Book Review: City of Ghosts (Cassidy Blake #1)

City of Ghosts

Victoria Schwab

Rating System:

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

City of Ghosts is a middle grade paranormal urban fantasy by Victoria Schwab, one of the many books I've committed to on my quest to read all of her books. It's written for a younger audience which is obvious all the way through but it's super cute and just easy to read. Cassidy has been able to see ghosts for the past year ever since a near-death experience gave her the unique ability along with a ghost best friend, Jacob. She's never known the purpose of this gift, but when her parents take her to Edinburgh on a ghost hunting trip she starts seeing things that are terrifying and unexplained even to her. 

I don't know if middle grade is like an appropriate term because I was definitely reading a much different sort of book in middle school. It wasn't super scary but for like a third or fourth grader? It would still probably be very fun. It really made me nostalgic for my Battle of the Books days, this book even smelled like what you would expect from your elementary school library. I'm starting to think that's maybe just a Scholastic smell though. 

I wish that I had been allowed to run the streets of Scotland with my vintage camera and ghost bestie when I was a twelve year old and I'm jealous that Cassidy gets the powers and the mobility. The banter between her and Jacob was super cute, felt very reminiscent of like 39 Clues type conversations. I will say that the one negative was how many times Harry Potter was referenced, I realize that was her thing but it felt oversaturated and overdone to me. Different times now though, I can understand how it would have felt better placed in 2018. 

Definitely building a repertoire of books to recommend to children/niece and nephews if I ever have them to force them into being readers and this one would make the list. If you want a cute read to see what the kids are into these days, you could probably get through this one in a couple of hours if you read it all at once. Looking forward to seeing how the series goes on!