This was a book that I knew I would love the moment I heard of it. And I did. So very much. It is set in the world of Seraphina, a book that I loved with all my heart back when it came out. This one takes place before, and it is possible to be read alone. But you would definitely love all books by Rachel. They are amazing.
There is so much that I wish to say about this book. I'm going to try my best not to write too much about it and not share spoilers. But oh, you should know that I loved this book very much. Five stars. The writing was all kinds of perfect. It was so easy to get lost in this wonderful world and all of these precious characters.
This book tells the story of thirteen-year-old Charl. He lives with his mother in the town of St. Muckle's. It is not the biggest town and not the best. But they are happy there and together. We get to know much about Charl. His mother escaped with him seven years ago, from his father. Whom was not a good person at all. We learn more about him and I did not like him at all. She went with her close friend, Sister Agnes. And their other close friend, Sir Aris. I really liked that Charl had many people close to him growing up. But he did not have it all that easy either. As this small town had a local bully. A boy several years older than him. And he picked on him from the beginning. Though Charl did his best to fight back, to hopefully put an end to this bullying. Which is what begins this book. And it was such an exciting start.
I cannot help but write a little about it. Charl is lured to an abandoned place some hours away from town. He knows it is a trap by Rafe, the town bully. Rafe also has his two friends with him. They were nicer and I am so upset about what happened to them. Rafe plans to kill Charl. But something goes wrong. And his two friends ends up dead instead, by an accident. Which was so awesome and sad to read about. I loved the beginning of this book. It was both exciting and tragic and just set up the book really well. I loved it so.
We get to know Charl so much and his life at this town. But after the deaths, more things go wrong. A plague begins in town. A sickness that is spreading from beetles. Which was all kinds of creepy yet so amazing to read about. I loved this part of the story too, though it was sad to read about how many died. Six months go by. They are just trying to survive, trying to get rid of the plague. Then the dragon arrives. Plus the assassin. Both hunting down Charl and his mother to take them back to his cruel father. Rude.
And so there is a whole lot going on in this story. The beginning and such had more action and had more things going on. The second half was a little slower, yet it was just as good. This is a book about a boy. A book about caring for other people. I loved how he loved his mother. And everyone else. I also loved how everything seemed to go wrong. It was fully exciting and fun at times. Fully heartbreaking, of course, but I loved it so. I will probably share a bit too much about this book. Yet there is still so much I am not saying.
Most of this book takes place in the old abandoned abbey a few hours away from town. And most of the book is about Charl spending his time alone, waiting for news about his mother. And taking care of a sick Mother Trude. While also dealing with all the ghosts in this place. And that was a part of this book that I really loved. There were several ghosts. Of young girls. I loved learning about their pasts. I so loved how they cared for Charl, and I loved how much time he spent with them. It was interesting and just so lovely.
There were so many other characters in this book too. And I loved reading a little about them each. We don't get to know Sister Agnes that well, but I still adored her. We get to know her teacher more, Mother Trude. She is an older nun. With such a secretive past. She had a mission, and I did not like her at first. But then I grew to love her, the more we got to know about her. She cared, in her own way. And reading about her past, at just thirteen, was so hard and so heartbreaking. I am glad it did not have more details.
This book also has dragons, just like Seraphia. I like how they are able to turn into humans if they wish to. And I loved learning even more details about them. There was one in this book, Miga. She was not a kind dragon or person. But she was also complicated. And I wanted to know more about her past. Hmph. But yeah. She ruined so much and I was not happy about it. Another villain was Jarlbrus. He was interesting, but mostly just an evil man and I did not like him at all. But I really loved what happened to him later. Ha.
In a way, I would say this is more of a middle grade book than a young adult one. The main character is thirteen years old through the whole book. He feels older, more mature. But he is still a child. But I don't mind what to label this book. As it was perfect the way it was, and I loved the age of Charl. He was every kind of precious. I loved getting to know this boy. He was so sensitive and loving. Yet so very fierce and protective. He tried his best. He failed at times. But he did not give up. I very much loved that about him.
We got to learn some personal secrets about Charl near the end of the book. I did not see it coming. But oh, how badly I loved it. It did explain a few things for me, made things clearer. And I loved this secret a whole lot. And it just made Charl more special to me. I adored him lots. There is a hint of a romance that could happen for him in the future. I'm a little bitter that I will not get to read about it, ha. As it seemed like it could end up being so cute, if it happened. I shipped them, at least. Even though he was still so young.
I would say that this whole book is the story of Charl. We get to see so much of him, like how he learns to deal better with his emotions. How he grows as a person. Then there were all the ghosts, of course. They were a huge part of this book too. And I did not mind at all. Though I do wish that ending had been longer. I wanted to know more details. I wanted to read about that one reunion and what would happen between two of the others. I just wanted to know more. And yet I did love the ending, as it was fitting with the story.
I'm just honestly so happy that I read this book. I knew it would be a story for me. It was a little different than what I had thought, in a way that it was more quiet, had less action for most of the book. Yet it was so beautiful and lovely to read about. And I loved the quiet moments too. I loved all that was learned in this book. From the past especially. We got to know many small stories and all of them felt important. All kinds of heartbreaking. These stories were not easy to read about. Yet I loved them with all of my heart.
The biggest thank you to the lovely PRH International for this free eARC copy of Among Ghosts to read and review via Edelweiss. I'm so thankful to you. And I had to read this one as soon as possible. I am so glad that I did so. As it was absolutely beautiful. And I cannot wait to own all the finished copies of it. This is a book that you simply must read when it comes out. It is haunting and heartbreaking yet so beautiful and lovely too. You will not regret reading it. I shall have to do a re-read of the Seraphina books soon too.
