City of Ghosts: 1

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All said this is still a decent thriller with good writing and strong characters who could easily carry a series. Of course unlike her other works this has a lot of light hearted moments and it's a pretty easy book to fly through as it doesn't have those secret and hidden hard truths that her older books tend to have. As someone who loves ghost stories, stories set in Scotland, middle grade horror, and Victoria Schwab, City of Ghosts is like some sort of literary perfect storm for me.

I saw some negative reviews (all from adult readers) which actually made me go into this with lower expectations. His investigation sees him delve back into his past as a young musician who was denounced, arrested and tortured.I also enjoyed that Cass can actually see ghosts, and interact with them, even though no one else in her family can. In the 1600s, 14 year old Kemosha escapes a life of slavery at the hands of the cruel Mr Powell and finds herself aboard the pirate ship The Satisfaction - armed with a sword and determined to save her family. Usually, if a plot isn’t good, I’m pretty much fine with it, as long as I like the characters and their development was good. The overall atmosphere of this book is immaculate and I’m so excited to read future installments in this series. Lieutenant Rossel is a good but damaged character and main investigator of a macabre multiple murder in the Russian winter.

Don't be deterred by the wooden beginning, which for some could be a deal breaker in those first pages of deciding whether the story is worth sticking with, as you're unlikely to be grabbed instantly. Of course, this book is by Victoria Schwab, and I don’t know if the woman is altogether comfortable with writing a story without any sadness.His inquiries take him from Leningrad to Moscow and involve victims of the Soviet gulags to the highest offices in the land. NYT bestselling author Victoria Schwab delivers a thrillingly spooky and action-packed tale of hauntings, history, mystery, and the bond between friends (even if that friend is a ghost . This was a quick read and a little girl seeing ghosts wasn't uninteresting but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are 12 or under, or usually love MG.

It will take centuries to wipe away such horror from the memories of people alive today who lived through the period, even longer for Russia to recover its soul. The events of the book are set post war during Stalin’s reign and it certainly made me appreciate how lucky we are not to have lived in that place at that time.

Among 300 men sent to the front as a shield for fully trained militia, only a handful survived, Rossel being one of them. All of our books are 100% brand new, unread and purchased directly from the publishers in bulk allowing us to pass the huge savings on to you! Trigger and content warnings for death, especially the death of children, murder, loss of a child, and abduction. Great book - brought all the horrors of wartime Leningrad and the utter deprivation the population suffered, to life. I’m absolutely in love with Jacob and Cassidy, their like partners in crime you want to team up with and go on a ghost hunt.

I absolutely adored the world Victoria created here, and thought the Veil itself was a delightful touch. Peppered with Russian phrases and a brilliant obscenity that I have now formally adopted (behind my mask of course) City of Ghosts felt incredibly authentic from the outset. I don’t know how her other YA and adult books are but after giving “City of Ghosts” a try I’m convinced that I’ll like her other series as well. Without spoiling anything, there’s a conversation that occurs at the end of City of Ghosts that has me simultaneously eager and incredibly nervous to continue the series, because, well… let’s just say that it feels like some very uncomfortable foreshadowing, and I don’t think even the kiddos are safe in Victoria’s worlds.All the books that I've read from Victoria Schwab (her YA and adult books alike) have been pretty dark and this one is no exception really. Now unable to play the violin because of a vicious MGB interrogation which ruined his hands, Rossel must use his musical knowledge to track down the killer.