Early Review – Angel of the Overpass (Ghost Roads, Book 3) by Seanan McGuire (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN-13 : 978-0756416898
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Ghost Roads series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for Review
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Rose Marshall died when she was sixteen years old and on her way to her high school prom. She hasn’t been resting easy since then—Bobby Cross, the man who killed her, got away clean after running her off the road, and she’s not the kind of girl who can let something like that slide. She’s been looking for a way to stop him since before they put her body in the ground.
But things have changed in the twilight world where the spirits of the restless dead continue their “lives.” The crossroads have been destroyed, and Bobby’s protections are gone. For the first time, it might be possible for Rose to defeat him.
Not alone, though. She’ll need every friend she’s managed to make and every favor she’s managed to add to her account if she wants to stand a chance…and this may be her last chance to be avenged, since what is Bobby Cross without the crossroads?
Everything Rose knows is about to change.”
Series Info/Source: This is the third book in the Ghost Roads series. I got a copy of this book through NetGalley to review. This does tie in to the Incryptid series as well, so if you are reading that series make sure you read the most recent Incryptid book before reading this one.
Story (4/5): This was well done and is a very transformative book in Rose’s story. While I always love the intricacy and description in McGuire’s stories, this one was a bit too wordy for me. The Ghost Roads stories have a lot of neat themes but also tend to wander more too. The main goal of this story is to finally have Rose eliminate Bobby Cross once and for all.
Characters (3/5): Rose is very alone and, although she interacts with other characters, she never really has many interactions with them. This makes the story feel a bit empty at times. We read a lot about Rose’s feelings and thoughts on things and, like Rose herself, these tend to wander a bit off course sometimes. There are some interesting characters in here, they are just hard to engage with because they are kept at a distance.
Setting (4/5): The setting here is very creative. Rose journeys through not only the daylight (our world) and the twilight but also spends a lot more time in the starlight and midnight realms. While these layers of reality are a bit ambiguous and hard to follow at times, it is a very creative concept and I loved learning more about these different layers of reality.
Writing Style (4/5): McGuire’s writing is never as tight and driven for the Ghost Roads series as it is for her other series. There is just a lot of wandering thoughts in this story and it makes the story feel very slow. This is one of those books where you can literally skip a whole paragraph and not really miss anything that’s actually happening. However, you will miss a lot of thinking and miss the feel of the story. It’s a book that needs to be read with patience and deliberateness…I don’t have a lot of either right now. I still enjoyed this but just felt like it could have used some editing to make it a bit tighter and faster paced.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this but didn’t love it. I continue to enjoy Rose’s story and enjoy the concept of the different layers of reality. The story felt long; a lot of this story could have been omitted and the reader wouldn’t really be missing much. However, some of the thoughts of Rose during her journey are intriguing and thought-provoking. I just feel like with better pacing and a bit more editing this could have been spectacular. I do plan on continuing the series because I find it fascinating.
