Please note, Ghosts is book four in The Voices series. If you haven’t read the three books that precede this then there will most definitely be spoilers ahead.
Seven years ago, the voices came. Some people could hear and others despised them for it. As death and destruction spread, a ghostly figure was waiting in the shadows. Now the Flitting Man is ready to show his face – and no one is safe.
Pilgrim was made for this broken world. He’s chosen his path and will stop at nothing to see it through.
Lacey grew up in this changing world. She’s lost almost everything to the Flitting Man, but her fight isn’t over yet.
Albus sees this world as others cannot. And the friends that he’s kept safe are facing terrible danger.
Addison belongs to a very different world. She might just be the future, if she survives…
If you are a regular reader of The Eloquent Page, then you know I normally write long rambling reviews about the books I read. I wax lyrical about how the writing made me feel. What I liked and what I thought of the characters, basically all manner of book-related waffle. I find I can’t do that in this case.
I finished reading Ghosts about ten minutes ago and I’ll freely admit G.X. Todd has broken me. Please don’t get me wrong, this is the highest compliment I can bestow. Ghosts ends on a bittersweet note that left me in little bitty pieces on the floor. Part of me knows that the ending is exactly as it should be, but there is another part of me still reeling from the emotional gut punch. What can I say? I found myself heartbroken and hopeful at the same time.
As the story draws to a close there is a sense of resolution. Pilgrim, Addison, Lacey, Albus are each given their moment in the sun, their time to shine. The final third of the novel, where the story builds towards their meeting with the Flitting Man is particularly effective. From book one, page one the narrative has been moving inexorably toward that moment. The ultimate payoff is as devastating as it is satisfying.
It might seem a little odd, but I always find comfort in well-executed apocalyptic fiction*. People always manage to confuse the end of society with the end of the world. What books like Ghosts are really exploring is a fundamental change in humanity. Not us ending at all, but discovering where we go next. I’ve always been intensely curious about the potential for humanity to be something better.
As far as conclusions go, I think Ghosts managed to be everything I could have hoped for and far, far more. I’m already looking forward to whatever G X Todd decides to do next.
Ghosts is published by Headline and is available now. Highly recommended.
My musical recommendation to accompany Ghosts is the soundtrack to Y: The Last Man by Herdís Stefánsdóttir. It manages, in turns, to be both mournful yet also uplifting. The music captures the tone of the novel.
*Excluding extinction-level events obviously. If the world explodes, or spins off its axis into the sun, then chances are we really are screwed.
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