matcha_cat's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Death, Grief, Blood, and Stalking
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Kidnapping, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-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
5.0
In THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SILK GOWN, Rose has to find her way back to the roads she loves after Bobby Cross, the man who killed her sixty years ago, disturbs her wanderings in the Twilight.
I enjoyed THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SILK GOWN as a more straightforward narrative after the connected short story structure of SPARROW HILLL ROAD (I like them both, but while the short stories were good as an introduction to Rose's world, I do prefer the familiar structure of a novel). The mythology of the Ghost Roads is fascinating and it was nice to get a more focused version of it here, as well as more information about this series' version of Persephone. Rose is a great narrator and Bobby is a terrifying villain casting a long shadow. It feels like the first book was more about introducing the roles played by the denizens of the Twilight and the Daylight who fill Rose's time, and then this circled back to spend a lot more time with a few of them as people, not just their situations.
This wraps up a pretty major thing left hanging from the first book. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present previously. There are several major things introduced and resolved in this volume. It's not the last book and it leaves a very major thing to be picked up by any sequels. The main character is the same as in the previous books. I think the main plot would mostly make sense if someone picked this up and hadn't read the first book, but it uses a lot of terms for a bunch of different types of ghosts and sometimes the emotional tension in a moment depends on things like understanding just why summoning a crossroads ghost would be a very bad idea, something that's a little harder to resonate with if you skipped book one. It also depends on two people with some bad history having to work together, and the first book is where that bad history is established. It might make sense without that knowledge, but if something is confusing here and you didn't read SPARROW HILL ROAD, you'll probably find your answers there (for what remains unanswered, read the Incryptid series).
I enjoyed THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SILK GOWN as a more straightforward narrative after the connected short story structure of SPARROW HILLL ROAD (I like them both, but while the short stories were good as an introduction to Rose's world, I do prefer the familiar structure of a novel). The mythology of the Ghost Roads is fascinating and it was nice to get a more focused version of it here, as well as more information about this series' version of Persephone. Rose is a great narrator and Bobby is a terrifying villain casting a long shadow. It feels like the first book was more about introducing the roles played by the denizens of the Twilight and the Daylight who fill Rose's time, and then this circled back to spend a lot more time with a few of them as people, not just their situations.
This wraps up a pretty major thing left hanging from the first book. The main storyline starts here and wasn't present previously. There are several major things introduced and resolved in this volume. It's not the last book and it leaves a very major thing to be picked up by any sequels. The main character is the same as in the previous books. I think the main plot would mostly make sense if someone picked this up and hadn't read the first book, but it uses a lot of terms for a bunch of different types of ghosts and sometimes the emotional tension in a moment depends on things like understanding just why summoning a crossroads ghost would be a very bad idea, something that's a little harder to resonate with if you skipped book one. It also depends on two people with some bad history having to work together, and the first book is where that bad history is established. It might make sense without that knowledge, but if something is confusing here and you didn't read SPARROW HILL ROAD, you'll probably find your answers there (for what remains unanswered, read the Incryptid series).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Violence, and Death
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Death of parent
CW for major character death.
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