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A review by iilex
Mary Hades by Sarah Dalton
3.0
As some other reviewers noted, you may want to read [b:My Daylight Monsters|18626145|My Daylight Monsters (Mary Hades #0.5)|Sarah Dalton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380894174s/18626145.jpg|26415542] before reading Mary Hades. It's not strictly necessary, but this book does refer back to that one a lot and you should probably think of this one as the second in the series. Don't worry though - My Daylight Monsters is a Kindle single and can be bought for $1.99 (or for $8 or $9 physically), so it's not a huge investment.
For a self-published YA paranormal, Mary Hades is pretty solid. I honestly feel a little bad giving it only 3 stars - if we could have half stars, I'd bump it up to 3.5 stars.
Mary Hades is about a girl named Mary Hades (naturally) who can see ghosts. She also has some other psychic abilities which manifest in the form of "monsters" coming to her and warning her of imminent death and danger. After Mary's disastrous stay in a psychiatric institution (see: [b:My Daylight Monsters|18626145|My Daylight Monsters (Mary Hades #0.5)|Sarah Dalton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380894174s/18626145.jpg|26415542]), the Hades family is headed to the Northern English moors for a camping holiday. Mary's best friend, a ghost named Lacey, tags along as well. When they reach their destination, Mary quickly finds out that the ghost of a murdered little girl named Amy is haunting the moors and causing the deaths of males in the area. Since this is a YA book after all, Mary meets the obligatory love-interest (named Seth) and she also becomes friends with a gay Goth couple who come to the moors for some ghost hunting. Mary & the gang need to figure out a way to stop Little Amy from killing any others.
Like I said, I thought this was a solid book. I didn't think it was anything too extraordinary, but I did enjoy it. The book is atmospheric and at times creepy and I really enjoyed the setting of the moors. Some of the locations in this series have been a little cliche for a gothic work (mental hospital & moors) but oh well. I've loved reading stories set on the moor since I first read [b:Wuthering Heights|6185|Wuthering Heights|Emily Brontë|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388212715s/6185.jpg|1565818] and [b:The Secret Garden|2998|The Secret Garden|Frances Hodgson Burnett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327873635s/2998.jpg|3186437] as a child. A horror fan might find this one a little tame, but someone interested in paranormal YA might think it's the perfect amount of scary.
I actually didn't mind the romance in Mary Hades. I thought the romance in My Daylight Monsters was much too underdeveloped and somewhat unnecessary, so it was a good thing this book pretty much dropped Mo from the storyline entirely. Seth had an interesting backstory and was actually connected to the main plot. I also liked the resolution of the romance by the ending ()
Lastly, one of my favorite aspects of Mary Hades and this whole series, actually, is its setting. To this American reader, Mary Hades seems very English. Both Mary Hades and My Daylight Monsters are filled with British slang and it just definitely had a different feel from American YAs. I realized that almost all of the YAs I've read that have been set in the UK have been historical fiction and not contemporary (haha). So the English setting is definitely a plus!
So if you like paranormal YAs, especially those with ghosts, I'd recommend reading Mary Hades. Definitely one of the better self-published YA novels I've come across.
For a self-published YA paranormal, Mary Hades is pretty solid. I honestly feel a little bad giving it only 3 stars - if we could have half stars, I'd bump it up to 3.5 stars.
Mary Hades is about a girl named Mary Hades (naturally) who can see ghosts. She also has some other psychic abilities which manifest in the form of "monsters" coming to her and warning her of imminent death and danger. After Mary's disastrous stay in a psychiatric institution (see: [b:My Daylight Monsters|18626145|My Daylight Monsters (Mary Hades #0.5)|Sarah Dalton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380894174s/18626145.jpg|26415542]), the Hades family is headed to the Northern English moors for a camping holiday. Mary's best friend, a ghost named Lacey, tags along as well. When they reach their destination, Mary quickly finds out that the ghost of a murdered little girl named Amy is haunting the moors and causing the deaths of males in the area. Since this is a YA book after all, Mary meets the obligatory love-interest (named Seth) and she also becomes friends with a gay Goth couple who come to the moors for some ghost hunting. Mary & the gang need to figure out a way to stop Little Amy from killing any others.
Like I said, I thought this was a solid book. I didn't think it was anything too extraordinary, but I did enjoy it. The book is atmospheric and at times creepy and I really enjoyed the setting of the moors. Some of the locations in this series have been a little cliche for a gothic work (mental hospital & moors) but oh well. I've loved reading stories set on the moor since I first read [b:Wuthering Heights|6185|Wuthering Heights|Emily Brontë|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388212715s/6185.jpg|1565818] and [b:The Secret Garden|2998|The Secret Garden|Frances Hodgson Burnett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327873635s/2998.jpg|3186437] as a child. A horror fan might find this one a little tame, but someone interested in paranormal YA might think it's the perfect amount of scary.
I actually didn't mind the romance in Mary Hades. I thought the romance in My Daylight Monsters was much too underdeveloped and somewhat unnecessary, so it was a good thing this book pretty much dropped Mo from the storyline entirely. Seth had an interesting backstory and was actually connected to the main plot. I also liked the resolution of the romance by the ending (
Spoiler
I guess we'll see if Seth ends up in any subsequent volumes.Lastly, one of my favorite aspects of Mary Hades and this whole series, actually, is its setting. To this American reader, Mary Hades seems very English. Both Mary Hades and My Daylight Monsters are filled with British slang and it just definitely had a different feel from American YAs. I realized that almost all of the YAs I've read that have been set in the UK have been historical fiction and not contemporary (haha). So the English setting is definitely a plus!
So if you like paranormal YAs, especially those with ghosts, I'd recommend reading Mary Hades. Definitely one of the better self-published YA novels I've come across.