Grave Importance

By: Vivian Shaw

Narrated by: Suzannah Hampton

Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

A charmingly witty fantasy adventure in the world of Strange Practice, starring Dr. Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, who must solve a dangerous medical mystery at a secret French spa for mummies.

Oasis Natrun: a private, exclusive, highly secret luxury health spa for mummies, high in the hills above Marseille, equipped with the very latest in therapeutic innovations both magical and medical. To Dr. Greta Helsing, London's de facto mummy specialist, it sounds like paradise. But when Greta is invited to spend four months there as the interim clinical director, it isn't long before she finds herself faced with a medical mystery that will take all her diagnostic skill to solve.

A peculiar complaint is spreading among her mummy patients, one she's never seen before. With help from her friends and colleagues - including Dr. Faust (yes, that Dr. Faust), a sleepy scribe-god, witches, demons, a British Museum curator, and the inimitable vampyre Sir Francis Varney - Greta must put a stop to this mysterious illness before anybody else crumbles to irreparable dust...

...and before the fabric of reality itself can undergo any more structural damage.

Grave Importance is the third Dr. Greta Helsing Novel - perfect for fans of Neverwhere and V. E. Schwab.

Dr. Greta Helsing novels
Strange Practice
Dreadful Company
Grave Importance

©2019 Vivian Shaw (P)2019 Orbit

Very enjoyable!!

The third book of Greta Helsing was a wonderful listen. I enjoyed the mummies and the Egyptian storyline. I was also thrilled with the trip to hell. I can’t wait for the next book in the series. I love listening to books that can take you out of your own reality.

Plot Problems...and What is Up with Varney?

I LOOOOOVED the other two, but this one didn't quite work for me. I was hoping she'd be doing angels at some point, but her angels were...eh. I didn't get why they were morons. My husband said that's apparently a trope, but it didn't work for me. The author seemed a lot more interested in Varney than she gave her readers any reason to be, so I didn't buy why Greta would be interested in him, like, at all. That said, I liked the resolution, even though it was deus ex machina (doesn't bother me--seems reasonable given the world building) and that it hinged on Varney.

I didn't care for Shaw's rendition of Hell. (Or heaven, but we see much less of that.) Very techy. Didn't work for me. Interesting as an otherworld, but not interesting as Hell. I love Egyptology, but I wasn't that interested in the mummy thing, for whatever reason.

The narrator, whose voice I LOVE, can't really do an American accent, but that's minor. Grisaille is somehow not Yorkshire anymore, but okay. And wasn't Van Dorn purebred New York royalty? She spoke with an English accent, but I can live with that, I guess. (Or maybe I missed something.) I had a lot of problems with how she was involved in the plot (so many problems!), which I won't spell out here because they'd be spoilers.

These things said, I still basically enjoyed it because I like the characters. Although I'm indifferent to Varney and I'm so sorry Fastitocalon was so awesome in the first book and then just sort of meh in the other two. I'm devastated this is apparently the last in the trilogy, but after the ending of this one, I guess there is no way to go back to the Dr. House thing or a way to build something bigger. I would definitely read/listen to more of them.

As the scope grows the cohesion suffers

Hellsing once again proves she’s competent in the face of ever increasing ridiculousness. While I enjoyed the overall story (and the narrator!) it was harder overall to feel any emotional depth with the many (many) viewpoints we had to be subject to. While I understand the desire to once more up the stakes and make everyone involved, there wasn’t enough time to really get emotionally invested in any one person’s plight. I was exhausted as hellsing during the climatic final third of the book because there was just so much going on. The varney stuff is cute but I the end it just didn’t grip me like the first novel did (even though I loved! All the spa and spa related stuff. Cut out everything else and it would have been delightful). Overall I’d you want to see the conclusion to the varneyxhellsing stuff you’ll want to stick around for it but not the most compelling.

Awesome!

A really fantastic volume in Dr. Greta Helsing's adventures. I've loved every volume and this was no exception!

big Vivian Shaw fan

I have loved all of the Greta VanHelsing books and am sad this is the last. Dr. Greta, physician to the supernatural, goes to an elite spa in France to work with mummies, and as usual, it gets complicated. This book gives the insight into varney, and Ruthven and you'll even enjoy Hell a bit. No hairy deep literature here, just entertainment.

Wicked good blend of science, history, and imagination!

Excellent book and series! // I don’t recall exactly what made me grab the first book of this series...Audible sale?...but I am SO glad I did. I’ve enjoyed all three immensely. Good writing, wonderful characters, and a world within our own that is just fascinating. Ms. Shaw seamlessly blends science, history, and her “wicked good” imagination into a set of fun, clean adventure novels with a touch of romance. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

The Best one so far

I've loved this series from the first book, but this is the best of the three. The world Vivian Shaw has created (not TOO different from ours...) has deepened and gained detail with each book. This one moves from the 'kind of' possible (that vampires, and mummies and banshees exist and need health care like everyone else) far into the impossible (that Hell is an actual place with restaurants, bureaucrats and newscasters). I'm sure some would find this absurd, but I loved it. The trip to absurdity seems logical to me! The main characters have grown to more complex people, and the Suzanna Hampton's voicing of them furthers this complexity. Greta is still the stand out character, exhibiting all the altruism and dedication to healing that the best medical professionals do, especially in the midst of our Covid-19 pandemic.

Excellent story!

I've loved each of these books. The main characters are pretty well-developed, the writing is good, the narrator has a lovely voice, and the story is completely entertaining. I love being able to step into a story that takes me out of the ordinary world and this does just that. Greta's world is very like our own world but with a large heaping of paranormal that tickles the imagination. Highly recommend all the books!

Witty, fun, and modern.

I just finished binging all three books and absolutely am in love. I do hope Vivian Shaw continues to write Greta Helsing novels. The characters are incredibly loveable and memorable. I love the modern setting, how logical Greta is, and how she perceives this mystical universe with a doctor's mind. Truly a great work of fiction. Definitely a great read!

Absolutely gorgeous!

I've always loved the strange world of Greta Helping, and this third volume vastly outdid any expectations I may have had. The story's details are hilarious to me, such a "normal" presentation of the underworld, demons, angels, vampires... all just people like us. With unusual abilities and requirements. Beautiful writing.