Title: City of Ghosts

Author: Victoria Schwab

Series: Cassidy Blake #1

Publication Year: 2018

Where to Buy: Amazon 

Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Number of Pages: 272

Summary: From Goodreads: Cassidy Blake’s parents are The Inspecters, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one.

When The Inspecters head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn’t sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn’t belong in her world. Cassidy’s powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

Review: I read this book last month during the spooky readathon hosted by the TBR Tackle Challenge. It was my second time reading this month, but it was still perfectly spooky for the Halloween weekend.

City of Ghosts is the first book in the Cassidy Blake series, a middle-grade series by Victoria Schwab. This spooky story takes place in Edinburgh and features some memorable characters, spooky ghosts, and an adventure that will keep you on your toes until the very end.

The first thing I want to talk about is the characters. Cassidy Blake is such an iconic and memorable character, and I’m very glad that she is part of a series because I want to go on more adventures with her. Cassidy is curious, brave, and loyal. She’s a bit headstrong and drawn to dangerous situations, but that makes her adventures even more exciting. I also loved how everything fell into place for her when she learned about what she’s supposed to do behind the Veil. The other great thing about Cassidy is that her best friend is a ghost, Jacob. Jacob is a ghost, and he is also a memorable character. He had some moments that made me laugh. I also like that there’s a bit of mystery surrounding Jacob, and I’m hoping to learn more about him as I read through the series.

The next thing I want to talk about is the setting of this book. I really enjoyed exploring Edinburgh with Cassidy. Edinburgh is one of the many places that I’d like to visit someday, and I liked seeing it portrayed on the page. It’s clear that the author put in a lot of research when writing this book because the story transported me to where it was taking place.

I also liked Cassidy’s parents. In general, I like it when middle-grade and YA books feature parents because, realistically, parents exist. Cassidy’s parents are authors, and they write about ghosts. Cassidy’s dad is the grounded one, who focuses on the history and the facts, and her mother is into the supernatural and ghost hunting. Together, they make a great team, and I love reading about them. I also enjoyed that they acted like parents to Cassidy and that there were consequences for Cassidy when she did something that required consequences.

I also liked how spooky this book was. I don’t usually do spooky, but when I do spooky, I opt for middle-grade spooky. This book featured ghosts: friendly ones, harmless ones, and dangerous ones. I liked the idea of travelling between the real world and the ghost world, or behind the Veil. I also liked how spooky and dangerous the world behind the Veil was. I thought the Red Raven was terrifying, and I thought the legend behind her was also terrifying. There were moments in this book that left me scared and worried for Cassidy, and it was the kind of adventure that kept me on the edge of my seat and made me want to keep reading.

Overall, I thought this book was fantastic. I loved the characters, the setting, and the adventure. It was the perfect level of spooky for me, which made it the perfect read for October.

Rating: 4 Stars!

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