City of Ghosts: 1

Product Information

When her parents are presented with an opportunity to host a TV show that takes viewers on a tour of the scariest cities in the world, Cassidy and her family pack up and head to their first destination, Scotland.

Started like Gorky Park then when you realise the plot and the reason I thought it all a bit far fetched and silly. There is nothing worse than reading a historical crime novel where accuracy has been sacrificed to plot. Plus, this includes super creepy graveyard parts, and what horror fan doesn't love a good graveyard scare? Despite the bizarre nature of her everyday life, Cassidy is such a level-headed, calm child, and I loved that about her character.That is, until her parents, who are ghost hunters, by the way, get a once in a lifetime opportunity to film a show about the most haunted spots in Scotland. 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.

I used to stay up all night in my room scared out of my mind watching it, so when I read the synopsis of this I knew I needed to read it.I loved the deeper cultural richness of this book, as some of it revolves around the world of classical music, with some intriguing clues being woven into this thread of the novel. The strength of this book is in the writing, which has an immersive scene-setting similar to Cruz Smith at his early best. While I do consider City of Ghosts spooky enough to be considered horror, I think it’s going to be important for readers to keep in mind that this book is middle grade horror—it’s written for children, not adults. Revol Rossel, the state militia cop is an incredibly deep and interesting individual, whose moral core and sense of right is put under a huge amount of pressure as the case proceeds.

Hooking you from the very first page, it has just the right amount of spookiness, mystery and action, keeping you on the edge of your seat without getting gory. 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. There were many HP references that warmed my heart but I am not sure if MG readers would feel the same about it. Story wise, the idea was great -as usual- and the story got interesting more and more (it was really good from the ghost hunters part and after that).The first couple references were super adorable and I was hyped to see it, but then it just became a little too redundant for me. Das Buch bietet direkt einen nicht einfachen Einstieg, da man mit dem grausamen Tatort als Leser vertraut gemacht wird. Militia police lieutenant Revol Rossel and his colleagues are faced with solving these horrific murders. The descriptions of the intense torture and deaths of and by the musicians of Leningrad are genuinely stomach turning. Great book - brought all the horrors of wartime Leningrad and the utter deprivation the population suffered, to life.

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. With the help of a newly found friend Cassidy finds out that there is a reason she can see ghosts, and a job she must do. When you start to read a book by Victoria Schwab it takes time to get into the story, but when you’re in, when you’re really in, then it’s over. In a society riven with fear and suspicion, where a single slip of the tongue can lead to a lengthy sojourn in a Siberian gulag, or an instant death sentence, Creed captures this atmosphere perfectly throughout. It was relevant to the series as a whole, but it wasn’t relevant to the specific book, and it ended up bothering me a lot, because there was just no focus on the specific book’s plot.I did like Rossel and there was lots of promise if the next book is more plot based than I would most probably read more. As it becomes apparent that the hideous discovery that opens the book, may be in some way related to his previous life, Creed really puts Rossel through the emotional wringer, but never losing sight of the qualities that some of his colleagues regard as ineffectual imbue Rossel with a strength and decency that proves so valuable in this extremely testing investigation. Also it's probably a three star book, but my future children's first words are probably gonna be "Victoria Schwab" so I added a bonus star just for that.