lareinadehades's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
sidrar's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
trufyre's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
everencore42's review
4.5
I wasn't super excited about the Ghost Roads series until this book, and then this book happened and I was completely on board with it! So good!
anactualcat's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
karak's review
4.0
This book was fantastic.
You need to read the first two in the series.
If you are a Seanan McGuire fan, read after Calculated Risks (trust me, you'll appreciate this book even more).
This was a satisfying ending to the Rose series. Not to say that Rose is gone. Ghosts like Rose will never be gone! Stories are tied up. No one is redeemed without cause. It's just fun.
You need to read the first two in the series.
If you are a Seanan McGuire fan, read after Calculated Risks (trust me, you'll appreciate this book even more).
This was a satisfying ending to the Rose series. Not to say that Rose is gone. Ghosts like Rose will never be gone! Stories are tied up. No one is redeemed without cause. It's just fun.
rdpulfer's review
5.0
So I managed to read this entire series out of order - started with the second one without realizing it was a series, then read the first one, then didn't even realize it was a spin-off of "Incryptid" until much later. Despite getting the order completely wrong. I really enjoyed this book. It's a perfect conclusion to Rose Marshall's saga. It certainly doesn't mess around - Rose is given the opportunity to finally take vengeance on her murderer Bobby Cross, and the book follows her quest and the ramifications of her decisions. The story makes perfect use of its ghostly heroine until the very end, all while painting a vivid landscape of McGuire's take on backroad afterlife. Its definitely one of her best works so far.
nineteen_adze's review
3.0
This was about 3.25 or 3.5 stars for me.
I may be a little harder on this one than I should be because my expectations were so high after
[b:The Girl in the Green Silk Gown|36384411|The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (Ghost Roads #2)|Seanan McGuire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1508888585l/36384411._SX50_.jpg|58074353]. This book picks up where one of the later InCryptid books left off, and since I’ve only read the first book of that series, I wasn’t thrilled with the greater degree of exposition and leaning on something I might not get around to for quite some time. There’s a lot of backstory explanation in the early chapters (and in the middle chapters), often covering ground that we’ve gone over before, and it squeezes out some of the wonder that made earlier books work so well. Some chapters also feel like they would have fit better in the short story setup of book one than in a focused narrative like this one, in that they’re mostly self-contained and then don’t have much bearing (or any at all) on the rest of the plot, and a book based on a big "let's finish this" showdown doesn't have the bandwidth for that kind of detour.
The highs are high (Seanan McGuire casually throws in creatures and concepts that could anchor a whole book on their own) and it might be better in the middle of a series reread; I was just hoping for more out of Bobby Cross, who's been such a good villain before. This book seems like a very transitional reset button that gets rid of some old plot points that the author didn't want to deal with anymore (understandable, if you're building a universe from a scattered short story collection that was never intended to grow this much), and that reduced some of the tension and focus on what was happening in this book. The new status quo might be interesting in the next entry, though, and I'll go back to this series when/if there's a new volume.
The first two books in the series are absolutely worth reading if you’re interested in the idea of hitchhiking ghosts, American urban legends, and unusual types of folklore wrapping around each other in the shadowy twilight.
I may be a little harder on this one than I should be because my expectations were so high after
[b:The Girl in the Green Silk Gown|36384411|The Girl in the Green Silk Gown (Ghost Roads #2)|Seanan McGuire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1508888585l/36384411._SX50_.jpg|58074353]. This book picks up where one of the later InCryptid books left off, and since I’ve only read the first book of that series, I wasn’t thrilled with the greater degree of exposition and leaning on something I might not get around to for quite some time. There’s a lot of backstory explanation in the early chapters (and in the middle chapters), often covering ground that we’ve gone over before, and it squeezes out some of the wonder that made earlier books work so well. Some chapters also feel like they would have fit better in the short story setup of book one than in a focused narrative like this one, in that they’re mostly self-contained and then don’t have much bearing (or any at all) on the rest of the plot, and a book based on a big "let's finish this" showdown doesn't have the bandwidth for that kind of detour.
The highs are high (Seanan McGuire casually throws in creatures and concepts that could anchor a whole book on their own) and it might be better in the middle of a series reread; I was just hoping for more out of Bobby Cross, who's been such a good villain before. This book seems like a very transitional reset button that gets rid of some old plot points that the author didn't want to deal with anymore (understandable, if you're building a universe from a scattered short story collection that was never intended to grow this much), and that reduced some of the tension and focus on what was happening in this book. The new status quo might be interesting in the next entry, though, and I'll go back to this series when/if there's a new volume.
The first two books in the series are absolutely worth reading if you’re interested in the idea of hitchhiking ghosts, American urban legends, and unusual types of folklore wrapping around each other in the shadowy twilight.
whomajigi's review
3.0
A good story with many flaws. I read the full series back to back, so these were more blatant for me than others, but there were some serious continuity issues. It felt like the editor was asleep at the wheel.
Additionally, I hated the crossover aspect of this novel. The book had no problem recapping old plotlines and reintroducing old characters from the first two books in the series, but it took searching online to figure out who the Prices, Annie or a few other characters were. I think the idea of stories existing in the same universe is fantastic, but not when it punishes people who have only read one of the series.
Overall, a satisfying conclusion to the series. I just wish the editor had given a few more notes to make the narrative more cohesive.
Additionally, I hated the crossover aspect of this novel. The book had no problem recapping old plotlines and reintroducing old characters from the first two books in the series, but it took searching online to figure out who the Prices, Annie or a few other characters were. I think the idea of stories existing in the same universe is fantastic, but not when it punishes people who have only read one of the series.
Overall, a satisfying conclusion to the series. I just wish the editor had given a few more notes to make the narrative more cohesive.
fluffdragon's review
4.0
3.5 rounded up. A little more fragmented than suited the story, but as it's the third installment in a series, you know whether or not you want to be here.