Review – The Empty Grave (Lockwood and Co, Book 5) by Jonathan Stroud (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: September 12, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1484778722
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Lockwood and Co series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Five months after the events in THE CREEPING SHADOW, we join Lockwood, Lucy, George, Holly, and their associate Quill Kipps on a perilous night mission: they have broken into the booby-trapped Fittes Mausoleum, where the body of the legendary psychic heroine Marissa Fittes lies. Or does it?

This is just one of the many questions to be answered in Book 5 of the Lockwood & Co. series. Will Lockwood ever reveal more about his family’s past to Lucy? Will their trip to the Other Side leave Lucy and Lockwood forever changed? Will Penelope Fittes succeed in shutting down their agency forever? The young agents must survive attacks from foes both spectral and human before they can take on their greatest enemy in a climactic and chaotic battle. And to prevail they will have to rely on help from some surprising–and shadowy–allies.”

This is the fifth (and sadly final) book in the Lockwood and Co series. This has been one of my all time favorite series; I really have loved every bit of it. This book was even more spectacular than the previous book and ties things up beautifully.

In this book all the questions that accumulated during the first part of the series are answered. We find out more about Lockwood’s family and history.

We do get to journey with our intrepid ghost hunters on a couple wonderfully mysterious cases before tackling the final question of them all; how did The Problem start and how can it be brought to a close?

All of our favorite characters show their best sides in this book and I loved the camaraderie between them all. There was a ton of action, adventure, and general creepiness throughout.

I also loved that they spent more time in the Other Side and that we learn more about this place. We also learn a lot more about the mysterious Skull that Lucy spends so much time talking to.

I really loved everything about this book and was pretty happy about where it left off. I do wish there was one more book, or even an epilogue, showing where everything ended up a few years in the future. Some things are left open fairly ended and it would have been nice to have a bit more closure. Although, I don’t mind getting to imagine the future on my own.

Overall a spectacularly wonderful ending to this amazing middle grade series. Everything about this series was perfect and I loved every minute of it. I would recommend to middle grade and older readers who love supernatural mystery and action with a creepy factor to it.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge
– YA Reading Challenge