Story
I was incredibly surprised by how this storyline progressed throughout the book. Even though I have never read a book that was based primarily around ghosts, I still had very low expectations. This was only because I have previously read books about fallen angels and zombies before and did not enjoy them to a standard that I expected to. I went into this book with low expectations, as ghosts are something children talk about, which would mean I wouldn’t find it intriguing enough. I read the first sentence of this book and was instantly pleasantly surprised. It did something every book should do, but not enough books actually do, and made me really want to read on. The first chapter was brilliantly set out. I knew the character’s name and what she looked like and a little bit about her life. I had also been described the area around her, which immediately made it easy to imagine.
Instantly we had some form of foreshadowing, which worked very well, and also a few rhetorical questions. At page 15, I had written ‘intriguing’ on my notes, which meant that from then on, my low expectations had evaporated.
Looking back on the first dream/flashback we have, I realised that slowly as you read on, you are actually given many more hints about what’s going on than you realise, and that’s incredibly clever.
The number of plot twists in this book was crazy, and I can recall myself gasping out loud a couple of times and writing down such things as ‘woah’, ‘omg’, and ‘what even?’ all because I was so shocked.
The ending was a blur for me because I just flew through the pages with interest, not being able to wait to find out what happens next.
Writing
The writing was amazing. It was gripping and easy to understand, but the descriptions within the book were what made the book so engrossing. The descriptions of the characters, the scene, and what the characters were doing, were so detailed, it made the story so easy to imagine in my head. The plot twists would normally be a little too much, but the way they were placed was really clever, and the way that throughout the book not too much was given away, so when we thought we knew everything, there was another mystery that had to be unravelled.
Characters
Maddy
She was a great character to read about and not once did I get bored of being inside of her head. She wasn’t immature in any of the situations she was put in, and I probably would have done everything she did exactly the same if I was in her position.
Hannah
She was my favourite female character, and I loved how she spoke and how she first approached Maddy during the beginning of the book. I was devastated when she ‘disappeared’ and I loved how her and Maddy interacted with each other.
Caleb
He was 100% my favourite character; this is because of how mysterious he was, and how everyone knew he was hiding something. I knew there was something about him that would be cleared up by the end of the story, and the fact that I was so excited to find out what it was just made me happy to see him turn up in a chapter or something. As soon as he walked in and flashed his curls I knew I trusted him.
Overall
This story was a million times better than I expected and that’s always a good feeling. The writing was amazing and the plot was so well planned out! The characters all had an important part in the story and they all grew with the book as we found out more about them and their history.
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
