Anna Waggener won the Scholastic Art and Writing Award in 2008 with an earlier draft of GRIM while in high school and edited the final manuscript in college. The story can loosely be categorized as YA paranormal fiction but not in the traditional sense. In fact, to me it more resembles the surrealistic fiction of Isabel Allende. While the book has fantastical elements, it's NOT a fantasy novel in the usual sense of the word.

Erika, the mother of three, is killed in a late-night car accident on her way home from work. But, while dead to everyone else, she finds herself in an afterlife-type environment with a guide named Jeremiah.

In addition to Erika's viewpoint, we also meet her three children: teens Rebecca, a rebel and Shawn, the responsible one and their young sister, Megan. While the children's grief is real, I never felt emotionally attached to them.

A third storyline explores the lives of the king and queen of Limbo and their six children of which Jeremiah is the youngest. The story delves a bit into the political machinations of the land and gives insight into the dead who remain there for fear of actually accepting their own deaths and the other mythological creatures who inhabit the land. I wish she had gone further in this area though as it was the most interesting part of the story for me.

While Erika doesn't really trust Jeremiah, she does want his help. She wants him to bring her children to her, but no living humans have ever passed into Limbo, and Jeremiah wants favors in return. Erika catches glimpses of her children in their dreams which helps to tie the two storylines together.

GRIM moves easily from viewpoint to viewpoint, and Waggener's prose is lyrical, bringing the glimpses of Limbo we get to life. Whether on purpose or not through, I read the story because of curiosity as to what would happen but I can't say I was emotionally involved. It was a book I could put down and didn't feel drawn to pick back up again, but I enjoyed the story, and the language even more so, while reading it.

If you're after a YA paranormal in the style of Divergent or Throne of Glass, this book is not for you. If you want a novel more like Eva Luna or House of Spirits, a story that's considered general fiction with paranormal elements and you appreciate poetic prose, then give GRIM a try.