Utterly gorgeous and enrapturing in ways I couldn't quite put my finger on. TESS OF THE ROAD is one of my all-time favourite fantasies, so I was thrilled to see another Southlands book from Hartman (plus, that COVER!!!!)

AMONG GHOSTS is a quiet-yet-pacy tale of trauma, regret, and bravery in the face of intergenerational damage. It's about healing and identity and swords and orchards, all wrapped up in the gorgeous, medieval-inspired fantasy setting of the Southlands. I loved it with my whole heart, and I'm crossing my fingers for a sequel soon!!!

Book review: 4/5 ⭐️
Genre: YA fantasy, middle grade
Themes: ghosts, memory, hauntings, morality
📖 Read if you like: Elle Enchanted

This is a story about ghosts, those that manifest themselves in your memory and those that take a more corporeal form. It is a moving and heartfelt journey of discovery of a young boy deciding what type of man he wants to be and what he will be willing to do for those he loves. Well Charl really can’t help but care about everyone, even the bullies and the spies trying to kidnap him. Even if he is relatively powerless, he has a strong will to do what is right and stand in opposition to literal dragons. It is a YA novel with creative fantasy elements and a rather heartfelt moral compass. While perhaps catered to a younger audience with a youthful MC, it proved thought provoking for older readers.

Set in the small town of St. Muckle, we find a young Charl with his mother, a former knight named Aris, and a wise teacher who goes by Sister Agnes. A place full of mud and runaways, where any may find their freedom by living there for a year and one day. This Peasant’s Paradise has been living in quiet obscurity, but that is all about to change with death, a plague and a mercenary dragon wreathing the town in flames. When Charl manages to escape the mayhem to a supposedly abandoned abbey, he finds an unexpected motley of fearsome beings. A treacherous nun, a group of murdered girls, a bloody baron, an amnesiac murderous dragon and a spy operating in the shadows make for an interesting playground. A place where wisdom, resiliency and compassion will be needed for survival.

The omnipresent ghosts provided an eerie world where nightmares are relived, but forgetting your darkest moments can be equally problematic. Added to this medieval landscape where one religion has sought control over the pagans, is a small town under siege by evil powers. A mastermind who seeks to destroy not only the body, but the hope of a small town in order to vilify an idealist. It may have been slower in pace, but there were so many different concurrent storylines and thoughtful insights. A reminder that wisdom and doing what is right are not always aligned, just that those who are foolish are not always in the wrong. The paranormal meets the real world in this curious and rather dark tale that weaves together history, magic and determination.

Thank you to Penguin Teen CA and the author for this gifted copy.

this world of dragons will always have my heart as I remember loving them so much as a kid and this was an interesting character study on a piece of history for the world of Seraphina.

not that it's essential for everyone but I'm so glad I reread the original Seraphina series before reading this. the story is enjoyable regardless but the amount of world-building that Hartman has done over the years is highlighted in this book as she seamlessly incorporates little pieces from everywhere and gives little nods to the friends you may have met before, or at least their histories.

very mild story, for a world with shapeshifting dragons and constant culture wars, but it dives deep into how different parts of the pre-existing world came to be by giving their first-hand experience as ghosts.

genuinely love all the queer and non traditional characters in these books. how Hartman is able to place so many queer characters in her high fantasy series, especially at a YA/middle grade level is so very important in todays world.

it's also fun to see a new era of post covid books; stories that were inspired by the pandemic but have had enough time to fully mature and settle into something more


thanks to netgalley and tundra book group for the arc

Among Ghosts haunted me and thinking about it still sends shivers down my spine.

I finished Among Ghosts last night, after waiting several months for NetGalley to resolve the Kobo compatibility issue. I absolutely loved Tess of the Road and when I found out there would be a new book by Hartman, I immediately requested an ARC. I picked up Among Ghosts knowing that Hartman could transport me to a world with dragons and where characters got to have a future, no matter their past.

Charl flees to a nearby abbey fairly early on and the almost the entire novel takes place in the abbey. He can literally see his hometown - fighting both the plague and a literal dragon - but is powerless to leave the abbey. Charl is restrained to the walls of the abbey, bound there by honour and duty and his soul. Hartman speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic in the foreword of the book and how sheltering-in-place had a huge impact on herself and her family. One of the most haunting elements of Among Ghosts is to be transported back to spring and summer of 2020, where we couldn't leave our houses, no matter how much those who didn't live with us needed us. Among Ghosts reminds us that we are not alone in our collective trauma, no matter how much we were physically apart.

Among Ghosts is fairly introspective, but it's in this slow build of minute details that Hartman holds the spirit of the story. Charl isn't on a quest to slay the dragon or frantically working to develop a cure for the plague. Charl's job is to care for the souls surrounding him and do his best to put them at peace - not through awe inspiring acts, but from simply listening. In the silence, he is supposed to listen to himself too - his hopes, his dreams, his fears, and his sins. It's a deafening silence many of us are afraid of, but Hartman shows us the path to a better world step by step in Among Ghosts.

I think I will ruin the part of the book that sent shivers down my spine if I discuss it here and give an inclination of an aspect I had missed until approximately the 75% mark. Once I caught on to this additional layer Hartman had woven throughout Among Ghosts, it unlocked a desire to go back and reread the entirety of Among Ghosts. I could see, in retrospect, the foundation that had been built, to hold up Charl and his community, but I know I will appreciate on a reread seeing each and every stone being placed.

Some might consider the start of Among Ghosts a little slow, but Hartman meticulously builds a masterwork window into the soul for anyone who has ever been helpless.

The premise for this one was incredibly intriguing, but I kept waiting for the plot to pick up. I like slower paced novels and ones that leave room for the characters to grow, but I couldn’t seem to connect with any of the characters. It did deal with some dark themes like death and the plague but I always felt removed from it.
I was hoping it would grip me, but ultimately I struggled through it.
(Thank you to NetGalley for the arc)