Review: What The Dead Want

What The Dead Want | Norah Olson

Published by: Katherine Tegen Books, July 26th 2016

Genre: YA, Paranormal, Gothic, Ghosts

Pages: 320

Format: Ebook

Source: Katherine Tegen, via Edelweiss

16 -year-old Gretchen takes photographs to understand the world around her, a passion her mother Mona fostered and encouraged when she was still around. Since her mom disappeared years ago, Gretchen and her dad have lived on their own in New York City, haunted by Mona’s absence.

When Gretchen’s great aunt Esther calls unexpectedly to tell her that she has inherited the pre-Civil War mansion on her mother’s side of the family in upstate New York, Gretchen understands nothing except that her aunt needs her help. But what she finds there is beyond her imagination. The house is crumbling apart, filled with stacks of papers and journals from decades, even centuries past, and it’s crawling with rodents. It’s also full of secrets and a legacy of racism and violence so reprehensible that the ghosts of the past are exacting revenge on the living.

Somehow the mystery of Mona’s disappearance and the atrocities that happened on the land during the Civil War are inextricably intertwined, and it’s up to Gretchen to figure out how…before even more lives are lost. 

This is a damn good ghost story. When I went into this book I expected a run-of-the-mill horror. Flat characters, bland relationships, a tonne of unanswered questions, a bit of tense spookiness to keep me going. But it was Halloween, and What The Dead Want seemed suitably creepy. 

This is not run-of-the-mill. This is stand out, well written gothic paranormal and it has memorable, likeable (what?!) characters. The story was not predictable at all. I LOVED the element of photography, how spirits could be captured on film, and how integral it was to the end of the story. There's a perfect blend of ghostiness (that's a word!), history, mystery, danger, and plucky and brave characters trying to uncover secrets. I also loved how it confronted the racist history of the house and the church, and how Gretchen accepted her own link to her predecessor's horrific actions. How she never shifted the blame or responsibility and was determined to get justice for the victims.

Multi-faceted, horrifying in unexpected ways, and driven by passion and heart. You won't find a better ghost story than this.

Characters ★★★★☆
Setting/World ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Lair of Dreams (ARC Review)

The Diviners: Lair of Dreams | Libba Bray

Published by: ATOM, August 25th 2015

Genre: YA, Paranormal, Historical, Ghosts

Pages: 613

Format: Ebook

Source: ATOM, via Netgalley

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O'Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to "read" objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, "America's Sweetheart Seer." But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners' abilities...

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

At first I didn't think this would live up to the spectacular Diviners, but I was so, so wrong. Lair of Dreams is somehow better and bigger than the first.

The characters grow (and some fall apart) in really realistic, fascinating ways. I loved that we saw more of Henry, and Ling, and though I didn't know if I liked the dreaming parts at first, the mystery surrounding them kept me hooked. Theta's development, and where that's going, really excites me. My only issues are the forced love triangle/fauxmance with Sam and Evie, and the fact there wasn't nearly enough Jericho, and the bits we did get really worried me (REALLY really.)

The story is as captivating and elaborate as in the first book, the writing continues to utterly flumox me because it's that good, and the world building is above and beyond any other book I've read.

Probably one of my favourite series ever. I'm desperate for the next book.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world-building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★★

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A Magic Dark and Bright (ARC Review)

The Asylum Saga: A Magic Dark and Bright | Jenny Adams Perinovic

Published by: Bookish Girl Press, April 28th 2015

Genre: YA, Gothic, Paranormal, Ghosts

Pages: 368

Format: Ebook

Source: Author

She meant to help a ghost...not unleash a curse.

Amelia Dupree hasn’t seen the Woman in White since the night her brother died. 

The ghost seems to have disappeared from the woods surrounding Asylum, Pennsylvania—that is, until Charlie Blue moves into the creepy old MacAllister House next door. Amelia can’t help liking him, even though she spent her childhood thinking his grandmother was a witch. And she definitely can’t ignore the connection between his arrival and the Woman in White’s return. 

Then Amelia learns that the Woman in White is a prisoner, trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead. Devastated by the idea that her brother could be suffering a similar fate, Amelia decides to do whatever it takes to help the Woman in White find peace--and Charlie agrees to help her.

But when Amelia’s classmates start to drown in the Susquehanna River, one right after another, rumors swirl as people begin to connect the timing of Charlie’s arrival with the unexplained deaths. As Charlie and Amelia uncover the dark history of Asylum, they realize they may have unleashed an unspeakable evil. One they have to stop before everything they love is destroyed.

Oh man, this book is good. Crazy, mind-blowingly good.

I knew from page one that I was going to like A Magic Dark and Bright. It had that tense atmosphere that just makes a gothic novel. The combination of suspense, mystery, and contemporary magic hooked me right away. Parts of the book had me on edge, parts had me desperate for answers, and the romance that built between Amelia and Charlie added the perfect amount of light to balance it all.

I loved the characters, fell for them instantly. I hated the villain (and, trying not to spoil anything, it is SO obvious who the sketchy bad guy is.) I even liked one of the parentals, which never happens in this genre for me. A Magic Dark and Bright has everything I love: a string of unexplained murders; a lush setting; a creepy old house rife with secrets; interwoven history; and romance to die for. 

This book is Beautiful Creatures meets Anna Dressed In Blood meets something you've never read before. A perfect gothic mystery. Highly recommend.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world building ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

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Anna Dressed In Blood (Review)

Anna: Anna Dressed In Blood | Kendare Blake

Published by: Orchard Books, July 5th 2012

Genre: YA, Horror, Paranormal

Pages: 373

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life.

This book was nothing like I thought it would be. For one, I didn't realise the book would be from Cas's POV. I thought the story would be told by Anna, and I'm really glad it wasn't because I love the story we got. I heaped a tonne of really high expectations on this book - it had to be well written, creepy, dark, and have decent enough characters for me to be invested. Luckily, my wishes were granted.

Anna Dressed In Blood is bloody and vindictive and unnerving. But underneath the horror and the hauntings, it has a pretty big heart. The characters are easy to love, the story is unforgettable, and I especially love how the world is much more expansive than I expected - not only ghosts, but telepaths, voodoo, and Obeah. I got what I wanted and a whole lot more with this book. It even managed to break my heart into tiny tiny pieces.

It had better be put back together by the next book, or I'll haunt my own house.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world building ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

Light Beneath Ferns (Review)

Light Beneath Ferns | Anne Spollen

Published by: Flux, February 8th 2010

Genre: YA, Paranormal
Pages: 206

Format: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Elizah Rayne is nothing like other 14-year-old girls. More interested in bird bones than people, she wraps herself in silence. When Elizah and her mother move into an old house that borders a cemetery, Elizah finds a human jawbone by the river and meets Nathaniel, a hypnotic and mysterious boy who draws her into his world.

I read this book in one sitting and I'm pretty glad I did because I would not have liked to waste another day on it. Light Beneath Ferns was an alright book. I'd been excited for it, though, so I'm kinda disappointed. I thought it might have been amazing, but it was just pretty okay.

The main character is unique as far as YA protagonists go, but she is a complete special snowflake. She seems to think she's better than other girls because she doesn't like going to parties, because she prefers hanging out in a graveyard and collecting bones. And okay, that's fine, but that doesn't make those girls any less of a person than you. So that annoyed me. 

And then there's the romance. Nathaniel just appears one day, and keeps appearing subsequent days out of nowhere, and the main character doesn't think a single thing of it. He takes her to a village that stopped existing hundreds of years ago, and she thinks nothing of it. He tells her absolutely nothing about himself, and she's like okay that's fine. She asks questions and he basically tells her to shut the fuck up. It's controlling at worst, problematic at best.

But the writing is quite lovely in places and the atmosphere is pretty eerie and queer.

Characters ★★☆☆☆

Setting/world building ★★★☆☆

Writing Style ★★★☆☆