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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Let's say 3.5 stars. Because it definitely reads like related short stories and not a cohesive novel. The repetition and episodic construction of the book is what gives its origins away.
It was pretty good on the whole. I started this book years ago on my kindle and just cued up the audiobook for my cross-country drive. I think I'd like to continue with the series, but reviews of the audiobooks, tho read by the same narrator, aren't great. It might encourage me towards the Incryptids series tho. We'll see.
It was pretty good on the whole. I started this book years ago on my kindle and just cued up the audiobook for my cross-country drive. I think I'd like to continue with the series, but reviews of the audiobooks, tho read by the same narrator, aren't great. It might encourage me towards the Incryptids series tho. We'll see.
Well, that was very Charles de Lint-y. Might've a winner as a YA crossover?
Honestly, I couldn’t have picked a more perfect horror novel for travelling.
One of Seanan's best. This series of short [ghost] stories somehow fleshes out a phantom girl better and faster than so many other novels.
Took a loooooooooong time to get to any plot, but I found that part of the appeal. It was a book of ghost stories, from the perspective of the ghost.
Took a loooooooooong time to get to any plot, but I found that part of the appeal. It was a book of ghost stories, from the perspective of the ghost.
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2019/01/16/sparrow-hill-road-by-seanan-mcguire/
Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire is the first book in the Ghost Roads series. It’s about a girl named Rose Marshall who was run off the road and killed on prom night. Now Rose is a ghost, and she travels among America’s highway preparing to confront Bobby Cross, the man who killed her.
But that description doesn’t do the story justice at all, because Sparrow Hill Road is a lot more experimental and far less linear. The plot of the story jumps around in time and space. Each chapter is like a short story starring Rose, and only when taken together do you really get a sense of the larger plot. And because the book is more like a collection of short stories gathered into one place, organized into a chronology, but not meddled with overly much, the story takes on an almost lyrical quality as Rose repeats certain bits of wisdom and lore about being a ghost.
Sparrow Hill Road is dark and whimsical and a delight to read, even when the story itself feels like it could be a bit more polished to hang together as a novel rather than as separate stories.
Seanan McGuire is one of those authors who is able to blend older vintage elements with the modern era without that contrast seeming jarring. That means that Rose talks like a normal person, she can dress like a normal person, interact with modern people, while still being the same Rose who died in the early 50s and who still hasn’t let go of her past.
My sister had been telling me for years that I need to read something by Seanan McGuire. I’m so glad I finally did!
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2019/01/16/sparrow-hill-road-by-seanan-mcguire/
Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire is the first book in the Ghost Roads series. It’s about a girl named Rose Marshall who was run off the road and killed on prom night. Now Rose is a ghost, and she travels among America’s highway preparing to confront Bobby Cross, the man who killed her.
But that description doesn’t do the story justice at all, because Sparrow Hill Road is a lot more experimental and far less linear. The plot of the story jumps around in time and space. Each chapter is like a short story starring Rose, and only when taken together do you really get a sense of the larger plot. And because the book is more like a collection of short stories gathered into one place, organized into a chronology, but not meddled with overly much, the story takes on an almost lyrical quality as Rose repeats certain bits of wisdom and lore about being a ghost.
Sparrow Hill Road is dark and whimsical and a delight to read, even when the story itself feels like it could be a bit more polished to hang together as a novel rather than as separate stories.
Seanan McGuire is one of those authors who is able to blend older vintage elements with the modern era without that contrast seeming jarring. That means that Rose talks like a normal person, she can dress like a normal person, interact with modern people, while still being the same Rose who died in the early 50s and who still hasn’t let go of her past.
My sister had been telling me for years that I need to read something by Seanan McGuire. I’m so glad I finally did!
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Welcome to the world of hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall—run off the road on prom night 1952 by a man who sold his soul to drive forever young. Originally published in several short stories, Sparrow Hill Road reads as time jumping but still narratively cohesive vignettes following Rose through life, death, and afterlife, learning the rules of the Ghost Roads. THESE VIBES made for such a fun read for my work trip to Winslow, Arizona off Route 66!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Car accident
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Classism
The book is a collection of shorts that tell a story, so you could say it's very structure invites pause and though. It's not a book to be read in a single day, but one to be savored.
Seanan McGuire's prose is poetic, immersive and beautiful. The setting, and its urban fantasy americana with rich and interesting characters, has a lot of promise, and delivers much of it.
But of course I wanted to read more by the time the book ended. That's the whole point of an evocative, compelling writing. A feature, not a bug.
Seanan McGuire's prose is poetic, immersive and beautiful. The setting, and its urban fantasy americana with rich and interesting characters, has a lot of promise, and delivers much of it.
But of course I wanted to read more by the time the book ended. That's the whole point of an evocative, compelling writing. A feature, not a bug.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Read for Fun (Library Book)
Overall Rating: 3.50
Story Rating: 3.50
Character Rating: 3.50
Read It File It Review: Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire is a collection of stories that were originally published in serial form. I wish that I would have looked that up before reading it because my problems with the book were those that I also associate with reading serial stylized stories: constant repetition every time a new story is started, reintroduction of characters, and reestablishing of the world building. If you strip that out of every new story then I otherwise enjoyed this collection of stories. It isn't Seanan's fault--I know I don't like serials and I need to start paying closer attention to books with short stories to make sure they aren't serials!
However, I do want to say this: These ghost stories were fantastic in general. I especially liked the Strogoi named Dimitri (nod to VA)
Overall Rating: 3.50
Story Rating: 3.50
Character Rating: 3.50
Read It File It Review: Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire is a collection of stories that were originally published in serial form. I wish that I would have looked that up before reading it because my problems with the book were those that I also associate with reading serial stylized stories: constant repetition every time a new story is started, reintroduction of characters, and reestablishing of the world building. If you strip that out of every new story then I otherwise enjoyed this collection of stories. It isn't Seanan's fault--I know I don't like serials and I need to start paying closer attention to books with short stories to make sure they aren't serials!
However, I do want to say this: These ghost stories were fantastic in general. I especially liked the Strogoi named Dimitri (nod to VA)