Among the Ghosts Review

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(More customer reviews)12-year-old Noh was supposed to spend the summer in the Appalachian Mountains with her father but, at the last minute, he instead sends her off to stay with his sister, Clara. Demonstrating his complete irresponsibility as a parent and human being, he neglected to contact his sister before shipping his daughter off to stay with her and, when Noh arrives at Clara's house, she discovers that her aunt and cousins have gone to the beach for the summer. Not knowing what beach they went to and figuring her father cannot be reached (no cell phones in this story) Noh takes the night train to Newbridge, where her Aunt Sarah works as a teacher of English literature at a local school, New Newbridge Academy. As she walks from the train station to the school, Noh cuts through a cemetery where an old woman suddenly appears, screams at her, throws a rock at her and just as quickly disappears. Noh picks the stone up, likes the "evil eye" carving on it and tucks it into her pocket. The stone, it seems, enhances the special powers Noh has always unknowingly had. Once she arrives at the gothic boarding school, New Newbridge Academy, Noh discovers that she has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts.

As a set up, it's not bad - not particularly original, but with possibilities. Unfortunately, author Amber Benson never quite tapped into those possibilities and, as a result, failed to drawn me fully into the story.

For me, the biggest problem was the characterizations. Aside from Noh, who was fleshed out to some extent (but who often seemed much younger than her age), none had any depth to speak of, nor were they particularly interesting. Some, in fact, seemed to have no reason to even be in the story, since they contributed nothing. Others appeared, said a few words and were never seen or heard from again. Still others verged on caricature, rather like the oddball characters found in A Series of Unfortunate Events, but sadly without the quirkiness, cleverness and humor Snicket gave his creations. Mostly though, the characters didn't feel like actual people and that made it more difficult for me to care about them.

In addition, some plot points were never explained, others poorly so. Even if Among the Ghosts turns out to be the first in a series (which seems to be suggested by some of the occurrences in the closing scenes), I was left with questions that I felt should have been answered in this volume.

Among the Ghosts was the first book by Amber Benson that I've read. While it didn't turn out to be my cup of tea, her Calliope Reaper-Jones series sounds like it might be worth a look. I plan to check it out.

Notes: Cover art by the wonderfully talented Jason Chan and interior illustrations by Sina Grace.

Other ghost-y type books that are aimed at about the same age group as Among the Ghosts:
Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit (first in a series) by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (first in a series) by R.L LaFevers
The Haunting (SS) by Margaret Mahy
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney by Suzanne Harper (slightly older target age)

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Product Description:
A classic ghost story gets a fresh twist in The New Newbridge Academy from author/actress/director Amber Benson.

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