The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire @dawbooks

Posted July 16, 2018 by Robin in Book Review / 10 Comments

Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire @dawbooksThe Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire
Series: Ghost Roads #2
Published by DAW Books on July 17, 2018
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 252
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Once and twice and thrice around,
Put your heart into the ground.
Four and five and six tears shed,
Give your love unto the dead.
Seven shadows on the wall,
Eight have come to watch your fall:
One’s for the gargoyle, one’s for the grave,
And the last is for the one you’ll never save.

For Rose Marshall, death has long since become the only life she really knows. She’s been sweet sixteen for more than sixty years, hitchhiking her way along the highways and byways of America, sometimes seen as an avenging angel, sometimes seen as a killer in her own right, but always Rose, the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Green Silk Gown.

The man who killed her is still out there, thanks to a crossroads bargain that won’t let him die, and he’s looking for the one who got away. When Bobby Cross comes back into the picture, there’s going to be hell to pay—possibly literally.

Rose has worked for decades to make a place for herself in the twilight. Can she defend it, when Bobby Cross comes to take her down? Can she find a way to navigate the worlds of the living and the dead, and make it home before her hitchhiker’s luck runs out?

There’s only one way to know for sure.

Nine will let you count the cost:
All you had and all you lost.
Ten is more than time can tell,
Cut the cord and ring the bell.
Count eleven, twelve, and then,
Thirteen takes you home again.
One’s for the shadow, one’s for the tree,
And the last is for the blessing of Persephone

Rose Marshall is far from sweet sixteen and never been kissed.  She has been sixteen for over 60 years now, so kissing is the least of it.   She is the phantom prom date, the girl in the green silk gown and depending on which ghost story you are listening to, she is either a protector or a harbinger of death.  A girl can be anything she wants to be it seems, even in death.

Rose has a new boyfriend, or maybe he’d be considered an old boyfriend, since she knew him in life.  Sure, he might look like a car today, but every relationship has its challenges. Too bad that isn’t the only thing making her afterlife challenging.  Rose also has a psychotic serial killer after her and he has a brand-new plan and a whole bunch of tricks up his sleeve.

Bobby Cross is back and he might just have a way to be able to kill Rose all over again if she isn’t careful.  With an unlikely ally, Rose will go through hell to make her way back to the twilight, and find a way to save herself from Bobby and his machinations.

The best thing about this series is, it is different.  How may books are out there with a ghost as the main character? It is interesting to walk on the other side of death with Rose. There are rules as to what kind of ghost you could become, if when you die you’re not ready to move on.  There are things and places that were loved so much in life that they leave an impression in the twilight, even after they are long forgotten in the mortal world. It is interesting and different and weird in so many ways and it might look a little bit cruel to those looking from the outside in.

Sparrow Hill Road suffered a little from being disjointed since it was the culmination of a bunch of ghost stories about Rose, peppered in with the story of how she died, and then her current battles with Bobby.  The Girl in the Green Silk Gown is much more linear and that made it easier to follow and stay in touch with the story. It did get a little repetitive in a few parts but overall it has a much better flow and there was always something interesting happening.  I’m very interested to see how the wrap up will go in the finale to the series.

Who the hell thought ghost spiders were necessary anyway.

Why is it that there’s always a point past which belief won’t go?  You don’t get that with science. Say ‘we can make light where there is none by flipping a switch, and also we’ve flown out to the moon to say hello to the rocks, and these are equal applications of the scientific method,’ everyone smiles and nods their dead and says good for you, Science Person, congratulations.  But when a bunch of ghosts and witches say Muses exist, everyone gets their knickers in a twist.

About Seanan McGuire

Hi! I’m Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I’m also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.

Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).

Robin
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Posted July 16, 2018 by Robin in Book Review / 10 Comments


10 responses to “The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire

  1. Melliane

    I was really curious about this one but didn’t end up loving it like I was expected. I think it was quite the same for me.

    • robin

      The first books took a little while to get into because it was a little all over the place. But this one was better. McGuire writes about things that a lot of other authors shy away from so I really enjoy her creativity.

    • robin

      Haha….totally not okay. That part was horrifying to me. I like her short stories, but her full length books are where it is at for me for sure.

  2. Wow this sounds kinda freaky but good. I’ve read a couple of McGuire’s stories now and they’re usually pretty good. Glad you enjoyed this one!

    • robin

      Death isn’t something that a lot of authors write about so I really like the creativity of this book and the ghost world McGuire is building.

  3. carolesrandomlife

    I may have to give this one a try. I am really curious about the ghost as a main character. It is interesting that the first book is a collection of stories. Too bad this one was repetitive at times.

    • robin

      You know how authors sometimes over write one line again and again sometimes. It was more like that. I was just tired of that one or two lines since it seemed like she was hitting me over the head with it.

      But the world is definitely different and cool. The creativity McGuire brings to her stories is really the best reason to read them.

    • robin

      Definitely. I started with Rosemary and Rue from the October Daye series. That series starts off a bit dark but by book 3 I loved it.

      Incryptid series is a little lighter but so much fun, that is where we first meet Rose. But you don’t have to have read that to read this book.