It’s difficult to begin about City of Ghosts. It is really an amazing book- it reminds me of one of my all-time favorite books, The Graveyard Book. Cassidy drowns in a lake but she is saved by a ghost, Jacob, who becomes her best friend. Since coming back to life she has been able to cross the Veil into the place where ghosts stay when they can’t move on. Her parents, writers of paranormal books, start filming a new tv show and their first stop is Edinburgh. Just like that, “two parents, a girl, a ghost, and a ticked-off cat” are off.

This book made Scotland move several spots up my TBV (To Be Visited- can we make this a thing please?) list. I loved the cat, Grim, and details about him make it clear that Schwab knows a thing or two about cats. (Hi Oliver!) There was an unexpected photography element to the story and there’s enough detail that I wonder if she has a real-life interest in it. Cassidy and Jacob’s relationship is detailed enough that it brought out some thought-provoking elements, like how they spend time together when he can’t move anything in her world.

There are several perfect examples of why I love Victoria Schwab so much as a writer. On page 103 she writes:

Details like this give such life and imagery to the story that it is impossible not to have your head filled with rolling scenes as you read. I’m glad I read the second half of this book while outside on a nice day because there were some creeeepy parts. By the way, it’s so good I read this book in two sittings. This was the perfect book to kick off my September/October holiday reading.

100/5 Stars