Thank you to NetGalley for granting this ARC, super good and fast read. The story was intruiging and the characters had an interesting back story.

This was actually my second attempt at this book. The first time around I wasn't in the right headspace to appreciate Noa and her siblings, and so I set it aside for later reading. Fast forward to this year, and I was so in the mood for some middle grade shenanigans! I picked this story back up, and dove straight in. If you're new to my blog, I should premise this review with the fact that I truly love Middle Grade books. In fact, I feel like there are so many gems here that people generally miss out on because they go straight into the YA realm. So it should come as no surprise that I had pretty high expectations for this Fantasy realm and its quirky characters.

First off, big kudos to Heather Fawcett for the wonderful world that she has created here. While Noa's reason for fleeing to her moving island home is a tragic one, the picture that Fawcett paints of Noa's new home is just magical. A crumbling castle. Invisible cats. A sea serpent! What's not to love? Despite its faults, Noa finds her new home rather charming and that pulled me right in too. Add in a stellar, easy to understand magic system and you have my heart. This is absolutely a story that younger me would have loved, and I enjoyed it even now.

Similarly, I thought that the big focus on family in this story was really lovely. Julian isn't the easiest big brother to take care of. As a mage of vast power, with a fiery temper as large as his talent, Noa has her hands full trying to keep him from getting himself into trouble. However her love for him just shines off the page. Noa's constant worry that her big brother will go "bad" is so understandable, and downright sweet. The lengths that she'll go to in order to make sure he stays on the right path made me smile. I also loved how much Noa's affection for her littlest sibling, Mite, radiated off the page. We all know our younger siblings can drive us nuts. Mite is no exception, and it was so giggle worthy and realistic to watch their banter. There was love there too though, and I ate it up.

Now to the part that I had a bit of trouble with. While I loved a lot about this story, there were a few parts that just didn't hit for me. Noa is a bit hard to handle as a narrator at times. I fully understood that she was a young teen, and so I took a lot of what she said and did with a grain of salt. Still, there were portions of the story where it felt like she was just being stubborn to further the plot, and not like it was an intentional aspect of her character. Same goes for the constant miscommunication between the siblings. Do I love that Fawcett showed that siblings do indeed argue, sometimes constantly? Absolutely! I also loved they were able to grow, learn and make up at some point. The frustrating part was that a lot of their arguments felt wholly manufactured as a way to generate drama. Add in a few frustrating plot holes, and I was admittedly a bit frustrated at times.

I think that the ending definitely rounded things out, and did the book justice! Books like The Language of Ghosts always make me smile because they show the beauty of family togetherness and perseverance. That's ultimately why I settled on a solid three-star rating. While this wasn't my favorite book of the year, I did indeed enjoy it! I'll be adding more of Fawcett's writing to my TBR this year!

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed Heather Fawcett's new standalone novel, The Language of Ghosts!

In the land of Florean, many are born with the ability to understand the language that makes up certain magics. As they age and educate themselves, they are usually able to control a single element based on their natural abilities,. Few are born with the ability to speak more than one language and those who can are considered to be dark mages, as their stronger powers can corrupt weaker minds.

Julian Marchena was born with the ability to speak not only one, but all nine of the known languages at once,

The Marchena children are forced to go into hiding on the day of their mother's funeral. Queen Marchena's kingdom has been overthrown by a usurper named Xavier who had previously served on her council. As the new head of the family, and therefore rightful king, Julian manages to escape with his two younger sisters Noa and Mite to a small island. There he uses his abiities as the world's most adept magician to pilot their new island home as if it were itself a ship, freely sailing the sea in search of a way to get back to their rightful of royalty. On the way there his sister Noa, though born without magic, will do everything in her power to ensure that Julian does not become corrupted by the very powers that could save them all.

Honestly, this is the first time in ages where I was disappointed that there *wasn't* a sequel! The plot swept me in pretty quickly, imagine Game of Thrones with more magic, and a whole lot more whimsey. I also thoroughly enjoyed Fawcett's world building and character development.

All in all, I think this book stands out as a gem amongst the rest.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for the opportunity to read and review,

I absolutely loved reading this book. It was a great book. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

Thank you Harper Collins and NetGalley for sharing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was the fantasy book I needed. It had excellent world building, powerful characters, unique magic, and suspense. I loved this book.

Noa has a lot on her plate: She’s got to reclaim the throne for her family, protect her older brother from his all-consuming dark magical powers, make a home in exile on a mysterious moving island, keep the sea monster protecting the island in line with cake, and baby-sit her little sister.

The Language of Ghosts is a middle grades charmer, and practical, competent Noa is one of my new favorite heroines. When the novel begins, she’s utterly unmagical, but she’s the one who solves problems through observation and critical thinking. Noa’s always assumed that the magic skipped her, and she’s content to keep life running behind the scenes — which is no small task when your parents have been murdered, your family has been forced into exile, and your big brother is working to retake the throne. This requires him to channel the dark side of his magical abilities, however, and Noa becomes more and more worried that the darkness is overtaking him. She’s also worried because it turns out the magic hasn’t skipped her after all, and she has abilities that have been forgotten from magical lore. Her ability may be exactly what Julian needs to win the war — but it may also be the power that pushes him over to the dark side.

I really loved this book — the family relationships feel real, and I definitely identify with Noa, who is managing everything behind the scenes and not getting much credit for her work! In fact, in a lot of ways, this a family story that just happens to take place in a world where magic is real. This gives the story an emotional heft that plenty of middle grades fantasy don’t have — because we’re invested in Noa and her siblings, we genuinely care how the adventure turns out. Cleverly, the author uses these emotions to push toward a finale that is — if not surprising — pretty satisfying. My only complaint: The pacing is a little weird. It takes a long time for the story to get going, and then the ending feels kind of rushed. I liked it, though, and definitely recommend it for middle grade readers who like their magic with an emotional anchor.

Grand story for the middle grade reader that is well written and has good character growth. Challenging and engaging story that will keep younger readers engaged and wanting to read more. It is an easy recommendation to the younger readers in the family.

The Language of Ghosts is a brilliant intersection between magic, family, and choices. After a coup, three siblings flee to an island where Julian, the oldest, hones his dark magic. Noa learns everything she can about the island, Julian's powers, and discovers her own while trying to save her brother from going evil. All the while, the youngest, Mite, is busy finding all the bugs, spiders, and monsters that live on their island home. This story hits all the right marks for a fantastic middle grade book.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

Overall I loved this book. I loved that the rightful king was a moody teen trying to care for his little sisters and reclaim his kingdom, and that he happened to be bisexual. My one criticism would be the ending was a little anticlimactic. The scenes with poisoned mangoes and Noa sneaking into a palace full of her enemies were much more dramatic and exciting than the final showdown.

Overall Impressions
A usurper is trying to find a magical tool that will help him stay in power and Noa and her siblings race to try and find it first. This tool turns out to be a magical language that only Noa can read and she has to figure out how to use it quickly so that she can help her brother. The Language of Ghosts is a fascinating, fast-paced book that drops readers into the center of the action on page one. It also utilizes the unique magic system to facilitate a discussion of the moral questions that occur when someone you love is doing the wrong thing.

Book Themes and Reading Level
Book Themes: Magic, language, political intrigue, overthrowing the government, the morality of doing the wrong thing for the right reason
Reading Level: 3rd-7th Grade

Summary
Noa and her siblings are hiding after a coup overthrew their mother’s kingdom, killing her in the process. Noa’s brother Julian is also one of the most powerful dark mages in the world, with the ability to combine multiple magical languages. This power has made him a target for the usurper Xavier. When the siblings find out that Xavier is looking for a new tool that can defeat Julian, it is a race to find this tool, which turns out to be a language only Noa can read.

Review
In The Language of Ghosts, there was adventure, danger, and humor from page one. I loved how this book dropped you into the middle of the action at the beginning of the book. This immediacy of action will draw children into the book and keep them turning the page. This pacing was maintained for the entire book and I never felt like the plot was dragging. The magic system was fascinating and imaginative because mages used different magical languages to cast magic. I had never read anything like it and would love to have seen further expansion on the concept throughout the book. This critic would be the only criticism that I could have for the book. Due to the fast-paced adventure, the magic system was not always explained or explored as much as I would have liked it to be. However, since I enjoyed the pace of the book, this is a minor criticism.

From an educational standpoint, The Language of Ghosts dived into the morals of Julian’s actions. Often, Noa would think about the consequences of her brother’s actions when they were cruel or unjust. How do you deal with someone who is doing the wrong thing for the right reason or not thinking through their actions? This question permeates through the book but is never really answered. Since it is not answered, then it could become an exciting class or book club discussion. In the end, the story did tie up a little neatly for me, but that’s because I was hoping there would be a little cliffhanger to hint at a sequel! If you are searching for a book that is action-packed with a unique magic system that tackles large moral issues, then go pick up a copy of The Language of Ghosts!

I was a little confused at certain parts of this and it didn’t really pick up until the second part.

After the second part I couldn’t put it down (hoping the typos get fixed).

Noa her little sister Mita and her older brother Julian are the last of the Marchenas. Their mother was over thrown by Xavier who wanted to see the family fail and abolish magic forever.

The 3 must work together to save their kingdom while also on the run.

It’s been two years since Noa Marchena’s mother, the queen of Florean, died. The day of the funeral, a councilman named Xavier sent assassins after Noa and her siblings. The three Marchena children escaped, but Xavier took over the throne. Since then, the royal orphans have been living on the island of Astrae, which Noa’s older brother Julian enchanted to make it travel like a boat. Julian, now eighteen, is the rightful king and an amazingly powerful dark mage who speaks all nine of the known magical languages. Noa’s younger sister Mite is also a dark mage, but thirteen-year-old Noa isn’t a mage at all. She’s just Julian’s kid sister and the unofficial brains behind his mission to retake the throne of Florean. Noa has her own personal mission, too. Although dark mages aren’t necessarily evil, Julian’s power seems to be going to his head, and he has lately been acting increasingly cruel towards everyone other than his beloved younger sisters. Noa knows that Julian hasn’t truly gone bad, but she’s concerned that he’s heading in that direction. It’s up to her to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Lately, King Xavier has been executing the dark magicians throughout Florean, and possibly other mages, too. And there’s reason to believe that he’s hot on the trail of the Marchenas, despite the fact that the island of Astrae has magical properties making it difficult to locate or follow. An incident involving poisoned mangoes proves to Noa that she and her siblings are in immediate danger. Rumors say that King Xavier is hunting for the legendary Lost Words, which are additional magical languages that have been hidden away. If he finds them, he can use them as weapons against Julian, so it’s imperative that Julian’s mages find them first. Julian and his followers manage to find the first one relatively quickly. To everyone’s disappointment, even Julian can’t understand this mysterious, long-lost magical language. But it turns out that Noa can read it. After a few misadventures and preliminary magic lessons, Noa and Julian discover that this unfamiliar magical language gives Noa the ability to see ghosts and travel through shadows to get to Death, which functions as a sort of parallel dimension.

Against Julian’s wishes, Noa uses her new magical powers for several side missions including rescuing the resident sea serpent’s baby after it’s taken hostage and searching for the other Lost Words. Towards the end of the book, Noa sees the ghost of her mother, who knows where the next lost magical language can be found and wants to lead Noa there. But Julian warns Noa that it can’t possibly be their mother. She can’t be a ghost because she didn’t die unhappy, and besides, she would never direct her daughter to undertake such a dangerous mission. Noa is infuriated with Julian and insists that he’s wrong. He doesn’t even understand her newfound magical powers or the language of ghosts, so how can he doubt what Noa has learned? But it turns out that Julian was right all along and Noa is being used as a pawn to track down the magical language of fear for Xavier to use against Julian.

I have a few complaints about this book, so let me just preface this by saying that it was relatively interesting once I’d gotten a few chapters into it and that the quality of writing was at least somewhat better than average. There were some passages that sounded slightly pretentious due to an excessive use of long or obscure words, but the story also included a fair amount of well-written imagery, subtle humor, and entertaining animal personalities. There was quite a bit of comic relief in the form of invisible cats and prideful otters with a weakness for flattery. I also thought that the book made some interesting points about the nature of good and evil and the question of how they apply to politics. I think that this book is worth recommending, but probably only to readers who already know that they like fantasy and who prefer unique settings over formulaic fantasy worlds.

I’m actually not sure whether this story is intended to be a series opener or a stand-alone fantasy novel, but either way, its content might have been better spread out into two or even three books. The book simply isn’t long enough for all of the necessary world-building, character development, and action. The result is some awkward transitions between expository passages and dialogue, especially early in the book. While it’s obviously important for this kind of fantasy story to provide some background information about the nature of magic, as well as relevant public opinion and the political situation, all of these explanations can get boring if they aren’t skillfully blended with the plot itself. The Language of Ghosts didn’t do too badly at that, but it didn’t do quite well enough to keep me interested and engaged until I’d reached the point where the exposition was more or less done.

Despite those awkwardly long expository passages in the first few chapters, I felt that later passages in the book could have used a bit more description. For example, Noa’s trips through the unknown magical world of Death felt pretty rushed and vague considering just how different it was to everything Noa had ever seen before. These types of hurried passages got progressively more common throughout the book, and the final climactic battle scene in particular felt very rushed compared to the slow-paced exposition from the beginning of the book. I ended up feeling that the plot was moving too quickly to follow easily. And even as an adult reader, I found it a little difficult to keep all of the minor characters straight.

While this was not a bad book by any means, it doesn’t stand out to me as an exceptional one, either.

I really enjoyed seeing the different sibling relationships in this book. The way magic worked confused me a little bit, but it was fun to see the effects it made on the environment.

This felt so original and gave such a great new take on the Middle grade fantasy about orphaned/lost royal children. Gosh, I loved Julian as a character so much (he was so cool and melodramatic) and I loved that Noa had to struggle with her brother being the Dark Lord and maybe evil but still the older brother that both loves and exasperates her. The magic system was pretty basic, but well explained and simple enough to grasp and appreciate as it was used, which paved the way for some awesome magic moments. This book was a ton of fun, but the biggest selling point for me was both the magical island setting (this book had a fantastic sense of place) and the strong sibling relationships between Noa, Mite and Julian.

Princess Noa Marchena and her sister Mite escape a deadly palace coup with their older brother, now king, Julian, a dark magician with command of all nine languages of magic. Since dark magicians have been known to lose themselves to dark magic, Noa makes it her business to act as Julian’s conscience. Hidden away on a moving island protected by a sea serpent, Julian plans his return to his country and his throne. Then he learns that Xavier, the leader of the coup, is killing all dark magicians in his kingdom and is seeking the lost languages of magic in order to find a magician who can use them to defeat Julian. The Marchenas discover one before Xavier; the language of ghosts, which Noa names Shiver. The language of ghosts allows someone who can use it to travel through the land of death, and to see and speak to ghosts. The ability to read and understand it is rare, but Noa, until then without magical abilities, discovers that she is able to understand it.

What with the suspenseful palace coup and dark magicians, at the beginning and a title like The Language of Ghosts, I expected a little more spookiness to the story. It’s been compared to Howl’s Moving Castle, and it does have a magically moving island and a crabby magician, but it doesn’t have the depth or humor of that book. It is more likely to appeal to fans of Jessica Day George than it is to readers of Mary Downing Hahn. The Language of Ghosts is an okay middle-grade fantasy with a few genuinely suspenseful moments, enjoyable but not outstanding and certainly not as ghosty as I expected it to b

This book had great potential but squandered it with achingly slow plot development, boatloads of unnecessary information and asides, and chapters that could be (and often were) summarized with a 3-5 word chapter title. I really wanted to like this one because the world concept was so great, but I couldn't get past the glacial pacing (minus, of course, the excellent opening chapter and the quite simply lazy epilogue). We'll still purchase it for my library, but it won't be anything I take the time to recommend.