Rain of the Ghosts is the first in Greg Weisman’s series about an adventurous young girl, Rain Cacique, who discovers she has a mystery to solve, a mission to complete and, oh, yes, the ability to see ghosts.

Welcome to the Prospero Keys (or as the locals call them: the Ghost Keys), a beautiful chain of tropical islands on the edge of the Bermuda Triangle. Rain Cacique is water-skiing with her two best friends Charlie and Miranda when Rain sees her father waiting for her at the dock. Sebastian Bohique, her maternal grandfather, has passed away. He was the only person who ever made Rain feel special. The only one who believed she could do something important with her life. The only thing she has left to remember him by is the armband he used to wear: two gold snakes intertwined, clasping each other’s tails in their mouths. Only the armband . . . and the gift it brings: Rain can see dead people. Starting with the Dark Man: a ghost determined to reveal the Ghost Keys’ hidden world of mystery and mysticism, intrigue and adventure.

Paperback, 240 pages

Published December 3rd 2013 by St. Martin’s Griffin

ISBN

1250029791 (ISBN13: 9781250029799)

Written for younger readers, Rain of Ghosts tells a story of family, friends, and history. Rain and her family live on a tropical island in the Prospero Keys where her family runs a lodge for vacationers. The community of actual island residents is small, and they all know each other and have jobs catering to the vacationers. Rain has always had dreams to leave the island and explore the world.

Sebastian Bohique, Rain’s grandfather and best friend, passes away early on in the story. This leaves Rain devastated and coincides with her new ability to see ghosts. A man renting a room at her house shows interest in an heirloom she has just inherited from her grandfather and it soon goes missing. Together with her best friends Charlie and Miranda, Rain must find the heirloom and find out why she can now see ghosts.

The ghosts all seem to be tied together somehow and they keep trying to tell her something that she cannot understand. With her friends, she does everything in her power to help, travelling all around and even off the island; it’s a dangerous and wild adventure.

Rain learns a lot about herself and her grandfather in her search for answers. The writing is gripping and really makes you feel like part of the story. What I enjoyed most about this story is what Rain finds at the end of the story: a hidden secret treasure (of sorts) and I can’t wait to read the next book to see where she’ll go next.

I recommend this story. I enjoyed it and it was like having an adventurous vacation. This book had great characters and setting. I admired Rain and I think you will too.

Angels are all around us: beautiful, awe-inspiring, irresistible. Ordinary mortals yearn to catch a glimpse of one of these stunning beings and thousands flock to The Church of Angels to feel their healing touch.

But what if their potent magnetism isn’t what it seems?
Willow knows she’s different from other girls. And not just because she loves tinkering around with cars.
Willow has a gift. She can look into people’s futures, know their dreams, their hopes and their regrets, just by touching them. But she has no idea where she gets this power from.

Until she meets Alex…
Alex is one of the few who know the truth about angels. He knows Willow’s secret and is on a mission to stop her.
The dark forces within Willow make her dangerous – and irresistible.
In spite of himself, Alex finds he is falling in love with his sworn enemy.

Willow uses her powers to read people’s futures and earn a little money. She is doing a reading on a classmate when she sees the image of an angel feeding. It’s not long before the angel himself is knocking on Willow’s door to see what she is all about. When Alex also shows up in her life, things begin to change fast. She is stuck between two sides, and it’s only thanks to Alex that she lives long enough to find out about herself.

Willow is a strong, independent character. She is intelligent and has a ‘do what needs to be done’ persona, rather than the typical damsel in distress. This mostly comes from having to take care of herself and learning to do things on her own from a young age. The writing keeps a constant pace as Alex and Willow do a lot of travelling and road trips to hide and find answers. They are always cautious of each other as well; Alex was hired to kill Willow but he can sense there is something different about her.

What I loved about this story is the fact that the angels are the villains. They come to Earth to feed on the energy and life force of people; this is something that can be done all at once, or a little at a time, causing different side effects. When they feed off a human, that human believes they have seen an angel and that the church is the true church because they have seen it with their own eyes. So the church grows extremely fast and gains followers with every sighting (or feeding).

The strong lead character of Willow is admirable, and I loved her. The complete blind willingness of people who follow these angels, who are literally feeding off of them, is an intriguing storyline that kept me turning the pages. I really recommend this book. I still find myself thinking about it and I look forward to the rest of the series.

‘Clariel’ is the prequel to the much-loved Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. With it, he takes fans of the series to six hundred years before the starting point for his first book, ‘Sabriel’.

It’s an exciting time for me because I finally get to see what all of the fuss is about with Garth Nix. Also – as a bonus for being patient, not lazy – I am able to read the Old Kingdom series from the absolute beginning. I am aware of being very much in the minority here but also, I hope, well placed to judge whether it can stand on its own as a story.

Let me begin by stating that I often struggle with overly complex epic fantasy, mainly because I need to use my whole brain to keep track of it all and then can’t operate my body. I didn’t experience that problem here, mainly due to the clarity of the author’s vision and the lack of unnecessary clutter in telling the tale.

And what a wonderful tale it is. The book’s namesake, Clariel, lives in the Old Kingdom, a world ruled by powerful bloodlines, organised through a class system based on Guilds and defined by two very different kinds of magic. The common and widely taught Charter Magic was laid down by the Ancients as a form of control over the wilder, more elemental Free Magic. The Charter is divided into five governing bodies, three of which are inherent in the bloodlines of the Abhorsen, the Royal Family, and the Clayr.

The story follows a fundamental time in the life of 17 year old Clariel, cousin to the King and granddaughter of the Abhorsen. When we meet her she is stewing over being uprooted from her peaceful life within the Great Forest, and brought to live in the King’s home city of Belisaere. Here she is a wild thing, caged, yearning to join a group of rangers and live out her life surrounded by trees and silence. But her parents have a very different future in mind for her, involving an advantageous union with a politically scheming family. Unbeknown to all, however, Clariel is heiress to more than mere wealth and position.

She is a girl in a constant state of conflict: both powerful and powerless. Frustrated and constrained, she gives the appearance of compliance and allows herself to be groomed for a role in Guild Society. Beneath the façade, however, Clariel has plans to escape.

It all goes awry when a planned uprising overthrows control of the Kingdom, and Clariel must delve deep inside herself and awaken her true nature to survive.

I found ‘Clariel’ to be a powerful tale of hidden potential realised, particularly in the discovery and acceptance of your true self. I think the character is a worthy example for young readers who, like Clariel herself, spend so much time wrestling with their own nature. I also particularly liked Nix’s handling of her lack of romantic interests and solitary nature. Often this tricky area is left deliberately vague, leaving the reader to wonder what the writer is trying to imply and often reaching the wrong conclusion. I enjoyed the clarity and simplicity of Nix’s explanation.

‘Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?’ is a proverb mentioned. And indeed it could be said to be the central question of the story. Do you choose your own destiny, or accept the one that has been given? The significance being in understanding that you always have a choice, even if it is only acceptance. I think this is an important concept to impart to young people, particularly as feelings of powerlessness can be such a governing force in youth.

I very much get the sense that Garth Nix is absolutely at one with the world of the Old Kingdom. He knows precisely what is important to set the stage and you get a marvellous sense of being swept along with the action. I never felt disengaged or as though I lost sight of Clariel’s character amidst all the goings-on. He never relies on prior knowledge either, making it a true prequel to the series.

There is also an interesting and realistic interpretation of magic, along with plenty of high stakes action, twists and turns. It is perfectly pitched for the older end of the YA spectrum, with enough plotting, misdirection, revelations, duplicity and scheming to impress even the most jaded teen. Younger readers may find it a bit serious.

I have a great affection for writers who have a gift for names. In my opinion, good names – whether of places, people, objects, events or ephemera – draw the reader in and predispose them to engage with the world more deeply. Tolkien, JK Rowling, George RR Martin, Derek Landy and Mervyn Peake are a few fantasy authors that stand out for me as great ‘namers’, and to that worthy list I would also add Garth Nix.

After dipping my toes into the Old Kingdom with ‘Clariel’, I am certainly rubbing my hands together at the thought of diving into the rest of the series.

Before reading The Here and Now, I had never read anything that focused on time travel and the consequences it can have on the future. I mean, I’ve seen movies, and I know that all kinds of crazy things can happen through just the smallest change in the past. When I picked up The Here and Now, I was ready for a mind blowing story that would completely twist my brain and make me think differently…

…but I didn’t get too much of that from this story.

The Here and Now is about a girl named Prenna who is from a futuristic world where mosquitoes have taken over and being stung by one causes a horrible disease and death. Prenna has lost her brother to this disease, along with almost everyone else she knows. When Prenna and her parents decided to travel to the past—our time now—she knew life would be completely different.

But she didn’t know that she would be living by a strict set of rules and under constant pressure to remain in hiding. These rules include no intimacy with a time native, keeping her real identity secret, and never interfering with history (which ties in with the other two rules). There are a few leaders in charge who make sure that no one breaks any of these rules through intimidation…even if it means spying, and possibly killing.

While a lot of these rules seem to be pretty simple and easy to follow, Prenna can’t help herself. She can’t stop thinking about Ethan, a guy from her class, despite knowing that she can never have a relationship with him, tell him who she is, or get too close.

Alongside this, Prenna has always questioned why people from the future have to wear glasses and take vitamins every day. The leadership claims that their eyes are damaged by time travel and the vitamins keep them healthy—but she doesn’t believe a single word.

Especially when a homeless man comes up to her and claims that he knows who she is and where she’s from. He says that he both knows what’s coming in the future, and knows a scientist who may be able to prevent the mosquito epidemic.

Prenna knows she can’t do this on her own. But with her best friend sent off to boarding school, her mum not standing up for herself, and the community doubting her, Prenna has no one—except for Ethan. She knows what she has to do: stop a murder.

I haven’t read any books that included time travel, so when I discovered The Here and Now, that was the element of the story that keenly anticipated! I was excited to see how the author would bring the concept into the story and make these two different worlds work. There was a bit of time travel stuff going on, but not as much as I expected, which was slightly disappointing. Though there was one really big twist that came out of nowhere and made up for it.

There weren’t very many characters in The Here and Now, and, sadly, I didn’t really feel much of a connection with any of them. Prenna wasn’t very open—I mean, she did give us some information about her feelings and what happened to her in the future, but I felt like I didn’t really know her. Ethan was a sweet guy who seemed to really care for Prenna, and I loved him for it. But, again, I just felt confused by how he knew so much about her. I understand that he was the one that found her in the woods, but what happened for him to know so much? Did I miss something?

Don’t even get me started on Prenna’s mum. She was the reason I strongly considered throwing the book across the room. Why wouldn’t she be on Prenna’s side? Why was she doing everything they told her to?

The ending wasn’t anything too crazy or surprising. For some reason, Prenna gets away with everything she did; the ‘leadership’ never really takes control or goes through with their ‘threats’. Overall, the story was okay, but the characters were a bit colourless, and the story only had one big twist. There wasn’t anything that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The series has, to this point, been fast-paced and filled with questions about what constitutes good and evil, as well as heart-stopping moments that made me cry. Dreams of Gods and Monsters concludes this trilogy and, whoa baby, does it play with your emotions and leave you wanting to give Laini a standing ovation for a job well done.

If you’re reading this series wrap up review and haven’t started this trilogy, you probably want to know if it’s worth your time—the answer is yes. You will not be left wanting to throw the book at the wall. You will be sated and happy. I promise!

Laini’s portrayal of Prague throughout the series is stunning and dramatic. It was so good, in fact, that I have a good friend jetting off to Prague to experience Karou’s environment for herself.

I cannot imagine having the power to end a series. To write the words that finalise the material element of characters and allow the audience’s imagination to take its place. Authors talk about how having a book published is akin to sending your child off into the world to experience what they will. I would imagine finishing a series would be similar. What now? They will live on in our imaginations, effectively playing out in fan fiction.

Suffering from withdrawal symptoms? Laini has a short story in a Christmas anthology as of October 14, 2014. It’s called My True Love Gave To Me, and she writes alongside David Levithan, Holly Black, and nine other bestselling authors.

http://www.lainitaylor.com/

Paperback, UK, 613 pages

Published April 17th 2014 by Hodder & Stoughton (first published April 8th 2014)

ISBN 1444722735 (ISBN13: 9781444722734)