Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Book Review: The Spectral City by Leanna Renee Heiber


Title: The Spectral City
Author: Leanna Renee Hieber 
Series: Spectral City #1
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Gaslight Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Rebel Base Books
Pub Date: November 27, 2018
Pages: 236 pages
My Copy: From my Too Be Read Pile

Book Summary:

Solving crime isn’t only for the living.

In turn-of-the century New York City, the police have an off-the-books spiritual go-to when it comes to solving puzzling corporeal crimes . . .

Her name is Eve Whitby, gifted medium and spearhead of The Ghost Precinct. When most women are traveling in a gilded society that promises only well-appointed marriage, the confident nineteen-year-old Eve navigates a social circle that carries a different kind of chill. Working with the diligent but skeptical Lieutenant Horowitz, as well as a group of fellow psychics and wayward ghosts, Eve holds her own against detractors and threats to solve New York’s most disturbing crimes as only a medium of her ability can.

But as accustomed as Eve is to ghastly crimes and all matters of the uncanny, even she is unsettled by her department’s latest mystery. Her ghostly conduits are starting to disappear one by one as though snatched away by some evil force determined to upset the balance between two realms, and most important—destroy the Ghost Precinct forever. Now Eve must brave the darkness to find the vanished souls. She has no choice. It’s her job to make sure no one is ever left for dead.

Book Review:

A wonderful delightful start of a series. Eve Whitby is one of the most delightful characters that the author has ever written. I like the fact that we get a young woman coming to terms with her abilities and her wanting to help those that are in a different state of being, quite literally. I also like Lieutant Horowitz a lot more than I thought. 

Eve Whitby is a very gifted medium in her own right and is head of a department that is quite different. Also the fact that she is a woman can lead to some rather harsh judgements from her male counterparts during this historical period. Also the fact that she is the daughter of two people who have history with the paranormal, and really don’t want their daughter to do this. They are Lord Denbury and Natalie Stewart who are the main characters from A Magic Most Foul Series. So this makes the conflict between her and her parents somewhat interesting. Yet her gifts are very useful in helping ghosts who need her helps and vice versa.

So of course, there are a few things happening and things are getting intense because some of Eve’s ghost operatives have been disappearing. This sets in motion things that are happening in Lieutenant Horowitz’s department of well. Plus there’s a missing statue that goes missing in a nunnery and so begins a mystery of what is happening. This mystery takes a lot of turns and twists. Also a young child has died under very weird circumstances, plus there are people who are using the ghosts/spirits in ways that one can’t even imagine to power up some kind of machine to who knows what purpose we find out later on in the novel.

We also have Eve’s parents trying to set her up with some gentlemen that they feel are acceptable and want to try to steer her away from the paranormal. So this means she has to deal with their best intentions and tells a lie that she is already dating Lieutenant Horowitz at the police and this leads to one of the most funniest scenes between the two characters and later couple. It is one of the most interesting things that makes these two characters a lot more interesting.

Things take a lot of twists and turns. I really enjoyed how we got to see some returning characters from A Magic Most Foul series as well near the end of this novel. It was nice to see some of those characters again, as you realize this series is a continuation of their journeys in a way and they are helping Eve in her own journey. The family relationship between Eve and her grandmother is really special and unique. I like that the author highlighted this aspect near the end of the novel. They somehow all end up getting out of trouble in a weird way that no one expects. Also find out information that sets them on edge and they are worried in a way about what the future will bring. 
I really enjoyed this book a lot and am looking forward to the next book in this series.

Rating:

4 Hearts

No comments:

Post a Comment