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A review by yoongoongi
The Ghost Road by Charis Cotter
3.0
I was kindly provided with a review copy from the publisher thanks to LibraryThing.
Review can also be found on my blog.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was well written and fairly interesting. On the other hand, I didn't love it.
Right away I was sucked into the story and immediately intrigued by the mystery surrounding Ruth and all the twins in her family. I was getting Parent Trap vibes at first, if The Parent Trap was having some kind of Halloween special or something. Anyway, the first 100 pages or so were a breeze. The chapters were some of the shortest I've ever seen, averaging only about 4 pages each. The story was fast-paced and it would probably be possible to read this in one sitting.
However, life got in the way for me. I inevitably had to put the book down. A day later when I picked it back up, I found myself getting lost left and right. A lot of the character's names are extremely similar. The two main characters are called Ruth and Ruby. I kept playing the which one is which game for a bit. Be also prepared to keep track of Meg and Molly, Lily and Lucy, Daphne and Dolly and Ed, Edd and Eddy... You get the point.
I liked the main character Ruth even though she felt very "self-insert" protag to me. She didn't have a ton of personality but what she did have was vague enough for you to see yourself in her. I liked the other MC Ruby at first, but she quickly got annoying. She was much more bubbly and spirited but all her dramatic exclamations got irritating after a while. By the end I was rolling my eyes at her dialogue.
Like I said, I do think this book was very well written. The written was borderline beautiful at times. Here are a few passages of prose from the book that I found particularly pleasing to the ear.
"Nothing can hurt you," said Ruby in a low voice. "You are the flame and the flame is you. You are filled with light, and you are protected."
The rain was still falling. If you could call it falling. More like siting motionless in the air, brushing against my face and hair like a damp curtain.
When I came across those lines in the book, I had to stop and reread them, they were so pretty. But I think this book could have been edited down 100 pages less and it would have had even more impact. The story felt needlessly long at times, especially for a Middle Grade story. For instance, there was an entire chapter devoted to picking flowers. That's not really vital to the story or interesting (at least to me) in any way. There were a lot of things in the book that just felt like filler to me and could have been left out.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about here, at one point in the story, the girls decided to have lunch. Okay, that's fine. You can totally put that in your book. I'm not gonna complain. However, did you really need to go into such monotonous detail about what you're having?
"Half a chicken sandwich, one muffin and an apple," she said. "And some water. What have you got?"
I had a whole sandwich and a muffin and an apple.
"We can save the muffins and apples for breakfast," said Ruby.
Really?
​Don't be wasting the trees on that boring exposition.
On a more positive note, I did appreciate learning about Newfoundland traditions and their way of life. I can't say that I've ever had the chance to read about that culture before and it was interesting.
My next point is kind of a small one and you may even consider it nitpicking but I'm a reader and a reviewer and it's just kind of what we do. I was confused as to why the author decided to set her story in the 1970s since there is literally no other references to the seventies as a time period in the story other than flat out saying what year it is. I feel like she could have added so much more atmosphere by incorporating some of the cool things from that time period into the book. I'm not saying the MC should burn her training bra or become a flower child or anything but something other than "Hey, it's 1973!" would have been more enjoyable for me since I don't get to read a lot about that particularly interesting period of time.
Another complaint that I have is that a lot of the events that took place in this book happen so quickly, you aren't really given any time to let that sink in before it flashes to the next thing that happens. The super short chapters didn't really help in this regard.
Lastly, the ending, to me, was very unsatisfying and kind of made the whole things seem kind of pointless. Kind of like when a story ends with AND IT WAS ALL A DREAM and I die inside a little.
I recommend to Middle Grade readers only. Even though it was actually kind of dark at times for the intended audience. It's a little too shallow for most adult readers to appreciate fully.
Review can also be found on my blog.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was well written and fairly interesting. On the other hand, I didn't love it.
Right away I was sucked into the story and immediately intrigued by the mystery surrounding Ruth and all the twins in her family. I was getting Parent Trap vibes at first, if The Parent Trap was having some kind of Halloween special or something. Anyway, the first 100 pages or so were a breeze. The chapters were some of the shortest I've ever seen, averaging only about 4 pages each. The story was fast-paced and it would probably be possible to read this in one sitting.
However, life got in the way for me. I inevitably had to put the book down. A day later when I picked it back up, I found myself getting lost left and right. A lot of the character's names are extremely similar. The two main characters are called Ruth and Ruby. I kept playing the which one is which game for a bit. Be also prepared to keep track of Meg and Molly, Lily and Lucy, Daphne and Dolly and Ed, Edd and Eddy... You get the point.
I liked the main character Ruth even though she felt very "self-insert" protag to me. She didn't have a ton of personality but what she did have was vague enough for you to see yourself in her. I liked the other MC Ruby at first, but she quickly got annoying. She was much more bubbly and spirited but all her dramatic exclamations got irritating after a while. By the end I was rolling my eyes at her dialogue.
Like I said, I do think this book was very well written. The written was borderline beautiful at times. Here are a few passages of prose from the book that I found particularly pleasing to the ear.
"Nothing can hurt you," said Ruby in a low voice. "You are the flame and the flame is you. You are filled with light, and you are protected."
The rain was still falling. If you could call it falling. More like siting motionless in the air, brushing against my face and hair like a damp curtain.
When I came across those lines in the book, I had to stop and reread them, they were so pretty. But I think this book could have been edited down 100 pages less and it would have had even more impact. The story felt needlessly long at times, especially for a Middle Grade story. For instance, there was an entire chapter devoted to picking flowers. That's not really vital to the story or interesting (at least to me) in any way. There were a lot of things in the book that just felt like filler to me and could have been left out.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about here, at one point in the story, the girls decided to have lunch. Okay, that's fine. You can totally put that in your book. I'm not gonna complain. However, did you really need to go into such monotonous detail about what you're having?
"Half a chicken sandwich, one muffin and an apple," she said. "And some water. What have you got?"
I had a whole sandwich and a muffin and an apple.
"We can save the muffins and apples for breakfast," said Ruby.
Really?
​Don't be wasting the trees on that boring exposition.
On a more positive note, I did appreciate learning about Newfoundland traditions and their way of life. I can't say that I've ever had the chance to read about that culture before and it was interesting.
My next point is kind of a small one and you may even consider it nitpicking but I'm a reader and a reviewer and it's just kind of what we do. I was confused as to why the author decided to set her story in the 1970s since there is literally no other references to the seventies as a time period in the story other than flat out saying what year it is. I feel like she could have added so much more atmosphere by incorporating some of the cool things from that time period into the book. I'm not saying the MC should burn her training bra or become a flower child or anything but something other than "Hey, it's 1973!" would have been more enjoyable for me since I don't get to read a lot about that particularly interesting period of time.
Another complaint that I have is that a lot of the events that took place in this book happen so quickly, you aren't really given any time to let that sink in before it flashes to the next thing that happens. The super short chapters didn't really help in this regard.
Lastly, the ending, to me, was very unsatisfying and kind of made the whole things seem kind of pointless. Kind of like when a story ends with AND IT WAS ALL A DREAM and I die inside a little.
I recommend to Middle Grade readers only. Even though it was actually kind of dark at times for the intended audience. It's a little too shallow for most adult readers to appreciate fully.