Scan barcode
A review by mariahistryingtoread
Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega
2.0
Ghost Squad is a debut and it shows. It has an interesting set-up, but in a lot of little ways that make up the whole it drops the ball.
First off, when Lucely first sought out the spell that ruins everything she didn't even bring her grandmothers’ firefly with her and she didn’t even use the grandmothers’ name in the spell. How did she think it would work when she in no way linked the spell to her specific situation? Nitpick out of the way, let's get to the meat of the problem.
When another ancestor first confirms that they feel the darkness coming that stole the light from her grandmother and start experiencing painful memories Lucely doesn’t talk to her father about it at all. Due to the trauma of Lucely’s mother abandoning the family he is unable to see ghosts any more, but for years before that he had the gift. Couldn’t he offer a perspective on that? Maybe advice or things he knows about ghost happenings? The darkness infiltrating predates her casting the spell so it’s not like she’s afraid of getting in trouble.
Lucely’s father runs a ghost tour. A bigger, better ghost tour has opened up leaving them on the brink of closing. This is overshadowed entirely by the ghosts being released and has no direct link to the ghosthunting/catching business at all.
At the 50% mark Lucely and Syd sneak out to hunt for a possible solution to trapping the ghosts. It’s noted they now have 3 days to save the ghost tour, but the two have come up with zero plans to do so. Saving her family’s spirits and trapping the evil ghosts has nothing to do with the overarching risk of the ghost tour flaming out. The two are mutually exclusive as Lucely fixing her mistake will have no impact on the ghost tour making enough rent by the deadline given by their landlord. Lucely has no ideas on how to save the ghost tour either so I don’t see what she expects to happen when the day comes around. It would have made way more sense if she'd done the spell on purpose as a way to enliven their ghost tour (ie. ‘Come see real ghosts!’) and it backfired so there would be some kind of crossover. Lucely does nothing and by complete luck it just works out in her favor. She is purportedly so worried about potentially being kicked out of her childhood home only to abandon any concentrated effort to stay.
The book doesn’t feel like it really starts until the 66% mark when Syd’s grandmother Babette joins the fray. Despite the synopsis literally telling us Babette is a witch, the book absurdly doesn’t confirm until this point. Why have it be such a secret? Lucely can see ghosts. What’s so different about witchcraft? Again, it’s in the synopsis already so it’s unnecessarily drawing out something that’s not a secret anyway. There’s something to be said for surprising the characters within the story, but it’s drawn out too long and it hurts the pacing.
Worse than that Babette apparently used to babysit Lucely’s dad as a kid. So she knows about his ability to see ghosts and thus her ability to see ghosts. How can they not know witches are real when Babette has been around their family for two generations? How can they not know Babette is one? Shouldn't the fact that Lucely can see ghosts be proof enough that magic exists in a general sense? Why is it all so shrouded in mystery?
Babette joins the girls in searching 15 mausoleums. It would have worked better if the girls figured out the mausoleum thing around a quarter in and Babette joined them halfway. It would have injected some much needed energy into their pursuit. They spent a long time sort of lackadaisical figuring things out. It reduced the tension immensely to have them stumbling around with no specific measures to follow.
Babette is useless anyways when she does join. At the two mausoleums they go to, she immediately fails and needs the girls - who are complete novices - to save her.
I didn’t understand why more evil spirits didn’t target Lucely. She’s the cause of the spirits besieging the town and she’s sniffing around where she doesn’t belong. Why didn’t they come after her without her actively having to step inside the tombs? At the very least why weren’t more denizens of the town being attacked? There is this sort of ill-defined gray cloud hanging over them without practical consequences. The stakes were disrupted by not having any consistent increasing hurdles along the way.
Saving the ghost tour just falls into their laps incidentally and through deux ex Babette simply magicking up a solution. The plot point is ignored the entire book only to be wrapped up in this abrupt manner? Is their ghost tour even any good? What happened to the better ghost tour in the area? It’s anyones’ guess.
I don’t see why Syd even has parents. Living with Babette would be another way to cut out the middleman and kickstart the plot quicker.
I did not enjoy reading Ghost Squad. There were too many inconsistencies for me to just let it go like I normally would for a middle grade book. I can be critical, but if it’s largely enjoyable I typically leave it at 3 stars, point it out, and then call it a day. I could not do that for Ghost Squad because its issues were less about narrative choices I disagree with and more objective construction of a narrative problems. Above all else, I simply found it dull and by the numbers. It followed all the right steps to create a story, but it didn't have the substance to make it stand out.
I won’t write off Claribel A. Ortega over this because again, I think this is more about it being a debut than anything - a more seasoned author (hopefully) would be able to better execute some of these aspects - and I always like to give everyone a second chance. That said, I will unfortunately be more hesitant to pick her up in the future.
First off, when Lucely first sought out the spell that ruins everything she didn't even bring her grandmothers’ firefly with her and she didn’t even use the grandmothers’ name in the spell. How did she think it would work when she in no way linked the spell to her specific situation? Nitpick out of the way, let's get to the meat of the problem.
When another ancestor first confirms that they feel the darkness coming that stole the light from her grandmother and start experiencing painful memories Lucely doesn’t talk to her father about it at all. Due to the trauma of Lucely’s mother abandoning the family he is unable to see ghosts any more, but for years before that he had the gift. Couldn’t he offer a perspective on that? Maybe advice or things he knows about ghost happenings? The darkness infiltrating predates her casting the spell so it’s not like she’s afraid of getting in trouble.
Lucely’s father runs a ghost tour. A bigger, better ghost tour has opened up leaving them on the brink of closing. This is overshadowed entirely by the ghosts being released and has no direct link to the ghosthunting/catching business at all.
At the 50% mark Lucely and Syd sneak out to hunt for a possible solution to trapping the ghosts. It’s noted they now have 3 days to save the ghost tour, but the two have come up with zero plans to do so. Saving her family’s spirits and trapping the evil ghosts has nothing to do with the overarching risk of the ghost tour flaming out. The two are mutually exclusive as Lucely fixing her mistake will have no impact on the ghost tour making enough rent by the deadline given by their landlord. Lucely has no ideas on how to save the ghost tour either so I don’t see what she expects to happen when the day comes around. It would have made way more sense if she'd done the spell on purpose as a way to enliven their ghost tour (ie. ‘Come see real ghosts!’) and it backfired so there would be some kind of crossover. Lucely does nothing and by complete luck it just works out in her favor. She is purportedly so worried about potentially being kicked out of her childhood home only to abandon any concentrated effort to stay.
The book doesn’t feel like it really starts until the 66% mark when Syd’s grandmother Babette joins the fray. Despite the synopsis literally telling us Babette is a witch, the book absurdly doesn’t confirm until this point. Why have it be such a secret? Lucely can see ghosts. What’s so different about witchcraft? Again, it’s in the synopsis already so it’s unnecessarily drawing out something that’s not a secret anyway. There’s something to be said for surprising the characters within the story, but it’s drawn out too long and it hurts the pacing.
Worse than that Babette apparently used to babysit Lucely’s dad as a kid. So she knows about his ability to see ghosts and thus her ability to see ghosts. How can they not know witches are real when Babette has been around their family for two generations? How can they not know Babette is one? Shouldn't the fact that Lucely can see ghosts be proof enough that magic exists in a general sense? Why is it all so shrouded in mystery?
Babette joins the girls in searching 15 mausoleums. It would have worked better if the girls figured out the mausoleum thing around a quarter in and Babette joined them halfway. It would have injected some much needed energy into their pursuit. They spent a long time sort of lackadaisical figuring things out. It reduced the tension immensely to have them stumbling around with no specific measures to follow.
Babette is useless anyways when she does join. At the two mausoleums they go to, she immediately fails and needs the girls - who are complete novices - to save her.
I didn’t understand why more evil spirits didn’t target Lucely. She’s the cause of the spirits besieging the town and she’s sniffing around where she doesn’t belong. Why didn’t they come after her without her actively having to step inside the tombs? At the very least why weren’t more denizens of the town being attacked? There is this sort of ill-defined gray cloud hanging over them without practical consequences. The stakes were disrupted by not having any consistent increasing hurdles along the way.
Saving the ghost tour just falls into their laps incidentally and through deux ex Babette simply magicking up a solution. The plot point is ignored the entire book only to be wrapped up in this abrupt manner? Is their ghost tour even any good? What happened to the better ghost tour in the area? It’s anyones’ guess.
I don’t see why Syd even has parents. Living with Babette would be another way to cut out the middleman and kickstart the plot quicker.
I did not enjoy reading Ghost Squad. There were too many inconsistencies for me to just let it go like I normally would for a middle grade book. I can be critical, but if it’s largely enjoyable I typically leave it at 3 stars, point it out, and then call it a day. I could not do that for Ghost Squad because its issues were less about narrative choices I disagree with and more objective construction of a narrative problems. Above all else, I simply found it dull and by the numbers. It followed all the right steps to create a story, but it didn't have the substance to make it stand out.
I won’t write off Claribel A. Ortega over this because again, I think this is more about it being a debut than anything - a more seasoned author (hopefully) would be able to better execute some of these aspects - and I always like to give everyone a second chance. That said, I will unfortunately be more hesitant to pick her up in the future.