City of Ghosts [Cassidy Blake, #1] by Victoria Schwab

City of Ghosts [Cassidy Blake, #1]
by Victoria Schwab

Genre: Middle Grade horror

My Rating: ★★★★

Description:

Cassidy Blake's parents are the Inspecters, paranormal investigators and authors whose latest project -- a TV show documentary -- will take them to some of the most haunted cities in the world.
Which would be just fine with Cassidy -- only she can actually see the ghosts. Since her near-drowning a year ago, she's been able to cross over the Veil between her world and the world of the dead. Her best friend is even a ghost.
When she arrives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and meets a girl like her -- someone who can also cross the Veil -- Cassidy realizes she has a lot to learn. About herself. About her strange powers. And about the Veil itself.
And she has to learn fast. Because the city of ghosts is far more dangerous than she ever imagined.

Overall Thoughts

City of Ghosts is a middle-grade horror novel by the author of The Monsters of Verity duology. I picked this up soon after reading Our Dark Duet, and while I didn't find it quite as good as The Monsters of Verity, it was still fun and enjoyable, and I will definitely be reading the sequel.

The Characters

The characters in this book were strong and honestly made the book for me. Cassidy, the main character, is spunky and also smart, and her character voice throughout the novel (it's written in first person point of view) was excellent and kept me engaged. 

Jacob, her ghost friend, was probably my favorite character. He's got a great sense of humor, but thankfully isn't delegated to the role of comic relief, as so many friends in middle grade tend to be. I actually really enjoyed the friendships portrayed in these books, and I'm excited to see them develop more in future installments. 

I also want to talk a bit about Cassidy's parents, because they were such a breath of fresh air. In so many middle grade and teen novels, the parents are totally out of the picture -- either dead, or abusive, or absent -- which serves as an excuse for why the main character is free to explore the story goal in sometimes unsafe ways. Cassidy's parents felt like real people, and I liked that they actually cared about their daughter and were just overall good, caring people?

Plot/Pacing

The plot was well-paced, but was also one of the weaker aspects of the novel. For a good portion of the book (I would say 60% or so), Cassidy is reacting: it's only when we hit the third act or so that we really see her acting towards a goal. It didn't really bother me, because the plot before that point was still good and engaging, but from a purely objective standpoint, not having a real goal for much of the book definitely weakened the overall structure.

Writing

The writing style was good -- not my favorite, by any means, but good. I don't really enjoy narrators who speak directly to the reader, and Cassidy was definitely one of those narrators, but I didn't mind it nearly as much as I usually do when reading this kind of narration. So, mostly my problems with the writing stem from my own individual preference, not from any objective issues.

Worldbuilding

The last thing I want to talk about is the setting and worldbuilding. I loved the descriptions of Edinburgh, and the descriptions of both the real world and the world beyond the Veil. They were vaguely creepy, and the whole book felt... grey and misty. I know that probably doesn't make much sense, so let me rephrase: this novel is atmospheric. Wonderfully so. 

I also found the whole "Ghost world" easy to follow along with; it never confused me even when new information about it was revealed. We're also left with a sense at the end that there is more about the Veil and the ghosts that Cassidy doesn't know yet, and I'm excited to see what new things will be revealed in Tunnel of Bones. 

Also, side-note: the ghost stories sprinkled throughout this book are so spooky. I'd really love to know if they were made up for the book, or if they are real ghost stories from the Edinburgh area. 

Content

Recommended for ages 11 and up.

I don't recall any specific instances of swearing, but I believe there may have been a few times when characters used the Lord's Name in vain. 

Violence is not described; this is a middle grade book, after all. A boy is trapped in a burning theater. Cassidy recalls her near-drowning before the beginning of the book. Several ghost stories are told and could be disturbing for some readers. One story recounts how a ghostly woman spirits children away from their homes. 

Brief description of a corpse.