City of Ghosts

Book Title: City of Ghosts

Author: Victoria Schwab

Series: Cassidy Blake #1

Date Started: September 9th 2018

Date Completed: September 18th 2018

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Two Stars

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

Overwhelming reaction: eh. It feels like a prequel story that was padded out in order to make a whole book but lacks... well, a story. And I love Schwab's imagination and novels, this one just wasn't there for me.

What I struggled with the most was the lack of solid worldbuilding. There really aren't enough clear rules of how the Veil works, or even how Cassidy understands it works. When it comes to ghosts and worlds within worlds, we need to know how it happens and what's in control of the characters, because that's where the tension comes from. If you have fantasy without limits there's no conflict. And I felt like there wasn't conflict here because I couldn't anticipate what would be an issue for the characters and what they could easily dismiss.

I have to say, I felt a little out of place reading this as a Brit. The jokes about different dialects are funny the first time but when you stop the plot every chapter to mention another one it starts to grate on you. And I don't really feel like it painted Edinburgh's uniqueness (being said, I've never visited Edinburgh); it ruminated more on Britishness in general (let alone Scottishness) and the popular cult attractions. I wanted more of a love letter than fan fiction.

In all fairness, City of Ghosts isn't terrible, it just lacks a lot of spark that I wanted from it. Nothing really happens - we go into the veil, out of it, into, out of - without much conflict. There's a moment of 'oh no, how will we get back' every time, but it doesn't seem to take them very long to find a loophole. A plot line doesn't form until halfway through, and the villain is barely there enough to even be a villain. Where's the tension? Where's the loveable characters? It's just flat in the end, when a ghost story in Edinburgh is possibly the most potential any story could ask for.

'This isn't at all like those cheesy ghost shows on tv' - sadly, it pains me to say that this book is exactly like those cheesy ghost shows on tv.