4.5 stars. I love pretty much everything Kenneth Oppel has written and GHOSTLIGHT is no exception. It’s a great spooky read for Halloween or any time of year—there’s adventure, sleuthing, and ghosts a-plenty! I love the way it brings history alive (or undead?) and it’s especially fun for Torontonians who will recognize locales like the Toronto Islands and the CN Tower. Readers won’t look at lighthouses the same again.

I had some niggling technical questions about the ghost light and light beams which took me out of the narrative, but these probably won’t bother most readers.

Kenneth Oppel never disappoints. This book is no exception and the opening is one of my all time favourites to share. Read it, then hand the book over to students. This author is an auto buy for my school for good reason.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

Damn Kenneth Oppel did it again. I adored 'The Boundless' when I read it years ago and this book is right up there. It's a Canadian ghost story!! So well written with quirky characters. I loved everything about it.

4.5 stars.
Kenneth Oppel has long been great at combining fast action with compelling characters; "Ghostlight" is no different. With an intriguing prologue set in 1839, Oppel sets up the story stakes quickly, telling us of a secret order of protectors stationed at harbours and coastlines, who destroy malevolent ghosts using ghostlights, before introducing us to his contemporary characters.

In 1839, Rebecca Strand discovers her father has been a member of this Order for years, and she gets her dangerous introduction that same night at Toronto Island. Unfortunately, it's also the last thing she and her father do, as they're found dead the next day at the base of the lighthouse they live in.

Rebecca's and her father's mysterious deaths feature in young Gabe's regular Island Ghost Tour. He's working on Toronto Island at the amusement part for the summer, and meets a girl on his latest tour who blogs about history and ghosts. We soon meet Yuri, Gabe's friend, who also works at the amusement park. These three young people come together, after Gabe inadvertently raises Rebecca's ghost, to fight off the evil ghost,. Viker, responsible for Rebecca's and her father's deaths years earlier.

Gabe is a sympathetic character: he wants to be a chef, is conflicted about his grief for his absent and now dead father, is dangerous to anything mechanical, and is kind. Callie, deeply interested in history, wants to be a journalist, and has a connection to the Strand family. Yuri is a Russian immigrant, is a mechanical genius, and is quietly funny. I loved how the three, actually four (Rebecca's ghost), came together to figure out ways to vanquish Viker, while learning more about the history of Toronto and the Island.

This fun, ghostbusting story had plenty of action, but also lots of heart as we learn more about Gabe's feelings for his dad, Callie's strong desire to make a different career choice than one supported by her family, and Yuri fears that his father wants to move the family back to Russia because his dad can't secure accreditation fort his Russian education and experience (a common problem for Canadian immigrants in a number of fields). I loved all the historical details Oppel integrated into this story, adding depth and context to this action-packed, occasionally poignant, funny, and spooky story.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Ghostlight follows a trio of friends around Toronto Islands and downtown Toronto as they team up with a ghost from 1839 to locate the titular ghostlight and defend Toronto’s living from a ghostly uprising. The plot follows a ‘treasure hunt’ structure, as the group works step by step following clues and getting items to take down the villain. I prefer other types of narrative structure. I found it slow going at times as they resolve ‘clue’ after ‘clue’.

I believe The Nest contains Oppel’s best creepy writing. Ghostlight offers a completely different take on creepy. The worst moments in this novel for me were ones related to body horror. Overall, I didn’t find the story too scary, but then I had a nightmare based on the final page of the book, soooooo… Viker and Flynn make for great villains, the kind you can love to hate.

I would have appreciated more page time devoted to the subplot of protagonist Gabe and his father, who died recently after being hit by a car and whose ghost still lingers. There were some great scenes exploring Gabe’s complex feelings about his father. That storyline could have been more fully explored, with its conclusion delivering a stronger impact if there had been steady build up to it.

I can’t stand romance, and I am learning I especially can’t stand romance in Oppel’s novels. I still remember the romance in Every Hidden Thing making me frown, even though that is a young adult novel. While I still consider this upper middle grade, the romantic elements stretched that for me. A hallmark feature of middle grade which I love is a focus on family and friends, so I get impatient when a romantic storyline takes prominence in the way that it does in Ghostlight. (IE just a big crush between a guy and a girl, and not part of any identity discovery, which I think is romance’s most valuable role in middle grade, if it has to be present.)

💭 The Bottom Line: While this may not be Oppel’s best work, Ghostlight may find more appreciation from readers interested in Toronto’s history, budding but doomed romance, or vicious but not necessarily spooky ghosts.

This was a pretty good read. A little long, maybe a tiny bit stretched out. But great storyline. Would definitely recommend it to kids who enjoy paranormal stories!

I accessed this book through Net Galley, it comes out September 6. It was an enjoyable, exciting MG thriller set in Toronto that details how a young girl, Rebecca Strand (I read a review that called her Rebecca Stead and all MG readers will understand that) and her father in the mid-19th century worked to be keepers that would use a special lens in a lighthouse to defeat ghosts. However, when the girl and her father are killed a “wakeful and wicked dead” named Viker, she enters a resting phase of existence until a young boy named Gabe, who tours people through the lighthouse in the 21st century, inadvertently wakes her and Viker up. This reignites their battle and Gabe has to get help from his friends to aid Rebecca, whom he develops a close connection with, to defeat Viker using their own created lights. A fast paced plot that I enjoyed.

Kenneth Oppel is one of those authors whose books are always on my must-read list. He has a gift for writing stories that feel unlike anything else I've read, and he straddles the upper-middle grade/YA line in a way that respects the intelligence of young readers without dishing out more than they can handle. His latest novel combines his characteristic creepy style with the paranormal world of ghosts and spirits to give readers a delightfully spooky read about a boy who becomes embroiled in the true story of the deaths of the former residents of a lighthouse where he leads ghost tours. Gabe inadvertently connects with the ghost of the lighthouse keeper's daughter, who wants revenge on the evil spirit who killed her and her father. As this cruel ghost regains his strength and threatens to cause chaos in the present-day, Gabe and his friends must find a way to stop him for good by procuring a ghostlight to eradicate him and the ghosts he's recruiting to help him with his destructive plans.

I loved this story's unexpected twists and turns and the creative world-building that included historical references and Canadian content. I also loved the emotional depth as the characters face grief, loss, anger, family, and friendship. I highly recommend this story for readers in Gr. 5 and older who enjoy fast-paced scary ghost stories.

Kennith Opal is one of my favourite tween authors. Once again he has come up with a wonderful age appropriate scary tale set within the Toronto harbour islands. This thriller will keep you reading g and reading if only to find out who will be victorious.