Series:
Publisher: Orchard Books
Release Date: February 19th 2015
My Rating: 4 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):
When Luke Manchett's estranged father dies suddenly, he leaves his son a dark inheritance. Luke has been left in charge of his father's ghost collection: eight restless spirits. They want revenge for their long enslavement, and in the absence of the father, they're more than happy to take his son. It isn't fair, but you try and reason with the vengeful dead.
Halloween, the night when the ghosts reach the height of their power, is fast approaching. With the help of school witchlet Elza Moss, and his cowardly dog Ham, Luke has just thirteen days to uncover the closely guarded secrets of black magic, and send the unquiet spirits to their eternal rest. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.
*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Hachette Children's Books in exchange for an honest review.
I always enjoy taking a chance with new-to-me authors. Usually this forces me out of my comfy reader box, which I will admit is something that I need sometimes. This book presents a new take on necromancers and ghosts and I have to say, it was an interesting perspective. The fact that the story is told from a male character's POV was also a welcome change for me.
I really was intrigued by the idea that someone can "inherit" someone else's ghosts. This was the first thing that stood out when I read the blurb. One would hope they'd inherit money, estates or really pricey possessions from relatives, but ghosts? And not just any ghosts, but angry, creepy, scary as hell ghosts. I think Luke reacted like any other person would, which basically means to freak out at first.
Luke was an interesting character. I feel like he could have done things differently at the beginning of the story, mainly regarding his decision to hide certain things from his mom. I liked that he had the sense to be scared when he was. I did however wanted to shake him a few times, like I said before. But, all in all, it turned out great and I really did feel like he grew as a character by the end of the story.
Elza was an interesting character. She was the voice of reason on some occasions. And I liked her willingness to help him, even though they weren't friends exactly. There is a romance element to their relationship, which I saw coming, to be fair.
This book was an interesting read, very fast paced and, like I said, new and fresh. I did hear that there's going to be a sequel and I hope that's not just a rumor and that it will be out soon. I want to see how Luke and Elza move on and how their relationship grows, but I also expect to see some new take on another supernatural element or creatures.
