Rachel Hartman is an author of young adult fantasy. Her books to date are all set in the same fantasy world; some are duologies (Seraphina and Shadow Scale) and most have an occasional, light cross-character references. Among Ghosts is set in this fantasy world and is positioned as a ghost story, but if the reader is picking up this title for the paranormal element, they need to be patient because the ghosts don’t appear in earnest until almost halfway into the book.

The author is attempting to do a lot in this story. There are many complex themes, brief flashbacks, and some interweaving of character back stories. At times the book feels like two books: the first part of the book having many characters and located in town and the second part of the book set in a haunted abbey where the young teenage protagonist, Charl, is essentially trapped by circumstances. Charl at times also feels like two characters. He actually becomes less confident and more conflicted throughout the book, but then reverses in what feels like a quick transformation at the end. The author is ambitious in what she is attempting to weave together, but it does feel somewhat uneven along the way.

That said, there are interesting characters and compelling external and internal conflicts. Plus, there is a dragon–which is always a plus! This book ends a little abruptly and a little sooner than expected in that the fate of many characters is not addressed. Perhaps this is to leave a door open for a sequel or perhaps it is because the author was more focused on the primary events at the abbey.

Review of a Digital Advance Reader Copy Provided by the Publisher

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: 2 mild obscenities

Violence/Gore: Reference to a accidental death (had been only meant to “teach a lesson”) and bloated body found; character is premeditating the death of another character; character wanted to pop someone’s eyeball from its socket and make the parent watch; characters are meeting for a duel; explosion resulting in a death by fire, brief scene with brief description; bully beats up younger character until stopped by others; recollections of character’s mother having bruises and covering them up; reference to long war and soldiers com home bloodied; character is attacked and eventually dies from wounds; mob starts throwing things; several references/recollections to character’s involvement/role in the mass slaying of pagan worshippers by fire; remembrance of spankings; man is attacked and treated for wounds, with some description; many references to death from an infestation; mass destruction and deaths inflicted upon a town by a dragon, some description; a somewhat gruesome memento mori; character desires to use a sword to kill some people; flashback to an event in which an entire village is burned and attacked by military group; threats of violence/death; character grabs another one at knifepoint; man dies from wounds; scene in which many people lay dead after being killed; characters fight, hitting, setting on fire, etc. resulting in injuries; references to war; character overwhelmed by memories of the murders he committed (people burned alive, burnings at the stakes, babies dashed on rocks), reference to but no descriptions; reference to sacrifice of young girl (s) to appease pagan deity; reference to a murder; character bound; recollection of being beat up and other painful memories, brief descriptions; ghost recalls being put on an alter and having a knife pushed through her heart; physical struggle; character slices off another’s ear with a sword; ghost consumes an individual; verbal threats; threats at sword point.

Sex/Nudity: Reference to someone being a seducer; innuendo; snide remark insinuation a woman had run off with a man she was not married to; after an attack on a village a young woman recovers consciousness and can’t recall what happened, but later she learns she is pregnant (implication that she was raped while she was unconscious); character recalls telling someone that they were “a boy” (implication is that their sex by birth was female); character notices another character as having a pretty smile and blushes; character is asked how they should be pronoun-ed; doctor lists one of skills as being aligning external anatomy with internal gender.

Mature Subject Matter:

Ghosts/paranormal, trauma of an experience causes a character to become mentally unhinged, domestic abuse, blackmail, death, murder, persecution of group of individuals for their beliefs (pagan), plague, exorcism (attempted) of evil spirit from a location, gender/transgender identity,

Alcohol/Drug Use:

Character searches out some liquor to give to some friends to make them more compliant; reference to tavern.