“Grave Digger Academy” by C.A King is a little bit “Divergent” mixed with a little bit of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, all stirred with a creepy paranormal spoon!

Makayla hopes to be chosen for the school of her choice, like the rest of her six brothers who also attend one of the schools in the paranormal school system. However, Makayla worries that she will be selected for “The Grave Digger Academy”- every students’ last choice, the school for those not accepted anywhere else. At “Grave Digger Academy” they perform spells and potions intended to keep the dead…..well, dead. So when, of course, Makayla is selected for Grave Digger Academy she must face her entire first year alone, with the disappointment of her family heavy on her heart. But Makayla knows she must make the best of it, and when she comes into her powers and realizes that her family has deep secrets that go back generations, she realizes that Grave Digger Academy may be exactly where she was intended to be.

C.A King is an award-winning Canadian author, living in a town that is not too far from my own actually, which made me even happier to be able to promote and praise “Grave Digger Academy”.

The novel is more of a novella, really, at less than 200 pages, and it has short, page-turning chapters. I easily polished this book off in a day. It is also the first in a series of novels, and if the rest are anything like this one, this series will be an instant YA hit.

Makayla is the ideal protagonist- a socially awkward misfit who struggles to fit in, even within her own family. As she comes into herself and makes friends at Grave Digger Academy, it is immediately evident that she will be the one who changes things and makes a difference. She is the character to root for, right from the first page.

With the backdrop of a depressing, neglected school of magic, and quirky, eccentric teachers, “Grave Digger Academy” sets the stage for dark and magical things. The characters were well developed, the plot was poised and had great flow, and the short chapters made the novel a page-turning, addicting experience. I can definitely see King’s “Grave Digger Academy” series becoming the next big YA trend.