book friends! It’s high time for another review. A while ago I already posted my review of The Binding Season, and now I present to you An Echo of the Grave, the final book in the Fallow Creek series. This whole series has been a ride, but this last book even more so. So read the content warning below, and let me tell you my thoughts!

An Echo From the Grave

By Claudia Cain

There is always another monster.

After weeks of terror, Cass has stopped an immortal killer, made peace with the Fae, and is enjoying some well-deserved happiness with her Warden, Merich. But a betrayal from within her own family cuts that happiness short, and leaves them exposed to a new threat.

This enemy is different than the others. Worse. Hungrier. And as winter descends, bringing a new kind of darkness, Cass is no longer simply defending her position as the Witch, but fighting for her sanity and life.

If she wants to save her family, it’s a fight she has no choice but to win.

But everything has a price. And the cost of victory might be too high.

If you’ve read the previous book, you’ll recall that something big happened in like, the last three pages. And then we just had to sit with that knowledge until An Echo of the Grave came out. Well, it’s finally time. I was lucky enough to get an e-ARC for this novel, but you can read it very soon!echo from the grave

I absolutely love that An Echo From the Grave is coming out in September, because the vibes in this book match Fall so well. It’s dark and atmospheric, very witchy with a splash of horror, but is also occasionally very funny. The relationships in this book are complicated as ever, but at the same time there’s so much growth within them. The trauma that Cass and all her siblings went through plays a big part in this book, and at times their future seemed utterly hopeless.

The stakes are extremely high in this book and multiple times I feared for characters’ lives. I’ve read Cain’s other books, so I know what she’s capable of. Though what I appreciate about Cain is that once she’s set characters on a path, she sticks to it. There are no loopholes and no easy-way-outs. An action has consequences, and sometimes they come at great personal cost.

Then the horror elements… Good lord, those got kicked up a notch. If you thought the previous three books were creepy, well… I have news for you. However, the horror elements combined with the excellent prose make for a very good read. You will keep turning pages to see what happens next and you’ll just accept that actual monsters are following along. The book was fast-paced, with Cass and her siblings going from one problem to the next, but I love that they still figured everything out together. Even though Cass is The Witch, her journey didn’t take place in isolation. All characters grew significantly. An Echo of the Grave was a very solid end to this series!

And that’s it for my review of An Echo of the Grave! If you haven’t picked up this series yet, I highly recommend you do so. Now is the time what with Fall starting and such. But truly, every book in this series is amazing and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Looking for my reviews of the previous three books? You can find them here, here aaaaand here!