This was such a disappointing read, it had such great potential but it did not deliver for me. ☹️

First of all, the blurb and title set out a slightly whimsical fantasy story about a young girl who can talk to ghosts, the title is “Library of the Dead”. But Ropa (the girl) spent maybe 2 chapters in that library and it was not essential to this story in any way. It felt like such a misdirect because I expected a sort of secret society of ghost hunters in Edinburgh (which is cool because I live there) but it turned into a sort of bland tale that seemed to be introducing something without actually introducing something…

The plot starts at the beginning when Ropa talked to a ghost who says her son is missing and she needs help finding him. But only about 50% into the book is this actually picked up. Ropa went on so many side quests that I felt there was no proper “let’s look for a missing child” plot. It didn’t feel like a mystery to be solved since it felt like a side plot.

And third thing, this book was VERY specific in describing locations. I’m talking “it’s neighbourhood X at the junction of Y and Z where shop B is located from where you can go to A”, and that felt overdone. It is so niche in its locations, and the big ones (eg princes gardens) were turned into different places with different names. Honestly I struggled to understand whether this takes place like 200 years ago or in the now.

Overall, not the book for me..