Early Review – The Whispering Skull (Lockwood and Co, Book 2) by Jonathan Stroud (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Size: 448 pages
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: September 16, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-1423164920
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Lockwood and Co series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. This was an excellent follow-up to The Screaming Staircase.

Lockwood and Co are commissioned to hunt down a bone mirror that has been stolen from a grave and kills anyone who looks into it. The Fittes company has also been hired to work with them. The two companies end up being in a competition of sorts to see who can solve the case first.

The book is told from Lucy’s point of view. She has grown in confidence some and seems a bit more certain of herself. Lucy is also growing in power and learning how to use her ghost sensing abilities. She is also learning how to manage Lockwood’s bluster and deal with him.

Lockwood is still my favorite character. We do finally learn some more of Lockwood’s secrets, although he still remains something of an enigma. Lockwood has such a chipper and confident exterior that it is hard to see past that and figure out who he is and what he thinks about things. I love how his secrets are slowly being revealed over multiple books.

I continue to really really enjoy this alternate world. The story is set in modern London, but it is a London where ghosts are deadly and only children can see and protect the rest of society from them. The whole set up really changes the dynamics of society quite a bit and the social implications are really creative and interesting.

To be honest I liked the horrible haunted house in The Screaming Staircase a bit more than the hauntings in this book. However, this story did a good job of building on the story started in the first book. It ties in with some things that happened in the first book, but also has a separate mystery for our heroes to solve.

There are many creepy scenes and a mystery to be solved here. There were a couple scenes that were very creepy and scary, the story was incredibly engaging and hard to put down.

Overall this was a wonderful addition to the Lockwood and Co series. All in all I enjoyed the story a lot and can’t wait to read the next book! I love the world, the characters, and the creepy ghost stories. Highly recommended to those who love paranormal ghost stories.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Ebook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge