WARNING: Major spoilers for book one in the Shades of London series, The Name of the Star, ahead! Read at your own risk...
After being stabbed by the ghost of Alexander Newman, ghostly ex-member of the Shades, the ghost hunting London police squad, and Jack the Ripper copycat killer, Rory Deveaux knows what it's like to almost die. Again - there was the choking incident that landed her in the middle of the whole seeing ghosts mess in the first place.. Pulled out of school and shipped back to her parents' house in Bristow to 'recover,' Rory has a therapist she enjoys thwarting and is bored out of her mind. It's hard to be in therapy when you can't tell your therapist what really happened - not only did Rory sign a confidentiality agreement with the Shades, but claiming to have been stabbed by a ghost is a ticket straight to crazytown.
There's also the part where Rory is pretty sure she's been turned into a Terminus by the Ripper incident. One touch from her and ghosts are zapped, leaving behind only the faint scent of burnt flowers. She can't talk to her therapist about this (obviously), her parents are a no go, her friends are all at Wexford studying for exams, and the only people who do know about the ghosts - London Shades Stephen, Callum, and Boo - have vanished.
So when Rory's therapist convinces her parents that the best thing to help Rory return to normal is to face her fears and return to boarding school at Wexford, no one is more thrilled than Rory. She can hang out with Jazza, make out with Jerome in the library, and track down Stephen and the rest of the ghost hunting crew and figure out what the heck is going on with her Terminus-ing.
But it turns out that not being able to tell your best friend and your boyfriend the truth about what's really going on with you means lying and sneaking around. A lot. Not to mention the fact that Rory is way behind in all her classes (hey, you try getting stabbed by a ghost and keeping up with homework!) and will probably fail her exams. And, even though the Ripper is clearly gone, a pub owner just blocks from Wexford is brutally murdered in what Rory is positive is ghost activity. In fact, she's pretty sure that the massive explosion that happened in the school bathroom when Newman was zapped ripped open a crack that's letting the ghosts of Bedlam insane asylum patients loose in London. Who obviously need to be dealt with - and Rory is the only remaining Terminus.
From the fabulous Maureen Johnson comes the second in what I hope will be many Shades of London books! Rory is fabulously snarky and practical, even if she does sometimes need to use her common sense a little bit more (you'd think that a girl who can see ghosts could see when people are trying to take advantage of her, but hey, I've never been stabbed by a serial killer ghost, so I guess I'll give the girl a break). London is dripping with atmosphere - literally, it's pretty much always raining, or foggy, or just sort of damply cold - and crawling with ghosts. All kinds of weird awesomeness goes down in this book - and it ends on a heart-in-your-throat cliffhanger that will make sure you can't wait to get your hands on the next installment of this gruesome, seriously spooky series!
Megan
(who is torn - my holds on Quinata of Charyn, the final Lumatere Chonicles book which promises to be complex and incredible fantasy, or Dark Triumph, the sequel to the amaze tale of assassin nuns Dark Mercy both came in - how how how will I choose?)
There's also the part where Rory is pretty sure she's been turned into a Terminus by the Ripper incident. One touch from her and ghosts are zapped, leaving behind only the faint scent of burnt flowers. She can't talk to her therapist about this (obviously), her parents are a no go, her friends are all at Wexford studying for exams, and the only people who do know about the ghosts - London Shades Stephen, Callum, and Boo - have vanished.
So when Rory's therapist convinces her parents that the best thing to help Rory return to normal is to face her fears and return to boarding school at Wexford, no one is more thrilled than Rory. She can hang out with Jazza, make out with Jerome in the library, and track down Stephen and the rest of the ghost hunting crew and figure out what the heck is going on with her Terminus-ing.
But it turns out that not being able to tell your best friend and your boyfriend the truth about what's really going on with you means lying and sneaking around. A lot. Not to mention the fact that Rory is way behind in all her classes (hey, you try getting stabbed by a ghost and keeping up with homework!) and will probably fail her exams. And, even though the Ripper is clearly gone, a pub owner just blocks from Wexford is brutally murdered in what Rory is positive is ghost activity. In fact, she's pretty sure that the massive explosion that happened in the school bathroom when Newman was zapped ripped open a crack that's letting the ghosts of Bedlam insane asylum patients loose in London. Who obviously need to be dealt with - and Rory is the only remaining Terminus.
From the fabulous Maureen Johnson comes the second in what I hope will be many Shades of London books! Rory is fabulously snarky and practical, even if she does sometimes need to use her common sense a little bit more (you'd think that a girl who can see ghosts could see when people are trying to take advantage of her, but hey, I've never been stabbed by a serial killer ghost, so I guess I'll give the girl a break). London is dripping with atmosphere - literally, it's pretty much always raining, or foggy, or just sort of damply cold - and crawling with ghosts. All kinds of weird awesomeness goes down in this book - and it ends on a heart-in-your-throat cliffhanger that will make sure you can't wait to get your hands on the next installment of this gruesome, seriously spooky series!
Megan
(who is torn - my holds on Quinata of Charyn, the final Lumatere Chonicles book which promises to be complex and incredible fantasy, or Dark Triumph, the sequel to the amaze tale of assassin nuns Dark Mercy both came in - how how how will I choose?)
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